U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited an elementary school in the Eshkol Regional Council near the Gaza border Monday to mark the opening of the 2025–26 school year. Huckabee’s visit took place against the backdrop of explosions from the Gaza Strip caused by ongoing military operations.
In his opening remarks, school principal Eyal Dvori turned to Huckabee and said: “Yaffa Rudaeff, an art teacher who is here with us, is still waiting for her partner, Lior, whose body remains held in Gaza. Do everything in your power to bring back the hostages and end the war.”
Amb. Mike Huckabee responds to questions from Ynet
(Video: Herzl Yosef, Roni Green Shaulov)
During the visit, Huckabee was asked by Ynet whether the U.S. administration believes Israel should end the war and whether Washington is setting a deadline. “Israel has to get the hostages back and Israel has to defeat Hamas,” he said. “Those are the two goals that President Trump has made very clear — and how that happens is something that Israel has to decide.” He added that the objectives are also a condition to “protect children throughout the land of Israel."
On the question of a deadline, Huckabee said: “It is not our place to give a deadline, it is our place to stand with our friends.” He explained that “Israel was attacked, they did not attack anyone, they were attacked viciously and brutally ... they have a right to make sure that Hamas never harms them again."
He described the situation as complex because of the “stubbornness and the evil of Hamas.”
2 View gallery
Amb. Mike Huckabee visits the first day of a school on the southern border
(Photo: Herzl Yosef)
The ambassador also addressed international pressure, saying it should be directed at Hamas. “The pressure needs to be put on Hamas. They're the ones who created this. They're the ones that prolonged it; they're the ones that started the suffering, they're the ones who continued the suffering,” he said. “I want to know when the is world going to put pressure Hamas to feed the hostages. The pictures we are seeing of them are pictures of real starvation. They are being tortured — and I want the world to join with me in not only demanding their return but until their return treat them like human beings and give them some food.”
Huckabee, a Christian evangelical known as a staunch supporter of Israel, believes Israel has the right to annex the West Bank and integrate the Palestinian population living there into the state. When he began his tenure as ambassador in April, he visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem and blamed Hamas for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, saying: “They brought this upon the Gazans.”
Speaking about the group’s actions, Huckabee said its members “are not civilized, they are barbarians who carried out the most horrific massacre of people. They attacked not only soldiers, but also children, women, babies and defenseless elderly.” He added: “Everything we see in Gaza is the result of nothing but the hatred Hamas demonstrated and carried out on October 7. Now they are paying the price, and tragically many innocent people are experiencing the cost.”