Mike Huckabee defended President Trump’s Center East insurance policies together with the plan to show Gaza right into a U.S.-run luxe actual property growth in a contentious Senate affirmation listening to for his nomination as ambassador to Israel.
Whereas giving robust backing to Trump and his Gaza redevelopment plan, Huckabee sought to distance himself from his personal earlier stance that Israel ought to annex the occupied West Financial institution, a place that’s controversial amongst Israelis themselves.
“I am not here to articulate or defend my own views or policies,” Huckabee stated in his opening assertion. “If confirmed, it will be my responsibility to carry out the president’s priorities, not mine.”
FILE – Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump talks with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee throughout a roundtable on the Drexelbrook Catering & Occasion Middle, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in Drexel Hill, Pa. (AP Picture/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
On Gaza, Huckabee claimed Trump’s plan wouldn’t embody “forced displacement” of the two million Palestinians within the coastal enclave “unless it is for their safety,” and stated Palestinians could possibly be incentivized to depart their homeland voluntarily.
The Palestinians themselves and America’s Arab allies have flatly rejected the Trump plan, and the president himself hasn’t talked about it lately.
Trump has vowed to swiftly finish the now 17-month struggle in Gaza and convey residence the hostages held by Hamas.
However after a quick ceasefire, Israel resumed its assaults final week with a shock wave of lethal airstrikes. U.S. and Arab mediators are actually struggling to get a ceasefire deal again on observe and win freedom for extra of the captives, together with one American.
Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and one-time Republican presidential hopeful, additionally solid doubt on the broadly held aim of a two-state answer to the Israeli-Palestinian battle, which might require creation of an impartial Palestinian state alongside Israel.
“A two-state solution, everyone living together, sitting around the campfire, toasting marshmallows and singing ‘kumbaya,’ (will not happen) if one of the sides doesn’t believe the other one has a right to exist,” Huckabee stated, apparently suggesting the Palestinians don’t need peace.
Huckabee repeatedly used evangelical Christian language on the listening to to clarify his robust help for Israel and its right-wing authorities.
“We ultimately are people of the book,” Huckabee stated. “We believe the Bible, and therefore that connection is not geopolitical, it is also spiritual,” he stated.
Behind a tent camp for displaced Palestinians, smoke rises from a constructing after it was focused by an Israeli military strike, following evacuation orders for residents, in Gaza Metropolis, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Picture/Jehad Alshrafi)
Even earlier than his listening to, some liberal Democrats made no secret of their opposition to Huckabee’s nomination.
“Huckabee’s positions … are the words of a provocateur whose views are far outside international consensus and contrary to the core bipartisan principles of American diplomacy,” Manhattan Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-New York) stated.
