National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee attended an official reception on Tuesday evening celebrating the United States Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary of independence), hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Israel.
Footage from the event showed the two together just months after an extraordinary and highly publicized public dispute, during which the American envoy leveled harsh personal criticism at the National Security Minister’s conduct.
The diplomatic spat erupted in May following the arrival in Israel of foreign activists who had taken part in an unauthorized maritime flotilla toward the Gaza Strip. After Ben Gvir released footage showing him personally confronting the intercepted activists, Huckabee issued a scathing public condemnation of the minister.
While the ambassador criticized the flotilla itself, he spared no words regarding Ben Gvir’s actions. Huckabee claimed at the time that the minister had “betrayed the honor of his people” and branded his conduct “despicable”—an exceptionally sharp rebuke from a sitting United States ambassador toward a senior Israeli cabinet minister.
Ben Gvir fired back forcefully at the time, defending his actions. The public exchange drew widespread international and domestic attention, not least because Huckabee has long been regarded as one of the staunchest champions of Israel and the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria within American political life.
Now, months after the heated rhetorical clash, the two met on cordial terms at the official gala organized by the U.S. Embassy marking 250 years of American independence.