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International condemnation of Israel for its nearly two-year-long war in Gaza is growing. Outrage over starvation in the enclave has led to calls from Israel’s allies for a Palestinian state. The U.N. secretary general said the situation was “a moral crisis that is challenging the global conscience.”
And yet there are few more passionate defenders of the country right now than Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, a Baptist minister and the first evangelical Christian to serve in the role.
Even after his boss, President Trump, broke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and acknowledged “real starvation” in Gaza, Mr. Huckabee did not.
“There is hunger and there are some serious issues that need to be addressed,” Mr. Huckabee said this past week at his official residence in central Jerusalem. But, he said, “it’s not like Sudan or Rwanda or other places where there has been mass starvation.” The Gaza Health Ministry has said scores of people, including many children, have died of malnutrition. It is not clear how many also had other illnesses.
Mr. Huckabee defended the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an aid group led by his longtime friend Johnnie Moore, another evangelical Christian. The group, backed by Israel and run largely by U.S. contractors, has been widely criticized for shootings by Israeli troops near its food distribution sites.
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