Huckabee: Shilo 'Place of History'

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Former Arkansas governor and presidential hopeful Mike Hukabee created a stir when he held a fund-raising even in Shilo.

Shilo is a Jewish community in biblical Samaria, but much of the world, including the U.S. State Department, would call it an "occupied West Bank settlement."

Huckabee told CBN News he didn't go to Shilo to be provocative.

"I went because my host hosted the event there, but I had no hesitancy of going," Huckabee said. "In fact I thought it was significant to be there because if there's any place in this entire country that has a tremendous piece and place of history it would be Shilo. It was the capital of Israel 3,500 years ago. It was the place where Hannah prayed for a son. It was the place where the tabernacle once stood."

Huckabee met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whom he said he's known for 20 years. He called the prime minister "a Churchill in a world of Chamberlains."