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Who is Mike Huckabee, the pro-Israel ambassador who says ‘there’s no such thing as a Palestinian’?

The new US ambassador to Israel said annexing the West Bank is a possibility

November 13, 2024 13:42
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Mike Huckabee, the then-Republican presidential candidate, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in 2016. (Credit: Israeli Prime Minister's Office)
3 min read

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that has chosen Mike Huckabee to be the next US ambassador to the Jewish state, marking the latest of his pro-Israel appointments.

Huckabee, who served as Arkansas governor from 1996 to 2007, has a record of being staunchly supportive of Israel and has previously defended settlements in the West Bank, calling the territory “property [Israel] already owns”.

In his first interview since Trump’s announcement, the ordained Southern Baptist pastor told Israel’s Army Radio that annexing the West Bank was “of course” a possibility.

Huckabee said that he wouldn’t be the one to “make the policy” and would only “carry out the policy of the president,” then noted how Trump “already demonstrated in his first term that there’s never been an American president that has been more helpful in securing an understanding of the sovereignty of Israel”.