Led by the evangelical U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, U.S. Christian leaders, GOP lawmakers and right-wing influencers are voicing once-rare criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank. ‘The Israeli government is really screwing up. This horrific war must come to a complete end,’ says one conservative pundit
By Ben Samuels, reposted from Haaretz, July 20, 2025
WASHINGTON – A recent wave of violence against Palestinian Christians in Gaza and the West Bank is deepening divisions within President Donald Trump’s political base over U.S. support for Israel, as frustration grows among evangelical leaders and other religious conservatives.
The outrage intensified after an Israeli airstrike struck the Holy Family Catholic Church on Thursday – Gaza’s only Catholic church – killing three people and wounding at least nine. The Israel Defense Forces claimed the strike was unintentional.
The incident prompted a direct phone call from Trump to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, followed by a rare public expression of “deep regret” from the Israeli premier. Pope Leo XIV and other major religious figures also issued sharp condemnations. Netanyahu was forced to call the Pope himself to express “Israel’s regret” for what he called a “tragic incident.”
In an equally rare occurrence, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the highest-ranking Catholic official in the region, was granted access to Gaza. During his visit, he met with victims and offered aid at the site of the church strike.
Speaking to Italy’s Corriere della Sera, Pizzaballa affirmed that the Catholic presence in Gaza would remain “whatever happens,” while doubting Israel’s claim that the strike was accidental. “We are not a target. They say it was an error. Even if everybody here believes it wasn’t,” he said.
This latest issue emerges amid an already splintered MAGA-world, where debates over Trump’s backing of Israel during the Iran war and conspiracy theories linking Jeffrey Epstein to Israeli intelligence have sparked deep internal rifts.
However, the escalating violence in Gaza and the West Bank hits significantly closer to home for many of Trump’s more traditionally conservative supporters, who may be less swayed by flashy controversies but more by harm to Christians than other elements of the GOP.
Highlighting just how volatile the issue has become for the U.S.-Israel relationship, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee – a longtime advocate for Israel’s territorial claims in the West Bank based on his evangelical Christian beliefs – has issued rare condemnations of Israeli policies he says are harming Christians, both Palestinian and around the world.
His most high-profile rebuke came during a visit to the West Bank village of Taybeh, where Israeli settlers recently torched a local church.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (center) shakes hands with Greek Orthodox priest Father Daoud Khoury during a visit to Taybeh on July 19. “That is a sacrilege. It’s against the Holy,” Huckabee said.
“To commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship, it is an act of terror, and it is a crime […] There should be […] harsh consequences,” Huckabee said while he was in Taybeh, adding: “People need to pay a price for doing something that destroys that which belongs, not just to other people, but that which belongs to God. That is a sacrilege. It’s against the Holy.”
Although Huckabee’s recent appearance at Netanyahu’s corruption trial was undoubtedly welcomed by the Israeli government, his visit to Taybeh marked the second time in recent days he has publicly condemned actions by Israeli settlers. The first followed the fatal beating by settlers of 20-year-old Palestinian-American Sayfollah “Saif” Musallet.
Beyond his public remarks, Huckabee has also taken a firm stance over what he said was the Israeli government’s mistreatment of Christians attempting to enter Israel on pilgrimage visits.
Huckabee and Taybeh Mayor Suleiman Khourieh (center right) tour the fifth-century Church of St. George in Taybeh on July 19. Huckabee has issued rare criticism of Israeli policies affecting Palestinian and international Christians.
In a sharp letter to Minister of Interior Moshe Arbel, Huckabee threatened to publicly declare that Israel is no longer welcoming to Christian groups.
“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,” he wrote, noting that Israel has launched investigations into several evangelical groups with long-standing ties to Israel.
He then warned that if the pattern of “expense and bureaucratic harassment for the granting of routine visas” continued, the U.S. might consider “reciprocal visa restrictions on Israeli citizens,” effectively threatening Israel’s inclusion in the coveted U.S. Visa Waiver Program.
“The United States and evangelical Christian organizations are your friends. We feel we are being treated as adversaries,” he added, warning “surely this is NOT the relationship the State of Israel wishes to have with its best partner and friend on the planet.”
The backlash has reached deep into the GOP, where prominent conservatives have expressed scathing criticism of Israeli military actions.
“You’re losing me,” said influential conservative pundit Michael Knowles. “The Israeli government is really screwing up. This horrific war must come to a complete end.
Rep. Riley Moore offered a rare criticism of Israel from House Republicans, warning that “though it has yet to be determined how exactly this occurred, I would urge Israel to utilize their military target discrimination capabilities to ensure the protection of Catholic churches and other Christian sites.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump’s most vocal MAGA-aligned critics over his support for Israel’s war with Iran, took it further. Citing the Gaza church strike, she proposed slashing $500 million in U.S. military aid to Israel. “An entire population is being wiped out,” she said from the House floor. “Meanwhile, Americans are $37 trillion in debt.”
Her amendment was overwhelmingly defeated in a 422–6 vote, with only Rep. Thomas Massie, another frequent critic of U.S. support for Israel, joining her.
While the recent outcry has been especially vocal, Christian skepticism toward Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is nothing new. This backlash is part of a broader shift in how American Christians, particularly evangelicals, view Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Increasingly, even theologically conservative Christians are expressing discomfort with what they see as injustice in the Holy Land.
Tucker Carlson, the top MAGA-world thought leader, made this particularly clear when he hosted Bethlehem pastor Rev. Munther Isaac on Tucker Carlson’s “Uncensored” show on X last year. On it, Isaac told the right-winger that Israel was committing a form of genocide in Gaza and added that “fellow Christians are suffering.”
Todd Deatherage, co-founder of the Telos Group, an organization focused on conflict resolution (particularly intractable conflicts, and particularly the Middle East), told Haaretz earlier this year, “Many American Christians want to bless Israel. But they want to bless Palestinians too.”
Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace, echoed these concerns. Speaking to Haaretz last year, Cannon warned, “What’s happening in Gaza will ultimately result in the eradication of the Christian community in the very place where it began. You have a population in Gaza of Christians that’s less than 1,000 people.”
Ben Samuels is a journalist for Haaretz.
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