Washington — This was announced by newly-elected President Donald Trump On Tuesday, he selected the former governor of Arkansas. Mike Huckabee to serve as the US ambassador to Israel.
“Mike has been 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!”
The post requires approval by the Senatealthough Huckabee is unlikely to face major obstacles to confirmation in the Senate, where Republicans are expected to hold at least 52 seats in the next Congress.
Huckabee is one of the first picks announced by the president-elect as he begins to build out his Cabinet and other key posts. Being among them Representative Elise Stefanik as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Representative Michael Waltz as National Security Advisor. Sources say he is expected to tap Senator Marco Rubio of Florida for Minister of Foreign Affairs, although the selection has not yet been finalized.
Huckabee served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007 and unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016. After leaving office, he hosted a show on Fox News and a radio program. He is a staunch defender of Israel and says he has visited the country more than a hundred times over the course of fifty years.
During his first term Trump moved the American embassy Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his first term, which President Biden maintained.
If confirmed next year, Huckabee will take over the post amid Israel’s war with Hamas and Hamas’s holding of dozens of Israeli hostages, including four American citizens. Ceasefire discussions between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly stalled, and on Saturday Qatar, a Hamas mediator, announced it his efforts suspended and would resume them when “the parties demonstrate their willingness and seriousness to put an end to the brutal war and the continued suffering of civilians.”
Senator Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee, said in a interview on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday that he believes “the environment has completely changed” after Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has spoken with Trump three times in recent days, calling the talks “good and very important.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Mr Biden at the White House on Tuesday.
More than 1,200 civilians were killed and 250 kidnapped when Hamas launched its terror attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. About 100 hostages are believed to still be in Gaza, although a third are believed to be dead. More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry, although it is unclear how many are civilians and how many are militants.
After the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, Iran-affiliated Hezbollah began firing missiles, rockets and drones into Israel from Lebanon.
