Huckabee visit with spy fuels MAGA's Israel divide
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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee testifies at his Senate confirmation hearing on March 25, 2025. Photo: Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images
Israel Ambassador Mike Huckabee's meeting with an American convicted of spying for Israel is adding to MAGA's festering divide over the United States' ties to Jerusalem.
Why it matters: The right's outrage over Huckabee's visit with Jonathan Pollard — and the White House's defense of it – showed that the movement's fissure over how closely to align with Israel isn't closing anytime soon.
- In a week that mostly focused on MAGA's approach to Jeffrey Epstein, affordability and policy entanglements in the Persian Gulf and Africa, the right still found its way back to debates over Israel and antisemitism.
What they're saying: MAGA activists tore into Huckabee, a devout evangelical and Israel supporter, accusing him of putting support for Israel over U.S. national security.
- "Completely indefensible," posted activist Mike Cernovich. "Pollard has gone on record since his return to Israel, claiming it's a moral duty to spy on the United States."
- Huckabee "has been totally out of control," Steve Bannon, a former aide to President Trump and host of the "War Room" podcast said on his show Friday.
- "You can't sit down with traitors," right-wing podcaster and former Navy intelligence officer Jack Posobiec added on his own show.
Catch up quick: The New York Times first reported Thursday that Huckabee had met with Pollard at the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem in July.
- Pollard, a former naval intelligence analyst, spent 30 years in prison in the U.S. for giving Israel classified documents. He was released on parole in 2015 and in 2020 moved to Israel, where the right considers him a hero.
- "It was a friendly meeting," Pollard told the Times of the meeting. Huckabee told Axios that nothing was requested and nothing was granted. It wasn't immediately clear why the meeting was held in the first place.
In some of MAGA's darker corners, the Huckabee-Pollard meeting sparked conversations about "dual loyalty," the antisemitic trope that American Jews' allegiance is to Israel and that they're inherently disloyal to the U.S.
- Pollard's comments on the subject have been cited by conspiracy theorists since 2021, when he said that American Jews "consider themselves more American than they do Jews," and claimed "we will always have dual loyalty."
Zoom out: The fallout from the Huckabee-Pollard meeting is taking place as the right fights itself over U.S. ties to Israel.
- Some want to maintain America's historical close ties and military support, while others view Israel as an economic drain on America, in line with how MAGA views many other allies.
The debate within MAGA exploded in recent months amid Israel's war in Gaza, U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and the rise of far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes, who has spoken positively of Adolf Hitler and said the Holocaust was "exaggerated."
- It ultimately mushroomed into a debate over what criticism of Israel counts as antisemitism and what kind of rhetoric should be tolerated under MAGA's tent.
What they're saying: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday the White House was "not aware of the meeting" in advance, but that President Trump "stands by our ambassador, Mike Huckabee, and all that he's doing for the United States and Israel."
- The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
