Trump chooses hardliner Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel | Donald Trump

Donald Trump has chosen former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to be the next US ambassador to Israel.

Huckabee has a track record of persistent, occasionally provocative, pro-Israel rhetoric and has previously said Israel has a rightful claim to the West Bank, which he refers to by its Hebrew and biblical names, Judea and Samaria.

The area is claimed by the Palestinians as part of a putative future state but is dotted with numerous Israeli settlements that are not recognized under international law. Huckabee refused to call the settlements by that name, insisting on calling them “communities” or neighborhoods. He also denied that the West Bank, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, was under military occupation.

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump predicted that Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, would “work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.”

“He loves Israel and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel love him as well,” wrote Trump, who called Huckabee “a great public servant.”

It was also announced Tuesday that Trump has named former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ratcliffe, a close Trump ally, served as director of national intelligence at the end of his first term.

Ratcliffe was confirmed as the country’s top spy in May 2020, eight months before Trump left office. A former member of the House of Representatives and U.S. attorney for Texas, he received no support from Senate Democrats upon his confirmation.

As director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe was accused by Democrats and former intelligence officials of sharing intelligence for Trump and his Republican allies to attack political opponents, including Joe Biden, then Trump’s rival for the presidency – an accusation Ratcliffe’s office has denied.

In addition, the president-elect had appointed real estate investor and campaign donor Steve Witkoff as his special envoy to the Middle East. Witkoff is a real estate investor, landlord and founder of the Witkoff Group, which he founded in 1977.

Huckabee’s appointment is likely to mark a return to the explicitly pro-Israel stance of Trump’s first administration, when he moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – a move Palestinians said was damaging to peace prospects.

While Israel claims Jerusalem as its indivisible capital, the Palestinians claim the eastern part of the city as their future capital.

Speaking to CNN in 2017, Huckabee – who has visited Israeli settlements multiple times – made his point clear.

“The only people who ever had Yerushalayim [Jerusalem’s Hebrew name] The Jews served as the capital,” he said. “No one else has ever made this city their capital. So it shouldn’t even be controversial.”

He was equally uncompromising on the West Bank issue, rejecting the use of the term.

“I think Israel has a title deed to Judea and Samaria,” he said. “There are certain words I don’t want to use. There is no West Bank. They are Judea and Samaria. There is no such thing as an agreement. They are communities, they are neighborhoods, they are cities. There is no such thing as a job.”

Huckabee’s zealous support of Israel has occasionally offended Israelis and Jewish groups.

He drew criticism during a failed presidential run in 2015 after he accused Barack Obama of marching Jews “to the door of the oven” by signing a nuclear deal with Iran.

The comment was rebuked by Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to Washington at the time, and the Anti-Defamation League, an advocacy group dedicated to combating anti-Semitism.

Still, Huckabee showed no remorse. “The reaction from the Jewish population has been overwhelmingly positive,” he said.

Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the current governor of Arkansas, was White House press secretary during Trump’s first presidency.