US President-elect Donald Trump has announced the appointment of pro-settlement former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as the US ambassador to Israel.
The controversial political figure and TV personality who claims to have visited Israel more than 100 times will replace Jack Lew, who has held the position for a year.
Who is Mike Huckabee, and what was he doing before this appointment?
The devout 69-year-old evangelical Christian was born in the southern US state of Arkansas.
He served as governor of his home state between 1996 and 2007 before launching unsuccessful bids to be the Republican presidential candidate during the 2008 and 2016 primary seasons.
Between these two bids, he had his own talk show, Huckabee, which ran on the Fox News Network between 2008 and 2015.
In 2017, the show was revived and broadcast on TBN, a Christian-based broadcast television network.
Since ending his campaign for presidential candidacy in 2016, Huckabee has consistently supported Trump.
Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee shake hands after participating in a roundtable discussion hosted by Building America’s Future in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2024 [File: Charly Triballeau/AFP]
What is Huckabee’s position on Israel and Palestine?
Huckabee is a staunch supporter of Israel.
After his appointment, Trump released a statement in which he said Huckabee “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!”
His appointment demonstrates a “very hawkish, very pro-right-wing Israel” approach by the Trump administration, Yossi Mekelberg, an expert on Israel at the Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera.
He said Huckabee’s appointment is similar to that of David Friedman, who served as US Ambassador to Israel between 2017 and 2021 and supports Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Huckabee views Israel as an “overwhelming ally of the United States”, Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.
“He will certainly be a strong voice for a pro-Israel faction in the administration and the country,” he said.
Huckabee has tied his evangelical faith to support for Israeli control of the West Bank and his support for Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.
In an interview in 2017 with the CNN news network, he said: “There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria (the territory’s biblical name). There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighbourhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”
Huckabee has gone as far as to question Palestinian identity.
During his Republican presidential campaign, he said: “I need to be careful about saying this, because people will really get upset – there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.”
Huckabee is against a two-state solution.
Instead, in various TV interviews, he has propagated the idea that “there’s plenty of land” for Palestinians in countries such as Jordan, Egypt and Syria.
Mike Huckabee visits a large settler enclave, called Maale HaZeitim, in the Ras al-Amoud neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem on August 17, 2009 [File: David Furst/AFP]
He has also criticised US President Joe Biden for requesting that Israel temper some of its actions in the war on Gaza and the administration’s calls for a ceasefire.
“If a person is pro-Israel, how can you be pro-Biden because the Biden administration has made it very clear they will make concessions to Hamas,” Huckabee said in an interview in March on News Nation.
In a recent interview with a podcaster, he labelled himself an “unapologetic, unreformed Zionist”.
He also said “radical Muslims want to take us back to the seventh century” adding “I don’t want to go back there”. He said: “I like modernity.”
What has the reaction been like in Israel to his appointment?
The Israeli government, in its current form, will be very pleased with the appointment of an ambassador who supports settlements and annexation, Mekelberg said.
Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right, pro-settler security minister, took to X to celebrate Huckabee’s appointment, simply posting emojis of the US flag, the Israeli flag and a heart alongside the former Arkansas governor’s name.
Mike Huckabee ️
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) November 12, 2024
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, took to X to offer congratulations to Huckabee, who he described as “my dear friend”.
“I look forward to continuing to work with you and to strengthening the eternal bond our two countries share!” Danon wrote.
Mekelberg said even though it will raise concerns about any potential peace agreement, the Israeli public, in general, will be supportive as, given the current climate, “anyone who expresses full support of Israel will be welcome.”
What can be expected from his term?
It is too early to tell how his appointment will affect Israel’s strategy for Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, Musgrave said.
However, he noted it likely indicates that there will be little “pushback” from a Trump administration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war plans.
It is a sentiment shared by Mekelberg, who said any fears in the Israeli administration that an incoming ambassador could have placed restraints on how Israel may conduct itself will have “eased considerably” after Huckabee’s appointment.
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