US envoy to Israel supports Trump claim that Netanyahu graft trial a ‘witch hunt’

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee threw his support behind Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu after attending his corruption trial on Wednesday, taking to social media to back President Donald Trump’s claims that the case was a “witch hunt.”

The Israeli prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the corruption case, and his supporters have described the long-running trial as politically motivated.

President Trump has been a vocal defender of Netanyahu, and took to social media last month to slam the trial.

After attending Wednesday’s proceedings, Ambassador Huckabee wrote on X: “I stopped by the trial of [Netanyahu] in Tel Aviv today. My conclusion? [Trump] is right… again.”

The post provided a link to Trump’s statement, published on Truth Social last month, in which he called the trial a “political witch hunt” that was “very similar to the witch hunt that I was forced to endure.”

Trump has long accused his political opponents of using the Justice Department to target him during his time out of office.

The Republican was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May 2024 in a case related to hush money payments to a porn star.

Trump also faced two federal cases, one related to his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

In Israel, Netanyahu and his wife Sara are accused in one case of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewelry and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors.

In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favorable coverage from two Israeli media outlets.

During his current term, which started in late 2022, Netanyahu’s government has proposed far-reaching judicial reforms that critics say were designed to weaken the courts, prompting massive protests that were only curtailed by the onset of the Gaza war.