Ron Kampeas
President-elect Donald Trump named Mike Huckabee as his ambassador to Israel, picking an evangelical Christian who favors Jewish sovereignty in parts of the West Bank and who, if confirmed, would be the first non-Jew to fill the role in 13 years.
“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 said Tuesday in a statement. “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!”
The nomination may be seen in Israel as a boost for long-delayed plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex parts of the West Bank. In 2008, Huckabee said, “There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.” In his run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Huckabee had said he saw the West Bank as an “integral part” of Israel and vowed to back settlement expansion there. Huckabee dropped out early and endorsed Trump in that election, stumping for him with enthusiasm, even when visiting Israel.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, tweeted Huckabee’s name alongside images of the American and Israeli flags with a heart emoji between them. Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister whose portfolio includes West Bank settlements, has in the wake of Trump’s election victory launched plans to annex parts of the territory — though former Trump administration officials have reportedly warned that the incoming president may not support annexation.
Christians United for Israel, the preeminent evangelical pro-Israel movement, welcomed the pick. “There is no better person to represent the American people in Jerusalem at this time,” said Sandra Hagee Parker, the chairwoman of the CUFI Action Fund. “Gov. Mike Huckabee believes in Israel’s right to self-determination and defense, not because it is politically convenient to do so but because these are immutable tenets of his core beliefs.”
J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy lobby, said the pick portended a turn away from peacemaking. “The mask is off,” its president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, said in a statement. “This announcement is further proof that ‘pro-Israel’ for Trump is totally disconnected from any concern for Jewish values, safety or self-determination.”
Ben-Ami urged the outgoing Biden administration to take actions in its lame duck session to mitigate the changes coming. “Biden has a narrow window of opportunity to blunt the impact before he leaves office – he must use it,” he said.
A pastor by training who frequently leads evangelical Christian tours of the country, Huckabee once described his relationship to the country as “not so much political as it is visceral, personal.”
Trump has repeatedly said that his actions on Israel in his first term, such as moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, were better appreciated by evangelicals than Jews. Huckabee would be the first ambassador since 2011 who is not Jewish. The most recent was James B. Cunningham.
The decision will put an end to speculation that Trump planned to once again tap David Friedman, his first-term ambassador and likewise a supporter of Israeli settlements, to the role. “I am thrilled by President Trump’s nomination of Governor Mike Huckabee as the next Ambassador to Israel,” Friedman said in a tweet. “He is a dear friend and he will have my full support. Congrats Mike on getting the best job in the world!”
Huckabee’s appointment also consolidates the emerging impression that Trump is planning to sideline his entire national security team from his first term, even those who have remained on good terms with him, including Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of State.
