David Rubin
Two years ago, I had the privilege of being interviewed as a guest on Mike Huckabee’s radio show. It was a warm conversation with the media personality and former governor of Arkansas who had been a candidate for President of the United States in 2008, but even though some of our discussion was about politics, it wasn’t the political talk that made an impression on me.
What struck me then was that I didn’t feel like I was speaking to a politician, rather to a humble man who believes in God, in family, and in the biblical principles on which his country was founded. Yet it goes way beyond that, because Mike Huckabee, now once again a presidential candidate, is a passionate supporter of Israel. For Huckabee, standing with Israel isn’t just a slogan. When he is asked whether a supports a Palestinian state, he says “That depends on where you want to establish such a state”, clearly implying that establishing such an Islamic terrorist state in the biblical heartland of Israel - Judea and Samaria - the so-called West Bank - would be an unmitigated disaster for the survival of Israel and for the cause of freedom around the world. His common sense approach to foreign affairs tells him that such an entity would quickly become the main headquarters for local and worldwide Islamic terrorism.
The field of Republican candidates tends to be moderately pro-Israel, with most candidates strongly opposing the Iran nuclear deal that the Obama administration has been trying to ram down Congressional throats before they read its sordid details. However, only one of the candidates is on the record as opposing the poisonous “land for peace” formula that calls on Israel to surrender its historic, biblical heartland to the Fatah and Hamas terrorists of the Palestinian Authority.
It’s relatively easy in the court of American public opinion to say that Israel “has a right to exist”, but it takes much more courage and integrity to stand against the attempts to carve up Israel into pieces. Gov. Huckabee has the courage of his convictions and he proved that once again today by visiting Ancient Shiloh in the heart of Samaria. Shiloh was the capital of Israel for 369 years in the days of Joshua, Hannah, and Samuel the Prophet. In fact, the great biblical leader Joshua spoke to the current “Palestinian State Challenge” 3,300 years before its time, proclaiming to the Israelites, “How long will you wait, before coming to take possession of the Land that the Lord, God of your fathers has given you?” (Joshua 18:3)
That challenge remains before us today, as the world pressure on Jewish rights in the biblical heartland of Israel is increasing every day. Will the free world stand with Israel against the forces of darkness? Hopefully, we will soon see how the other presidential candidates will stake their ground on this issue, but at least one candidate has made his position clear, and therefore, I wish Governor Mike Huckabee great success in 2016!