US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has recast Israel’s devastating war on Gaza — which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and is under investigation for genocide — as a “spiritual conflict” between good and evil.
In an interview with CBN News on Thursday, Huckabee urged Christians worldwide to rally behind Israel, highlighting how religious ideology continues to shape US political backing for Tel Aviv, even in the face of mounting international outrage over Israeli war crimes and genocide charges in Gaza.
Huckabee argued that the fighting and the mounting international criticism of Israel cannot be understood solely in political or military terms. He described the crisis as “a battle of the ages,” one that he said pits “heaven versus hell” and “good versus evil.”
He also urged Christian believers in the United States and across the world to support Israel, saying Christians should stand with Israel, not “because you agree with their government and everything. You stand with Israel because Israel is standing for a tradition of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and for the law, for the light, for the foundation of Western civilisation itself.”
Huckabee’s remarks underscore how Washington’s political class continues to frame unconditional support for Israel through religious ideology rather than international law or human rights, even as the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and the International Court of Justice investigates Israel on genocide charges.
Portraying Israel’s critics as aligned with “forces seeking to annihilate not just every Jew but every Christian,” Huckabee argued that Hamas and other resistance groups threaten Christianity itself.
Such rhetoric reinforces a long-standing fusion of US evangelical beliefs with pro-Israel policy, casting the war as a biblical struggle while obscuring the reality of mass civilian suffering in Gaza.
‘It makes no sense’
Huckabee also lashed out at the United Nations, calling it “off the charts” in its actions toward Israel. “It’s insane how anti-Semitic the UN has become. I don’t understand it. It makes no sense to me,” he said.
His comments come as the famine spreads in the enclave under Israel’s blockade and forced starvation, with international agencies warning of deliberate policies targeting civilians.
Israel has already killed more than 64,200 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military offensive has devastated the enclave, which is facing Israeli-made famine.
Huckabee’s framing is not an isolated case. For decades, American politicians have invoked religious and civilisational narratives to justify wars and interventions in the Middle East, from the invasion of Iraq to the occupation of Afghanistan.
By casting Gaza as a battlefield of “heaven versus hell,” Washington’s political class once again cloaks a geopolitical and humanitarian crisis in biblical terms — a move that deflects from Israeli war crimes and genocide accusations while reinforcing a prejudiced, ideologically driven alliance with Israel.
