US President Donald Trump’s man in Jerusalem, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, dismissed reports that there was tension between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Iran and Israel’s escalation of hostilities in Lebanon.
“The reality is that these are two people who respect each other very much, who communicate probably more regularly than any two world leaders alive today,” Huckabee told CBC News.
Huckabee, 70, sat for an interview at the US embassy’s satellite facility in Jerusalem a day before Trump signaled that the US and Iran had agreed to a draft agreement to end the war.
Netanyahu said that Israel is not a party to the agreement with Iran.
The interview followed reports of a tense phone call in which Trump was reportedly frustrated with Netanyahu over his decision to resume attacks on Beirut last Sunday, days after a US-brokered ceasefire. During phone call June 1stthe American leader called the Israeli prime minister “damn crazy” and urged him not to attack the capital of Lebanon.
Netanyahu relented for a moment. But after a few days — after Hezbollah fired rockets toward northern Israel — he ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beiruta stronghold of Hezbollah.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee admits he was not involved in the conversation between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Axios reports Trump called Netanyahu “crazy”. Huckabee says he was on the follow-up calls and believes the tension between the two leaders has been exaggerated.
Huckabee, who said he wasn’t involved in the conversation but was involved in the follow-up, says the two leaders remain close and largely on the same page.
“They share a lot of mutual interests,” he said. “They don’t always agree, but most of the time they do — and they agree on the main principle, which is that Israel is a strong partner of the United States.’
“Annoyance” in relations with Iran
Ambassador Huckabee, in one of his first on-camera interviews since the February 28 US and Israeli strikes on Iran, acknowledged the US president’s growing frustration with getting Iran to agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war.
“I see in what he’s saying, there’s frustration, there’s irritation,” Huckabee said. “He feels he’s giving them every opportunity to resolve it diplomatically. And they’ve delayed and delayed and delayed.”
The interview took place on Wednesday, the day after the conflict erupted in an explosion of retaliatory strikes downed American Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz, testing the shaky ceasefire.
The US ambassador said on social media that “the neighborhood might get a little spicy soon.” He has been more diplomatic in person, but has made it clear that Trump’s patience is running out when it comes to negotiations with Iran. “He’s a patient person, but that has its limits,” Huckabee said.
No – to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon
In an interview with a conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson In February, Huckabee, a former pastor who calls himself a Christian Zionist, said he would be “fine” with Israel taking control of all the land God gave to Abraham’s descendants in Genesis, an area that would encompass most of the modern Middle East.
But when asked by CBC News if he agreed with the fringe Israeli group, he called Uri Zaphonwhich advocates the occupation and construction of permanent Jewish settlements in southern Lebanon, Huckabee was quick to say no.
“I don’t know anyone in the Israeli government who supports it. Israel has made it very clear that they are not interested in annexing parts of Lebanon. This is not on the table for them,” he said.
“There may be other people who say this, but there is nothing in the government of Israel that is even an aspiration for them. Israel would like to have a peaceful, secure border. Full stop.”
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for annexation of the territory of Lebanon south of the Litani River.
Currently, the Israeli military occupies approximately one-fifth of Lebanon’s territory. More than 3,700 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since March 2, when the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group launched attacks from Lebanon to Israel after strikes on Iran, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Huckabee said he did not know the number, but could name the number of Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah.
“It’s terrible. But who is responsible for this? I would say that Hezbollah… Just as Hamas is responsible for the destruction and desolation of Gaza,” he said.
Huckabee and his colleagues from the US State Department are in the lead peace talks between Israel and Lebanonbringing together officials from both countries in Washington for rare one-on-one talks, with the next meeting scheduled for June 22.
“The fact that Israel and Lebanon are in the same hall is a historic moment in itself,” he said.
But while representatives of the two governments hold regular meetings, the Israeli military and Hezbollah. — which has rejected the ceasefire plan — keep fighting. According to United Nations estimates, since the beginning of the latest round of hostilities more than a million Lebanese were moved.
Canada and other US allies are at loggerheads over the West Bank
On Tuesday, Canada, Great Britain, France, Norway and Australia announced sanctions against several Israeli settlers and organizations for inciting and/or facilitating violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It’s a move that would be very much in sync with the former US administration under Joe Biden, but not with the Trump administration.
“Sanctions were unsuccessful, ill-timed, and this is only an attack on one side of the problem,” Huckabee said.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee believes Canada’s decision to impose sanctions against Israeli settlers and organizations accused of violence against Palestinians was “unfortunate” and “untimely”.
Attacks on Palestinians have increased sharply since October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and abducting another 250. In response, subsequent Israeli attacks on Hamas-controlled Gaza led to deaths about 73,000 Palestiniansaccording to health authorities, as well as mass resettlement and destruction of a large part of the territory.
From January 2025 to April 2026, the United Nations documented 2,595 attacks by settlers on Palestinians in 280 settlements in the West Bank which resulted in casualties and/or property damage.
One of Trump’s first moves as president when it came to the Middle East was to lift all US sanctions on Israeli settlers.
Huckabee acknowledged that Israel can and should do a better job of preventing settler violence and punishing those who commit acts of violence against Palestinians. But he did not say whether the US would pressure Israel to do so.
Mike Huckabee says he was “horrified” by the killing of a seven-month-old Palestinian baby by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. The Israeli military said it was investigating.
“Look, if there are acts of terrorism that the Israelis commit against the Palestinians, they should be totally condemned,” he said.
But Huckabee accused Canada and other allies of being “out of step” with the U.S., suggesting it has punished Israel unfairly.
“I mean, they accused Israel of things that are completely ridiculous,” he said. “When some of these countries accuse Israel of genocide, that is absurd.”