Huckabee tells UN envoys representing Israel is 'among diplomacy’s toughest jobs'

The US ambassador spoke at a Shabbat reception opening the Israeli leg of a trip that took diplomats from 20 countries to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told a delegation of UN ambassadors on Friday that representing Israel was “one of the hardest jobs I can imagine for a diplomat,” as the group began the Israeli leg of a trip led by Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Speaking at a Shabbat reception, Huckabee recalled the visits that had drawn him back to Israel over the years. “Israel isn’t my homeland, but it has become my home,” he said. He told the diplomats they could spend 200 days in the country and still have more to see, and said he hoped their visit would make them want to return.

Huckabee also joked that he started each morning by checking President Donald Trump’s social media accounts to see whether he had been fired overnight. If he was still in the job, he said, he got dressed and went to work at the embassy. “So far, so good.”

Danon thanked Huckabee and said welcoming Shabbat together symbolized the strength of the alliance between Israel and the United States.

The delegation of about 40 diplomats began its trip in Poland, where it visited Krakow’s historic Jewish Quarter and the former Nazi German death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Israel’s mission to the UN said the group was scheduled to tour areas along Israel’s northern and southern borders, attend security briefings and meet senior Israeli officials.