Tel Aviv, April 21 -- Mike Huckabee, the former governor of the State of Arkansas and an ordained Southern Baptist pastor, presented his diplomatic credentials to the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, on Monday, as he assumed the role of new US Ambassador to Israel.

"We share our heartbreak and our absolute resolve to see every last hostage freed from the Hamas dungeons and returned to their loved ones. Immediately," President Herzog told Huckabee. "Every last one. I thank you for this allegiance of heart, and, no less, for your commitment to action. Nothing is more urgent."

"We care deeply, President, about the threats that face Israel, because those are also the threats that face our country," said Ambassador Huckabee. "I never want ...