Trump names pro-Netanyahu Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel

11/18/2024 / By Laura Harris

President-elect Donald Trump has officially named former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as his ambassador to Israel.

Huckabee, a 2016 Republican presidential primary candidate, is known as a longtime supporter of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a staunch opponent of the United States recognizing a Palestinian state.

Throughout his political career, Huckabee has maintained his stance that the West Bank, a territory captured in the 1967 Mideast war and sought by Palestinians for a future state, belongs to Israel.

In line with this, Huckabee opposes a two-state solution for Israel and Gaza. In an interview with the Associated Press in 2015, Huckabee, who was running for the GOP presidential nomination at that time, claimed that recognizing the West Bank as Israeli territory would be a “formal position” of his administration. During the interview, he also criticized the dismantling of Israeli settlements in Gaza in 2005 and even described the Israeli settlers evacuated as having been “marched at gunpoint.”

That same year, Huckabee likened the Iran nuclear deal to marching Israelis “to the door of the oven,” a reference to Holocaust atrocities committed against Jews during World War II.

Huckabee also claimed that the Palestinian people and identity does not exist and is not distinct from Arab identity and that the idea of a “Palestinian” was co-opted from Arabs by former Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat.

Additionally, he criticized “radical Muslims” and described Israel as “an extraordinary oasis in a land of totalitarianism surrounded by tyranny.” (Related: Trump names pro-Israel Rep. Lee Zeldin head of EPA.)

Huckabee also expressed outrage over the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which left over 1,200 people dead and hundreds taken hostages.

“As horrible as the Nazis were, they weren’t posting their atrocities on social media and trying to trumpet what they were doing to the world,” he said in an appearance with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. “Which is what makes this horrendous thing Hamas has done so much, to me, worse, because they want everyone to see what they’ve done.”

But despite all this, Trump still appointed him as the next U.S. Ambassador to Israel.

“I am pleased to announce that the highly respected former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, has been nominated to be the United States Ambassador to Israel,” Trump announced on Nov. 12. “Mike has been a great public servant, governor and leader in faith for many years. He loves Israel and the people of Israel and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.”

Israeli officials welcome the appointment of Huckabee as ambassador to Israel

Prominent Israeli officials warmly welcomed the decision.

Extremist Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, an advocate for annexing Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, congratulated Huckabee on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“As a consistent and loyal friend of the State of Israel and a supporter of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria [West Bank], who for many years fought for our state and our right to all parts of the Land of Israel, I have no doubt that we have won and together with him we will strengthen Israel’s security and strength and strengthen our hold in all its spaces,” Smotrich wrote on his official X account.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar echoed similar sentiments and called Huckabee a “longstanding friend of Israel and pledged to work closely with him to deepen U.S.-Israel relations.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also praised Huckabee. He cited his deep familiarity with the region and past visits to Israel, including after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. “I think he will be a great ambassador to Israel.”

Extremist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir also showed his support through an emotive post on X, featuring the American and Israeli flags flanked by a heart emoji.

Head over to Trump.news for more stories about President-elect Trump’s second White House cabinet.

Watch Alex Jones commenting on Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley being excluded from the second Trump administration below.

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