Huckabee condemns efforts to erase Jewish history to the Holy Land as ‘absurd’
EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee stressed the importance of acknowledging the Jewish people's historic connection to the Land of Israel, describing global efforts to deny this link as "absurd."
"First of all, archeology is a daily reminder of the connection between this land and the Jewish people going all the way back to 3,500 to 3,800 years, whether it’s Shilo, whether it's Jerusalem," Huckabee told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview in Jerusalem on Thursday.
His comments came as Jews worldwide celebrate Shavuot, the biblical holiday commemorating God's giving of the Torah to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
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Huckabee pointed to archaeological evidence as strong support for the biblical account. "The excavations at the City of David alone are a validation of the biblical record of what really did happen here. Sometimes people on the far-left love to say 'follow the science, follow the science,' and I would say to them, as it relates to the land and the connections to the Jewish people, follow the science of archaeology."
The remarks come amid an ongoing diplomatic war by the Palestinian Authority — which was granted non-member observer state status at the United Nations in 2012 — to revise historical narratives in international forums where anti-Israel majorities are common.
For example, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2016 registered the Cave of the Patriarchs — the burial site of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives Sarah, Rebecca and Leah, located in Hebron—under the name of the "State of Palestine" on its "List of World Heritage in Danger."
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In a separate move, the U.N. General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution in 2021 referring to the Temple Mount — Judaism’s holiest site, located in Jerusalem but beyond the 1967 borders — solely by its Islamic name, "Haram al-Sharif."
"For 20 years, I have been pushing back against an effort from the PA, Hamas, European-funded anti-Israel NGOs, and the U.N. to try and prevent excavations from coming to life," said Doron Spielman, author of the new book "When the Stones Speak: The Remarkable Discovery of the City of David and What Israel's Enemies Don't Want You to Know," a book that shows the historical and indigenous connection to the Holy Land of the Jews.
"There are thousands of discoveries that prove the connection of the Jewish people to the biblical heartland, but in particular the clay seal impressions of Yehuchal—the son of Shelemiah—and Gedaliah—the son of Pashur—that were found at the site believed to be King David’s palace," explained Spielman. "They are directly quoted in the Bible as having attempted to kill the prophet Jeremiah."
In 2008, Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazar revealed the discovery of a clay seal impression, or bulla, bearing the name Gedaliah, son of Pashhur. The artifact was unearthed during a dig in the City of David, located just south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The bulla was found close to where, in 2005, a similar seal inscribed with the name Yehuchal had been discovered.
Both individuals are known from the bible as officials who served under King Zedekiah, the final monarch of the Kingdom of Judah before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple in 587 B.C.
"The bullas can be seen, they are on display at the Israel Museum and in traveling exhibitions. They have gone from one side of the world to the other because the Palestinians created a narrative attempting to erase any connection between Jews, and by extension Christians, to the Land of Israel," continued Spielman.
Huckabee emphasized that archaeological discoveries continue to affirm the scriptural narrative connecting the Jewish people to the land.
"Every time some new discovery is unearthed it validates the biblical record, so the proof is pretty strong that that connection is not something that goes back to 1948 or 1917 the Balfour Declaration - it goes all the way back to the time of Abraham. That’s pretty far back," he said.
For his part, Spielman voiced concern that the message isn’t resonating with the mainstream, particularly among younger generations.
"On campuses in the U.S., people are chanting 'From the River to the Sea,' and calling the Jews colonizers," he said, in reference to the mantra calling for the "liberation" of "Palestine" through the elimination of Israel.
"This expression comes from people taught to believe that the Jews have no connection to the Land of Israel, and I’m fearful because it leads to violence. When people come to erase your history, they are on their way to trying to erase you as a nation.
"We have seen it before and if we do not stop the trend, it will happen again," he added.