Huckabee Attributes Declining US Support for Israel to Lack of Biblical Literacy

A Pew Research poll conducted in April indicated that 60 percent of the US adult population held an unfavorable view of Israel. US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee stated that the recent decline in public opinion towards Israel in the United States is due to a lack of "biblical literacy." In an interview with NewsNation on Thursday, Huckabee identified three factors contributing to the waning support for Israel: disinformation and foreign propaganda, a disdain for those who believe in God, and a lack of knowledge about the Bible. He remarked, "You add all that together, I guess you just want to be mad at Israel and blame them for everything." Huckabee asserted that claims of genocide in Gaza and accusations of Israel being an apartheid state are unfounded, suggesting that Americans would have a more favorable view of Israel if they understood the truth. The same Pew Research poll revealed that while favorable opinions of Israel remained relatively strong at 65 percent among white evangelicals, 60 percent of the overall US adult population viewed Israel unfavorably. An AP-NORC poll from July indicated that more Americans believed Israel committed genocide in Gaza than those who did not, although about half of respondents stated they did not have enough information to answer. The decline in support for Israel has raised concerns, especially as critics of Israel, such as Zohran Mamdani, have won significant elections, including the New York City mayoral race. During his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Mamdani, stating that Jewish residents in New York expressed feelings of insecurity. Netanyahu's popularity in the US has also declined, with the Pew survey showing that more than half of Americans do not trust him to handle world affairs appropriately. Mamdani has previously stated his opposition to hatred and bigotry, including anti-Semitism, but he pledged to execute an International Criminal Court warrant for Netanyahu for war crimes during Netanyahu's next visit to New York City, although he later concluded that the city lacked the legal authority to do so.