Pro-Israel conservatives clash with rising extremist voices pushing antisemitic narratives and weakening America’s trusted ally.
A private meeting between Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Mike Huckabee, and American-born Israeli Jonathan Pollard has triggered a bitter internal war within the MAGA movement — exposing a deepening ideological fracture over how the United States should relate to Israel, its most reliable Middle East ally.
The New York Times revealed Thursday that Huckabee met Pollard at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in July. While the meeting was described as friendly and symbolic, it unleashed fury from anti-Israel factions within MAGA, who accused Huckabee of prioritizing Jerusalem over Washington.
Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, spent 30 years in prison for providing Israel with classified information during a period in which the U.S. was withholding intelligence crucial for Israel’s security. After his release, he moved to Israel in 2020, where he is widely regarded as a patriot who risked his life to protect the Jewish state from hostile Arab militaries.
🔥 Hardliners Erupt — And the Antisemitic Tropes Follow
Immediately after the news broke, MAGA commentators erupted, with some drifting into language reminiscent of classic antisemitic conspiracy theories.
- Activist Mike Cernovich called the meeting “indefensible,” claiming Pollard undermined U.S. security.
- Steve Bannon declared Huckabee “out of control.”
- Right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec insisted, “You can’t sit down with traitors.”
In more extreme online circles, the conversation slid toward the “dual loyalty” trope, used historically to smear American Jews and question their patriotism. Pollard’s past comments acknowledging the complexity of Jewish identity were leveraged by fringe actors to inflame suspicion toward Jewish Americans and supporters of Israel.
🇺🇸 The Bigger MAGA Battle: What Is the Movement’s Position on Israel?
The uproar arrives amid a broader ideological struggle inside MAGA:
- Traditional conservatives, evangelical Christians, national-security hawks, and pro-Israel Republicans want to maintain the long-standing U.S.-Israel strategic alliance.
- A growing fringe, influenced by isolationism, economic populism, and online extremist voices, argues that Israel drains U.S. resources — rhetoric often indistinguishable from that spread by Iran, Hamas, and far-left anti-Israel activists.
This divide intensified during the Gaza war, U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the rise of neo-Nazi-adjacent influencers like Nick Fuentes, who openly praises Hitler and denies or minimizes the Holocaust.
As a result, the Huckabee-Pollard meeting became a lightning rod, reigniting emotional debates about antisemitism, Israel’s security, U.S. foreign policy, and the future ideological direction of the right.
🏛 White House Response
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the White House “was not aware of the meeting” beforehand but affirmed:
“President Trump stands by Ambassador Huckabee and all that he is doing for the United States and Israel.”
The message signaled clearly that the Trump administration is rejecting antisemitic insinuations and standing firmly with Israel at a time when radical voices — both far-left and far-right — are attempting to tear down the alliance.
With rising global antisemitism, Iranian aggression, and Hamas and Hezbollah threats expanding, the internal MAGA debate shows no sign of cooling. Huckabee’s visit with Pollard exposed much more than a diplomatic kerfuffle — it revealed a defining ideological crossroads for the American right.
