After a months-long visa dispute that went public in a dramatic way last week, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee announced that the U.S. Embassy, Israel’s Interior Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office agreed on a solution to the visa issue that had limited the activities of Evangelical organizations in Israel.
“A solution has been reached to the satisfaction of all parties. The Evangelical Christian organizations active in Israel, which represent the vast majority of Zionists in the world today, will receive all of the visas they need through a streamlined and efficient application process,” Calev Myers, the attorney for the organizations, told ALL ISRAEL NEWS on Monday.
In the evening, Huckabee wrote on his X account that “the issue concerning visas for American Evangelical organizations has been fully resolved. Starting in January, a change in the manner in which visas for Christian organizations had been processed for decades led to serious challenges bureaucratically and financially for the groups.”
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The issue had blown up publicly when Israeli media revealed an unusually harshly worded letter sent by Huckabee to the Interior Ministry and other leaders, in which he threatened to declare Israel to be a state that is not welcoming for Evangelical Christian organizations, and to retaliate by withholding visas for Israelis.
Huckabee explained that upon arriving as ambassador earlier this year, he discovered that the new process had resulted in “creating delays, costs, and significant burdens with paperwork.”
He added that he had thought the issue had been settled after a meeting with Interior Minister Arbel several months ago.
Myers also confirmed to AIN that the problems facing the organizations, which, according to Huckabee’s letter, included the Baptist Convention of Israel, Christian Missionary Alliance, and Assemblies of God, were similar to the ones purportedly solved by the ministry in 2023.
When the organizations reported they were still experiencing issues, Huckabee said he informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and “pointed out how detrimental it was to the relationship of the State of Israel with the American evangelical community.”
The Jewish Insider, which was first to report the story, cited a source in the Prime Minister’s Office who stressed that Israel has “absolutely no interest in undermining the freedom [of workers and volunteers for Christian organizations] coming to Israel. … We value evangelicals. It’s very regrettable that there is a problem and we obviously have to fix it.”
“The Christian organizations did not at any time ask for different or special treatment, but merely a return to what has been an efficient and satisfactory process for many years,” the ambassador said.
In addition, JI was told by a source close to the ambassador that his letter had leaked and was not intended to be revealed publicly.
“I am delighted to report that the issue has been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and the strong support that Israel enjoys from American evangelicals will continue,” Huckabee concluded.
“I’m convinced the Interior Minister was not fully aware of the change being imposed and I’m grateful he has personally intervened to completely restore the long-standing process,” he added.
“American Christians are some of Israel’s strongest supporters, and the resolution of this issue among friends is a welcome outcome.”
This article was originally published by All Israel News.
ALL ISRAEL NEWS is based in Jerusalem and is a trusted source of news, analysis and information from Israel to our Christian friends around the world.
