Settlers rejoice when hardliner Mike Huckabee was elected Israeli ambassador

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s nomination as the next U.S. ambassador to Israel has drawn enthusiastic support from Israeli settler communities and supporters of the country’s territorial claims in the West Bank.

Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who has previously expressed his belief that God gave historic Palestine to the modern state of Israel, is a strong supporter of Israel’s expansion in the occupied West Bank, which he refers to as Judea and Samaria. He also has a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

After the appointment, Yishai Fleisher, spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, was enthusiastic, calling Huckabee a “great friend of Israel.”

“We are very happy about Mike Huckabee. Governor Huckabee is an amazing human being, both in his spiritual and political consciousness,” Fleisher said Newsweek. “He is a great friend of Israel. He truly understands the issues, has a heart for the people of this region and we are thrilled to have him with us.”

Fleisher also noted Huckabee’s support of the controversial “Pompeo Doctrine,” a policy initiated by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that recognized Jewish settlement rights in the West Bank.

Huckabee, the father of former Trump White House press secretary Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is a staunch defender of Israel. His planned nomination comes as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel’s interests as the country wages wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Mike was a great public servant, governor and faith leader for many years,” Trump said in a statement. “He loves Israel and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel love him in the same way. Mike will work tirelessly to bring peace to the Middle East!”

Huckabee has led paid tour group visits to Israel for years, often promoting the trips in conservative news outlets. According to Axios, he wanted to be appointed ambassador to Israel during Trump’s first term, but Trump chose to appoint his former lawyer David Friedman.

The new ambassador was also a visible supporter of West Bank settler communities, famously declaring, “There is no such thing as an occupation.”

“I think Israel has a title deed to Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told CNN in 2017, using biblical terms for the West Bank. “There are certain words I don’t want to use. There is no West Bank. They are Judea and Samaria. There is no settlement. They are communities, they are neighborhoods, they are cities. There is no such thing as a job.

Huckabee’s nomination and the recent appointment of Elise Stefanik as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations are the latest signals of support for Netanyahu’s hardline government, already the most settler-friendly in Israel’s history. Some Israelis are currently hoping that Trump’s second administration will be the most settler-friendly ever in the United States