^{US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee arrives for a court hearing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial at the Tel Aviv District Court, July 16, 2025 (Flash90)}

In a display of solidarity, United States Ambassador Mike Huckabee attended a hearing at the Tel Aviv District Court for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial on Wednesday.

Huckabee shook hands and spoke briefly with Netanyahu in a warm encounter at the court. “It’s just unfortunate that a person who’s involved in trying to get rid of a war, get hostages home, is going through the distraction [of this trial] that is very time-consuming and difficult,” said Huckabee. “The president understands it, because that’s what he’s been through in the United States.”

“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 said at an event in Tel Aviv prior to his arrival at the court.

Asked by an interviewer to explain the unusual decision, Huckabee referenced the bond between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, who last month explicitly demanded an end to the trial, describing it as a “witch hunt.”

Trump’s comments drew widespread complaints from critics on both sides of the aisle in Israel who said the US president was interfering in Israel’s internal politics.

“It’s a matter of representing what the president has said repeatedly,” Huckabee said.

“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,” said the envoy.

Huckabee said the friendship between the two 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,” he said. “We have allies, but we only have one partner, Israel. It’s a unique relationship.”

Huckabee was photographed with a Bugs Bunny toy at the courthouse, a reference to allegations in the trial that Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, had requested that billionaire Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan bring a huge Bugs Bunny stuffed toy with him to his first meeting with the couple, for their son, Yair. “It’s not about the judges, it’s about the charges that are being brought, basically over cigars and Bugs Bunny,” he said. “I would maybe think that if Bugs Bunny had had a cigar instead of a carrot, maybe this all would go away.”

Netanyahu was being cross-examined Wednesday regarding Case 1000, in which he is accused of fraud and breach of trust for allegedly providing various favors to Milchan, who gave the prime minister and his family luxury goods worth hundreds of thousands of shekels.

Immediately after Huckabee arrived at the Tel Aviv District Court, the hearing was changed to a closed-door session due to the issue under discussion, requiring the US envoy, and all other members of the viewing public, to leave.

Netanyahu, Huckabee and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who was also present in court, did, however, have a photograph taken together in a room just outside the courtroom.

Prior to Huckabee’s arrival, the hearing had been halted briefly after Netanyahu was handed a note from Military Secretary Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, who arrived at the court to speak with the prime minister.

“I have to see him immediately. He doesn’t usually come here,” Netanyahu told the judges, who granted him permission to leave the courtroom to speak with Gofman. Following an approximately 20-minute break Netanyahu returned to the court.

Army Radio reported the interruption revolved around Israeli Druze leaders holding an emergency meeting following reports of renewed attacks by Syrian forces on the Druze city of Druze-majority city of Sweida. The report said there were fears that Druze living in Israel may start deserting the IDF and crossing into Syria en masse to try and help their brethren.

The hearing ended early due to the developments in Syria and IDF strikes in that country.

Prosecutor Yonatan Tadmor had been questioning Netanyahu specifically on the allegation that he tried to help Milchan obtain a long-term US visa.

Milchan disclosed in 2013 that he had done clandestine work for Israel’s security agencies. It is alleged that Netanyahu intervened with then-US secretary of state John Kerry to get Milchan the long-term visa he sought.

Netanyahu suggested earlier in the hearing that it become a closed-door session in order to discuss these details.

Huckabee is not the first ambassador to attend Netanyahu’s trial. In March, Japanese Ambassador to Israel Arai Yusuke visited the court during Netanyahu’s criminal trial. Arai’s office told The Times of Israel at the time only that the envoy was “present at the courthouse as part of his diplomatic mission.”

Souce: The Times of Israel

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.