From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
US envoy Huckabee to attend Netanyahu trial to show support
Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
In an unusual move, United States Ambassador Mike Huckabee says he will attend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s court hearing today to show his support for the premier.
“I’m going to go by today and sit through a little of it. It should be very interesting to be a witness to it,” Huckabee says, speaking at an event in Tel Aviv this morning.
Asked by an interviewer to explain the unusual decision, Huckabee references the bond between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, who last month explicitly demanded an end to Netanyahu’s trial, describing it as a “witch hunt.”
The move drew widespread criticism that he was interfering in Israel’s internal politics.
“It’s a matter of representing what the president has said repeatedly,” Huckabee says, “The president has made his position very clear. He has not intervened in the proceedings or in the outcome. He recognizes that has to go its own way. But it’s a personal thing for him. He considers the prime minister a friend.”
Huckabee says the friendship between the leaders was strengthened by Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last week: “They had an extraordinary bonding, if you will. And there’s such a partnership between the United States and Israel…We have allies, but we only have one partner, Israel. It’s a unique relationship.”
The Times of Israel Community.