U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee made an unannounced appearance at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial in Tel Aviv on 16 July, saying he wanted “to see what’s going on” and to show personal support for the Israeli leader. The envoy arrived carrying a Bugs Bunny doll dressed as Superman, a nod to a recent social-media post in which former President Donald Trump mocked the charges as involving “cigars, a Bugs Bunny doll and numerous other unfair claims.” Speaking to reporters outside the Tel Aviv District Court, Huckabee echoed Trump’s description of the proceedings as a “politically motivated witch hunt” and hinted that the three-judge panel was “unfair.” “The president has made his position clear—this is personal for him,” the ambassador said, calling Netanyahu a longtime friend of Trump. Israeli media said it was the first time a sitting U.S. ambassador—or any foreign envoy—has attended an Israeli prime minister’s criminal hearing, a move analysts described as a diplomatic break with longstanding practice of non-interference in domestic judicial matters. Netanyahu, 75, is contesting charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three cases that allege he accepted luxury gifts worth about $260,000 and offered regulatory favors to media owners in exchange for favorable coverage. He denies wrongdoing and says the indictment is part of an effort to force him from office. Wednesday’s session was twice suspended for “security considerations,” according to court officials, after the prime minister was urgently called out of the courtroom amid heightened Israeli military activity in Syria. Judges subsequently closed the hearing to the public and asked Huckabee to leave before testimony resumed behind closed doors.