Huckabee calls Mormons, Christians, Jews 'people of the Book' at Senate hearing
Mike Huckabee, President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel, told lawmakers he believes Mormons, Jews and Christians share a "spiritual" connection.
Huckabee, a prominent Evangelical, former governor of Arkansas and outspoken Zionist, faced a barrage of questions on the Mideast during his Senate confirmation hearing last Tuesday on Capitol Hill. Trump nominated Huckabee shortly after his reelection, touting him as a key figure to advance U.S. policy in the region, including a long-sought peace deal to end the 17-month war between Israel and Hamas.
The exchange began when Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah said his home state "has a very special relationship with Israel."
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"I like to tease my friends with ties to Israel that until I was 18, I thought I grew up in Zion in Utah. We have Zion Park, we have a Jordan River. There's lots of ties," he said. "One of those ties is Brigham Young University, sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), that has a campus there."
Responding to a question from Curtis about his feelings toward LDS, Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist minister, said, "The respect that I have for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is extraordinary because I respect very much the commitment to family, to moral righteousness, to a sense of right and wrong."
He tied this admiration to his view of the state of Israel, noting, "Israel, in many ways, is a reflection of our own heritage and history. It is the Judeo-Christian law that there is a right and there is a wrong upon which all of Western civilization is built, but certainly our system of government."
He compared America's constitutional republic to the democratic political system in Israel, adding, "No country across the globe that more mirrors our own struggle and our own level of democracy than does the state of Israel, and it's one of the reasons that it is a natural ally."
While some Protestant pastors believe that Mormonism is akin to a "cult," Huckabee appeared in the hearing to equate the religious beliefs of Mormonism with Protestant churches and Jewish synagogues in the U.S.
"The spiritual connections between your church, mine, many churches in America, Jewish congregations, to the state of Israel is because we ultimately are people of the Book," he said. "We believe the Bible, and therefore that connection is not geopolitical, it is also spiritual, and to ignore that, to deny that, would be to make it very difficult for us to ever understand how to go forward in a relationship with them."
Huckabee's response to Curtis' question was in stark contrast to his response to a similar line of questioning during the 2008 presidential campaign when Huckabee asked former Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"
Huckabee later apologized to Romney and said the question was taken out of context:
"I was horrified when I read that, and I apologized to Mitt Romney because, first of all, I don't think that his being a Mormon or not being a Mormon has a thing to do with his being president."
The former governor concluded his Israel remarks with a nod to Utah, promising to carry the senators' message back and inviting a future meeting at Brigham Young University's Jerusalem Center, which he praised as "a beautiful, beautiful facility on the Mount of Olives."
His remarks at the March 25 hearing came under scrutiny from Democratic senators who are concerned about his opposition to a two-state solution and past support for Israel's annexation of the West Bank. When pressed by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., about annexation, Huckabee clarified: "If confirmed, it will be my duty to carry out the president's policies, not mine." He acknowledged that he "previously supported" such a move. He distinguished between stealing land — "that's a problem" — and purchasing it, calling the latter "a legitimate transaction."
Huckabee's long support for Christian Zionism and rejection of Palestinian statehood drew sharp criticism from liberal Jewish groups and others wary of his views. The hearing was briefly disrupted by progressive protesters, including members of the Jewish group IfNotNow, who chanted "Jews say no" and "Free Palestine" before being removed.
Despite the protests, Huckabee is widely expected to be approved by the Republican-led Senate panel.
