President-elect Donald Trump has introduced the nomination of his former 2016 Republican main election opponent Mike Huckabee to the publish of United States ambassador to Israel.
“I’m happy to announce that the Extremely Revered former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, has been nominated to be The USA Ambassador to Israel…”, Trump wrote through his TruthSocial platform on Tuesday.
Huckabee, who served as Arkansas governor from 1996 to 2007, additionally made two unsuccessful bids for president throughout the 2008 and 2016 Republican main campaigns.
His daughter, present Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, additionally served as Trump’s press secretary for a part of his first time period as president, from 2017 to 2019.
“Mike has been an important public servant, Governor, and Chief in Fatih for a few years. He loves Israel, and the individuals of Israel, and likewise, the individuals of Israel love him”, a press release hooked up to Trump’s TruthSocial publish learn. “Mike will work tirelessly to result in Peace within the Center East!”
Huckabee is famous for his Evangelical Christian religion, which he ties carefully to his insurance policies and beliefs on Israel, declaring on a number of events that the occupied West Financial institution is biblically a part of Israeli territory.
“There are specific phrases I refuse to make use of. There isn’t any such factor as a West Financial institution. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such factor as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighbourhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such factor as an occupation,” he stated on CNN in 2017.
In 2015, throughout his run for president, Huckabee attended a fundraiser for Americans within the Israeli settlement of Shiloh, describing the West Financial institution, which he once more known as “Judea and Samaria”, the territory’s biblical identify – as a basic a part of Israel.
Israeli settlements within the occupied West Financial institution are unlawful beneath worldwide legislation.
Trump’s decide for ambassador to Israel alerts extra about his potential coverage in the direction of the US ally in his second time period, with many anticipating him to go even additional than present President Joe Biden in his assist for Israel because it wages conflict on Gaza and Lebanon.
Biden has persistently refused to punish Israel for killing tens of 1000’s in its wars, amid international requires it to cease. Nonetheless, he did reinstate a coverage Trump rescinded that phrases Israeli settlements just like the one Huckabee visited in 2015 “illegitimate”.
Final week, days after Trump was once more elected president, Israel tapped Yechiel Leiter, a staunch supporter of settlements within the West Financial institution, as ambassador to the US.
Trump this week additionally appointed Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, one other staunch supporter of Israel who gained nationwide consideration throughout congressional hearings earlier this 12 months in regards to the dealing with of pro-Palestinian protests at elite US universities, as UN ambassador.
The incoming president’s cupboard could have an much more pro-Isreal look to it if Trump picks Florida Senator Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, as seems seemingly.
Rubio has had a hawkish stance on Israel’s conflict on Gaza, which has killed at the very least 43,665 individuals, telling an activist in 2023 that he didn’t assist a ceasefire and that Hamas was “100% accountable” for the deaths of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip.
He then supported Trump’s plan to deport international pro-Palestinian pupil demonstrators to get them to “behave”.
Israeli politicians are positioning themselves for a Trump presidency, with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich saying on Monday that he hoped the president-elect would recognise the unlawful annexation of Palestinian territory within the occupied West Financial institution.
In his first time period, Trump went towards longstanding coverage and moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, the jap half of which is occupied Palestinian territory, and likewise recognised the unlawful annexation of the occupied Golan Heights, which is Syrian territory.
Nonetheless, Trump attracted some assist from Arab People after he visited communities in Michigan and promised to attain peace within the Center East.
