President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel, a high-profile diplomatic post in a tumultuous region.
If confirmed, Huckabee will be the first non-Jewish person to serve in the role since 2011. He will arrive in Jerusalem to deal with the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon that have been raging for more than a year. During his campaign, Trump, a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pledged to end the conflict.
Peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas have stalled in recent days after Qatar pulled out of its meditation efforts. Huckabee is likely to be the focus of international pressure on the US to help broker a ceasefire.
Trump made the announcement Tuesday in a Truth Social post, elevating a longtime loyalist and former rival for the Republican nomination in 2016. Huckabee, the host of a TV talk show of the same name, campaigned for Trump this cycle and hit the road with the former president. , also in the battleground Pennsylvania in the final stages of the race.
“I am pleased to announce that the highly respected former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, has been nominated as United States Ambassador to Israel,” Trump said in a statement.
“Mike has been a great public servant, governor and faith leader for many years. 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!”
In a statement congratulating Huckabee, the Republican Jewish Coalition hailed the former governor as “a longtime friend” of the group, praised the former governor’s “abundant love for Israel” and pledged that his appointment would “strengthen the relationship between the US and Israel would strengthen to even greater heights.”
Huckabee’s daughter, current Arkansas governor and former Trump administration official Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was also a top surrogate for Trump.
During his 2016 presidential run, Huckabee took an arch-conservative stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rejecting the idea of an “occupied” West Bank. Instead, he referred to the area by the Biblical terms “Judea and Samaria.”
At the time, he earned the Adelson Defender of Israel award at a Zionist Organization of America dinner in New York. Miriam Adelson, the wife of the late Sheldon Adelson, remains a top Trump donor who contributed lavishly to his 2024 campaign.
Top Israeli officials celebrated the news later Tuesday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar congratulated Huckabee in a post on
Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital during his first term and moved the US embassy to the city from Tel Aviv, fulfilling a controversial campaign promise. The former president also brokered bilateral agreements to normalize relations between Israel and Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Bahrain.
Now Trump has pledged to bring lasting peace to the region and “stop wars” amid a raging humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and a conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The war in Gaza has continued since Hamas militants launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, including American citizens. More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war broke out, according to Gaza health officials.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
