U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is pushing back against church leaders in Jerusalem who criticized Christian Zionism, telling Newsmax on Wednesday the term is being unfairly maligned and misunderstood by those claiming to speak for Christians in the Holy Land.
In an interview with "Newsline" host Bianca de la Garza, Huckabee criticized a recent letter from church patriarchs and leaders in Jerusalem, saying it unfairly portrayed Christian Zionism as a "damaging" ideology and wrongly claimed exclusive authority to speak for Christians in the Holy Land.
"I found that a little bit troubling," he said, "because I'm not sure that anybody has the exclusivity to speak for all Christians in the world."
The letter argued that Christian Zionism advances "damaging ideologies." Huckabee said that framing distorts what Christian Zionism actually means.
"There was also a very, very targeted kind of a pejorative hit at the term Christian Zionist," he said. "I consider myself a Christian Zionist."
"All that means is that, yes, I'm a Christian," said Huckabee.
"But to be a Zionist doesn't mean anything nefarious. It simply means that you believe that the Jewish people have a divine right and, frankly, a geopolitical right to a homeland that they have lived in for almost 4,000 years."
He rejected the idea that Christian Zionism should be viewed with suspicion or fear.
"So to say a person is a Christian Zionist, it's a Christian who respects that Jewish people should be living in the Holy Land," Huckabee said.
"To say that it's somehow some term that ought to be fearful or, as Tucker Carlson said, is indicative of a brain virus, there are tens of millions of evangelicals just in the United States who would be called Christian Zionists."
"Martin Luther King Jr. … was a Christian Zionist," he said. "So it should not be something that is divisive to Christians."
"It ought to be a term that every Christian should embrace."
In the same interview, Huckabee also commented on President Donald Trump's pursuit of Greenland, calling it strategically sound and globally beneficial.
"If it's good for the U.S. to put defensive forces in a preventive mode, then I'll tell you something: It's not just good for America, it's good for the world. It's great for Europe."
"I think the European nations should be giving him a standing ovation for the fact that he had the courage to say, 'This is a very strategic piece of land,'" he added.
Huckabee dismissed critics who doubt Trump's ability to carry out unconventional initiatives.
"I would say pop the popcorn, sit back and watch," he said.
"This is a president who can do things that everyone scoffs at and says, 'Ah, that'll never happen; he can't do that.' And then he does it."
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