United Liberty

It used to be the case that politics ended at the water’s edge, but no more:

JERUSALEM — Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee slammed President Barack Obama’s policies toward Israel on Monday in a visit here that underscored the tensions between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over Jewish settlements in what traditionally have been Palestinian areas.

Huckabee criticized the Obama administration’s calls for ending such settlements and said Obama’s position had only encouraged the Palestinian government not to negotiate with Israel.

More important than Huckabee’s words, however, was where he chose to deliver them: at several controversial Jewish enclaves in the mostly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, which both Israel and the Palestinian Authority claim.

“The policies are a drastic change from previous administrations,” Huckabee said at Maale Zeitim, a 100-unit housing project at the foot of the Mount of Olives. “Halting peace talks until 20 families are moved out? Our focus

Of course, what Huckabee fails to mention is that there really hasn’t been any change in U.S. policy on settlement expansion:

The United States has always opposed Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas, but previous presidents rarely took action as Israel expanded its presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Israeli government claims that it reached an understanding with the George W. Bush administration that allowed limited settlement expansion, but Obama officials deny that such an understanding exists.

Huckabee, of course, denies that he was doing anything wrong, but the words speak for themselves, and the reality is that Republicans used to criticize Democrats for doing the exact same thing that Huckabee did in Israel.

Consistency matters, guys.