Mike Huckabee Sure Sounds Like He's Threatening to BDS Israel

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee was anything but diplomatic when he wrote a letter to Israel's Interior Minister Moshe Arbel lambasting Israel for not swiftly approving tourist visas for Evangelical Christian groups. For his part, Arbel disputes Huckabee's claim. Huckabee wrote in part:

It would be very unfortunate that our embassy would have to publicly announce throughout the United States that the State of Israel is no longer welcoming Christian organizations and their representatives and is instead engaging in harassment and negative treatment toward organizations with long-standing relationships and positive involvement toward Zionism and friendship to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

What chutzpah!!! Huckabee has already falsely stated Israel is no longer welcoming Christian organizations and, for bad measure, is threatening reciprocal actions against Israelis seeking to visit the U.S. 

Would such restrictions apply to former hostages held by Hamas?

For all intents and purposes, Huckabee is taking a page from the Palestinians and threatening to boycott, divest and sanction Israel. In short, Huckabee is embracing BDS and threatening to implement as U.S. government policy.

But why?

Is this a personal agenda for Huckabee to ensure that Evangelical Christian organizations can come to Israel in the hope of converting Jews?

It might be part of the reason, but Huckabee is presumably acting on behalf of the Trump Administration. Given their mercurial nature, it could be about anything though chances are it revolves around money and wanting more of it. Or maybe they think Israel hasn't been thankful enough. Complicating matters further, there's also the optics of doing this in such a public manner rather than behind closed doors. 

Whatever their reasoning, this only reinforces my lack of trust in the Trump Administration (and Republicans at large) where it concerns Israel.