In an unprecedented step, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Wednesday appeared at the Tel Aviv District Court to show support for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who was testifying in his ongoing trial.
According to media reports, in response to reporters’ queries about his appearance at the court, Huckabee said, “President Trump understands that it’s tough when, in the middle of such a tense term, you spend so much time in a courtroom and before judges who act unfairly.”
Last month, Trump twice excoriated the judicial system’s “witch hunt” against Netanyahu, saying that the US was not going to stand for the continued persecution of Netanyahu. “It is terrible what they are doing in Israel to Bibi Netanyahu,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Huckabee’s appearance was not the only interruption to the trial on Wednesday. Earlier, Netanyahu’s testimony was suspended after his military secretary, Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, arrived at the court and transferred a note to the prime minister. Immediately afterward, Netanyahu asked the judge for a break to discuss an urgent security issue. The judges granted his request, and Netanyahu left the court for about 20 minutes.
According to sources knowledgeable about the matter, the security discussion was about the continued attacks by Syrian regime forces on Druze in the city of Sweida in southern Syria. Druze leaders in Israel held an emergency meeting on Wednesday morning, and there are fears that masses of Israeli Druze may cross the border into Syria to intervene in the clashes.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
