Mike Huckabee Set for Israel Post, Confident after Ohel Visit

As he prepares for his confirmation next week as the next United States ambassador to Israel, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee visited the Ohel today and remarked, ‘After visiting the Ohel, I’m even more confident that it will all work out.’

By Chabad.org and Anash.org

As he prepares to be confirmed as the next United States ambassador to Israel, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee visited the Ohel today.

The Huckabees plan to attend a reception in their honor hosted later Sunday by the Israel Heritage Foundation. They were escorted to the Ohel by Rabbi Dr. Joseph Frager, executive vice president of the Israel Heritage Foundation, with his wife Karen, and Rabbi Dovid Katz, its executive director, along with his wife Chaya. On hand to greet them were Rabbi Motti Seligson, a spokesman for Chabad-Lubavitch; Rabbi Sholom Duchman, executive director of Colel Chabad, the leading food security NGO in Israel; and Rabbi Zalman Duchman, with Rabbi Yossi Vogel, of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute. Rabbi Elie and Dr. Naama Weinstock, Senior Rabbi of the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach on Long Island rounded out the delegation.

After praying inside the Ohel, Huckabee visited the resting places of the Rebbetzin and Rebbetzin Chana.

Huckabee was nominated on Nov. 12 of last year by President Donald Trump to serve as his ambassador to Israel. His hearings, to move his nomination from committee to a full Senate vote, are scheduled to begin this week.

“After visiting the Ohel, I’m even more confident it will all work out,” Huckabee said.

“I was as surprised as anybody when I got the call and the President asked me to do it … ,” Huckabee told Israel National News in an interview after being nominated. “Despite being taken a little off guard by it, there was never a doubt in my mind that if he asked me to do it, it’s a way to serve my country and a way to serve my president, but it’s also a way for me to be able to serve [the relationship between the United States and Israel] that to me is incredibly important … That’s why there is a great level of not only excitement but a deeply emotional reaction that I have had to this, because I see it as a calling.”

Huckabee has enjoyed a two-decade long relationship with Rabbi Pinchus and Esther Hadassah Ciment, Shluchim in his home state of Arkansas. In 1996 Huckabee became the state’s first governor to join Chabad’s public Chanukah menorah lighting in Little Rock. He did so again late last year, when he substituted for his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders—the current governor of Arkansa—in lighting the menorah with Chabad of Arkansas on the first night of Chanukah.

“You couldn’t get a Maccabee, so you’ve got a Huckabee here tonight,” the former governor told the crowd of more than 200 people to a chorus of laughter.

“Mr. Huckabee is a true agent of pirsumei nisa,” Rabbi Ciment said at the time, referring to the mitzvah to publicize the miracle of Chanukah to as great an audience as possible. “His commitment to being here with us, even as he prepares to embark upon his important work in Israel, is not lost on the Jews of Arkansas.”

Speaking to Israel National News about his upcoming role, Huckabee underlined his deep belief in the integrity of the Land of Israel, which G‑d gave to the Jewish people. “I’ve never been willing to use the term ‘West Bank,’” he said. “There is no such thing. I speak of Judea and Samaria. I tell people there is no ‘occupation.’ It is a land that is occupied by the people who have had a rightful deed to the place for 3,500 years, since the time of Abraham.”

“I was as surprised as anybody when I got the call and the President asked me to do it … ,” Huckabee told Israel National News in an interview after being nominated.

“Despite being taken a little off guard by it, there was never a doubt in my mind that if he asked me to do it, it’s a way to serve my country and a way to serve my president, but it’s also a way for me to be able to serve [the relationship between the United States and Israel] that to me is incredibly important … That’s why there is a great level of not only excitement but a deeply emotional reaction that I have had to this, because I see it as a calling.”