For Iran, ‘Israel is the appetizer and the U.S. is the entree,’ new ambassador said as he submitted his diplomatic credentials
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee conveyed a message to the growing isolationist camp on the American right as he submitted his diplomatic credentials on Monday: Maintaining close relations with Israel and countering the Iranian nuclear threat are beneficial to Americans. “The Iranian regime and all the hostility it has inflicted on the world for 46 years continues to threaten not only the peace of Israel but the peace of the United States,” Huckabee said in the ceremony at the residence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog. “Iranians have always said, ‘Death to Israel,’ and chapter two is ‘Death to America’… Israel is the appetizer, and the United States is the entree.” “We care deeply about the threats that face Israel because those are also the threats that face our country,” he added. In remarks Huckabee specifically directed at his “American colleagues,” he said that Israel and the U.S. “share the values of the Bible. We share the understanding that the Judeo-Christian foundation is the foundation of all of Western civilization. Without it, there is no sense of democracy, and love, appreciation and respect of the individuals. “It’s also important for Americans to know that, while we hope to be a good friend of Israel and provide assistance when we can, I never want Americans to think that we Americans are not greatly benefitted by our partnership with Israel. “People sometimes only think that Israel benefits from the United States,” he explained. “The truth is the United States benefits a great deal from Israel, and not just militarily. We certainly benefit from the technology, from the innovation, from defense systems that were developed here, but there’s a much more important and long-lasting side where Americans benefit in agriculture, technology, medical advancement. “It is not a one-way street,” Huckabee told JNS. “The relationship between the United States and Israel is not ceremonial. It’s deep. It’s rooted in our love of democracy and our love of the Judeo-Christian understanding that every life has worth and value,” he said. Asked about demands on Israel to resume aid in Gaza amid a now 18-month war in the Strip, Huckabee did not press Israel, saying that Hamas “brought this upon themselves.”
Noting that the entire war was preventable, Huckabee stated, “If Hamas had been a civil people, if they had been something less than savages that massacred, in the most vicious way, innocent civilians … they did not attack soldiers. They attacked civilians. They attacked women, children, babies, helpless, elderly people.
“Everything that people see there is not the result of anything other than the vicious hatred that Hamas harbors and carried out on October the 7th.”
Hamas is now “paying the price,” he said. “And tragically, so many innocent people are paying the price for the sins and the evil of these monsters.”
Regarding negotiations taking place between the United States and Tehran over its illicit nuclear weapons program, Huckabee said, “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. They will not be in a position where that they can threaten the peace, not just of Israel, but all of the people of the rest of the world.”
Expressing the position of the United States, Huckabee went on to explain, “Let’s never forget that the Iranians have not simply threatened Israel with extinction, which they have repeatedly over 46 years. But they have also threatened the United States. They don’t just say ‘Death to Israel,’ they say ‘Death to America.’”
He continued, “There’s an old saying that when people tell you over and again they’re going to kill you, you might want to take them seriously.
“I don’t think that this is just about Israel. Israel has often been called the little Satan and the U.S., the great Satan. I’d put it in simpler terms for the Iranians, Israel is the appetizer and the U.S. is the entrée. Whatever happens to Israel at the hands of the Iranians is intended to happen to those of us in the United States.
