US Ambassador to "Israel" Mike Huckabee has threatened to publicly declare that "Israel" no longer welcomes Christian groups to the entity over what he called its failure to approve tourist visas for evangelical missions.

Huckabee issued the threat in a letter sent on Wednesday to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, which was later leaked to Israeli media on Thursday, prompting Arbel to dispute the allegations in a response letter obtained by The Times of Israel.

In his letter, Huckabee warned that he could direct his embassy to impose similar restrictions on Israeli travelers applying for US visas.

Huckabee's harsh letter marked a sudden rift given his strong pro-"Israel" stance and government ties, though the issue of Christian groups visiting "Israel" is personal for him after decades of leading such trips as a pastor.

The letter at hand

“It is with great distress that I write to you my profound disappointment that the meeting held in your office has not resulted in what I hoped to be a simple resolution of the issue of routine granting of visas for Christian organizations and workers, as has been practiced for decades,” Huckabee said in the letter.

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Huckabee also noted that since the beginning of 2025, the Interior Ministry had initiated investigations into several evangelical Christian organizations with longstanding connections to "Israel", such as the Baptist Conference in Israel and the Christian Missionary Alliance.

He pointed out that these groups had been required to fill out extensive questionnaires, yet still had not received new visas for their religious leaders despite having submitted their applications at the start of the year.

“It would be very unfortunate that our embassy would have to publicly announce throughout the United States that the State of Israel is no longer welcoming Christian organizations and their representatives and is instead engaging in harassment and negative treatment toward organizations with long-standing relationships and positive involvement toward Zionism and friendship to the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” the US envoy added.

Huckabee copied his letter to multiple top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.

He warned that beyond threatening to publicly declare "Israel" no longer welcomes Christian groups, he would also caution American Christians that their donations are not appreciated by Israeli authorities, while suggesting tourists may want to rethink travel plans to the occupied territories unless the visa issue gets resolved.

Straying from standard protocol between US, 'Israel'

Upon receiving the letter, Arbel, who belongs to the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, expressed his particular surprise at how the ambassador chose to present his concerns while maintaining that every visa request personally brought to his office had been processed within an unusually quick timeframe.

Arbel stated that he considered this approach to be inconsistent with standard diplomatic protocols and not representative of the productive working relationship they had developed, emphasizing that the bilateral ties between the US and "Israel" remain one of their most important and cherished alliances.

The leaked exchange followed an Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic church that killed three and wounded several others, according to the Latin Patriarchate, drawing international condemnation. The Israeli occupation forces claimed the attack was accidental.