The United States’ rescheduled Independence Day celebration in Jerusalem next week will be a full music event that doubles as a statement of the US-Israel partnership, said US Ambassador Mike Huckabee.
President Donald Trump will send a video greeting, headliner country singer Lee Greenwood will perform for the first time in Israel, and Huckabee will take the stage in a rock set with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and philanthropist Paul Singer.
“There will be no speeches. We want a celebration,” Huckabee told The Jerusalem Post earlier this week. “I am going to speak through the music.”
The September 9 production at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem (MOTJ) will be a “phenomenal production,” he said.
“We have those walls around the amphitheater. All that is going to be lit up and used as a moving video. The big show will be on the big stage.”
‘We are all rock-and-rollers’
He, Ohana, and Singer will “play a three-song set backed by Nashville studio musicians,” Huckabee revealed.
Pressed for details, he shared one title.
“We have three rocking tunes. One of them is ‘Born to Be Wild.’ I promise they are all rockers.” He added that the trio will rehearse, and they will run a full sound check on Tuesday. “We are all rock-and-rollers,” he said.
Huckabee said Greenwood is “pumped” for his first visit to the country.
“He has never been to Israel,” the ambassador said. “He and his wife are staying several days. I have a schedule lined up so they can see the country. They are excited.”
Trump will not deliver remarks in person, but he will appear in the program.
“He is sending a video,” Huckabee said.
Asked about a presidential visit later this year, he cautioned against reading conditions into the calendar.
“He will come when it works in his schedule. It is not dependent on ‘if this happens, he comes.’ That has never been the calculus.”
The ambassador framed the evening as a joyful counterweight to a hard year.
“Let us all dance,” he said. “We are celebrating that Iran does not have nuclear weaponry. We are celebrating that America and Israel have never been closer. We are celebrating that Israel is resilient. In spite of the world getting in a long line to kick them in the backside, they are still standing. There is resilience here unlike any place on Earth.”
He said the program is designed to highlight the breadth of the relationship.
“We are celebrating that 700,000 Americans live in Israel, and we care deeply about every last one of them,” he said. “We are celebrating that the economy of this country is strong, and the economy of America is strong and getting stronger. The partnership between our countries is good for us economically, agriculturally, and culturally. We celebrate Western civilization together. Where else in the region could we celebrate the fundamentals of freedom and liberty?”
Huckabee linked the celebratory tone to the administration’s recent show of force against Iran.
“When the bombers came in and made very clear we stand with Israel, we sent an important message to our allies that America will stand with you when it counts,” he said. “We sent an equally important message to our adversaries. Do not mess with us. We can come to you, we can find you, we can get you, even if you are halfway around the world, and before you even know we have been there, it is too late to do anything about it.”
‘International embassy for peace’
The embassy’s choice to hold the event at MOTJ, which doubles as a cultural landmark and a diplomatic stage, is “incredibly meaningful,” founder and co-chairman Rabbi Marvin Hier said.
“As an American, I am very proud the embassy chose to hold this event here in Jerusalem.” He often describes the museum as a “modern-day Abraham’s tent,” welcoming Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, and others into dialogue.
Managing director Jonathan Riss called MOTJ “an international embassy for peace and a spiritual lighthouse for human dignity.” Since October 7, it has centered on resilience with exhibitions such as “06:29 – From Darkness to Light,” curated by Malki Shem Tov, and Love in the Shadow of War, a Tu B’Av portrait series.
Its civic mission runs through a Leadership Academy and School of Civic Discourse that brings soldiers, students, and community leaders into beit midrash-style debates. The 1,000-seat amphitheater hosts weekly films and family programs and will stage Tuesday’s show. For Hier and chairman Larry A. Mizel, raising the US flag there “reaffirms a partnership rooted in resilience and shared values.”
The ambassador said the program is meant to offer Israelis and Americans a positive moment.
“We do not need a bunch of welcomes,” he said. “Who wants them? We want to have fun. We want to have a celebration.”