US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said Monday that a solution had been reached on the issue of visas for visiting Christian groups, after a furious letter from him leaked to the press last week.
In the letter, Huckabee threatened to declare that Israel no longer welcomes Christians, over what he said was Jerusalem’s failure since January to approve tourist visas for evangelical missions, after launching investigations into several Christian groups at the start of 2025.
On Monday, Huckabee posted on X: “I am delighted to report that the issue has been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and the strong support that Israel enjoys from American evangelicals will continue.
“I’m convinced the Interior Minister was not fully aware of the change being imposed and I’m grateful he has personally intervened to completely restore the long-standing process,” he continued.
“Attorney Calev Myers, an Israeli attorney who represents some 150 Christian groups in Israel, was instrumental in outlining the request and the Prime Minister’s Office was supportive and involved in the resolution, along with the Minister of the Interior,” Huckabee said.
The Prime Minister’s Office has been silent regarding the visa affair.
Prior to Huckabee’s announcement, Myers told The Times of Israel that a solution had been reached, and credited “the hard work and fruitful cooperation between the US ambassador, the Ministry of Interior, and the Prime Minister’s Office.”
“The Evangelical Christian organizations active in Israel, which represent the vast majority of Zionists in the world today, will receive all of the visas they need through a streamlined and efficient application process,” Myers said.
The US ambassador fired off a seething letter to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel last Wednesday, in which he asserted that at the start of 2025, the Interior Ministry launched investigations into several evangelical Christian organizations with long ties to Israel, including the Baptist Conference in Israel and the Christian Missionary Alliance.
In the letter, Huckabee informed Arbel that these organizations were required to complete lengthy questionnaires and that they had still not received new visas for religious leaders to travel to Israel, despite submitting their applications at the beginning of the year.
Copies of Huckabee’s letter were also sent to Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
The private exchange that quickly turned public was followed by an apparent Israeli strike on Gaza’s sole Catholic church on Thursday that killed three people and injured several, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, drawing international condemnation and expression of “deep sorrow” from Israel. The military said the church was struck by accident, and that it was investigating what happened, and Netanyahu’s office issued a statement expressing regret.
Earlier last week week, Huckabee weighed in on unchecked settler violence in the West Bank for the first time, calling on the Israeli government to investigate the “terrorist killing” of a 20-year-old Palestinian-American in the village of Sinjil last week.
On Saturday, Huckabee visited the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh in the West Bank, which has been the scene of several attacks by settlers in recent weeks.