On the three-year anniversary of the deadliest attack on Israel in modern history, the Jewish nation continues to be misjudged by global leaders—who accuse America’s ally of war crimes following its response to Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023—says U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
“Israel is held to a standard that no one else has ever been held to,” the former governor of Arkansas and two-time presidential candidate told Baptist Press. “What would America do to get 250 Americans out of captivity who were being beaten, raped and starved? If that’s our sons and daughters, what do we do?”
Franklin Graham acknowledged the solemn occasion in a post on social media: “May we never forget what Hamas did to Israel on this day three years ago,” Franklin Graham wrote on Facebook. “The murders, the torture, the rape, the rampage that took 1,200 lives as they swept in on unsuspecting people who just wanted to live in peace. I was there very shortly after and walked through the kibbutzes and spoke with survivors. It was unimaginable evil. And Hamas’ decision to launch this attack led to the destruction of most of Gaza and the suffering of many more people. Pray for the ‘peace of Jerusalem’ (Psalm 122:6) as the Word of God tells us.”
Counting The Cost
Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor and first evangelical U.S. ambassador to Israel, compared the atrocities Israel experienced at the hands of Hamas three years ago to what the scale of death and destruction would have been on U.S. soil. Adjusting for the casualty-to-population ratio, a similar terrorist attack in America would have resulted in nearly 40,000 deaths and more than 8,000 hostages.
Attacks between Israel and Palestinians had intensified and ebbed for decades before Hamas and other militants executed the surprise October 2023 attack, murdering 1,200, injuring nearly 5,000 and taking 251 hostages. Among casualties were 46 Americans and more than 300 individuals from 50 other countries. A dozen Americans were among the hostages.
Israel “did not want to be at war for as long as they were in Gaza. The whole thing would have been over on October the 8th if Hamas had let the hostages free,” Huckabee said, “but they didn’t.”
Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a statement Wednesday condemning what he described as the “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
“Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment,” the city’s first Muslim mayor charged. “To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety and dignity.”
Huckabee acknowledges the regrettable tragedy of the Gaza Strip, including reports by the [Hamas-run] Palestinian Ministry of Health of more than 74,000 Palestinian civilian and militant deaths and economic destruction. But he attributes the realities to Hamas military tactics that endanger civilians, and clandestinely mobilize civilians in battle.
For example, Hamas intentionally moved civilians to areas Israel targeted as Hamas holdouts, Huckabee charged, and built military assets in hospitals, mosques and various civilian locations. The tactics gave Israel no other option than to continue to try and free the hostages, he said, and to deter attacks on Israeli civilians.
“It’s horrific. I think there’s no other way to describe it,” Huckabee said. “But the tragedy is because Hamas prolonged it. There were many people who were killed that were civilians. That’s one of those things that makes it the greatest tragedy.”
Honoring The Sacrifice
Huckabee attended commemorative events in Israel but will be in Little Rock, Arkansas, Wednesday. His daughter, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is scheduled to join him at a commemorative event, including the ambassador’s 3 p.m. address to the National Association of Christian Lawmakers.
“The first thing is to celebrate that all the hostages are home … which is a much more pleasant memory than October 7th,” he said. “I think it’ll also be a time to just reflect upon the unbelievable impact that October 7th has had on the entire nation of Israel. I don’t think Americans can fully appreciate it.”
A former television host on Fox News and Trinity Broadcasting Network, Huckabee also admits he wasn’t fully expecting the overwhelmingly warm welcome to his ambassadorship by both American and Israeli Jewish communities.
“They appreciate that a person who is not Jewish would still have an understanding and an appreciation and respect for the Jewish people and the state of Israel,” Huckabee said, “which I obviously do because as a Christian, I recognize that everything they believe, everything they believe—the full foundation of the Old Testament—is the foundation of my Christian faith. Jesus my Savior was Jewish.”
Huckabee and his wife attend Jerusalem Baptist Church, where he says he plays the bass guitar every Sunday in the praise band.
“I find that it’s very comfortable for me to be a Christian here. When I say comfortable, no one harasses me. I’m respected as a Christian. Everybody knows I’m not Jewish,” he said. “I was the first evangelical ambassador to ever serve in this post. And I think I had some misgivings. How would I be received? Would people say, ‘Oh, wow, this is terrible. The guy’s not even Jewish.’?”
