The Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as the US ambassador to Israel, putting a staunch supporter of Israeli annexation of the West Bank in the position.
Huckabee, a Christian Zionist who believes God has given historic Palestine to the modern state of Israel, was confirmed in a vote of 53-46. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who is extremely pro-Israel, was the only Democrat to vote in favor of Huckabee’s confirmation.
Since being nominated, Huckabee has said that Israeli annexation of the Israeli-occupied West Bank was on the table under the Trump administration. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Huckabee reaffirmed his view that he believed the Palestinian territory belonged to Israel, although he claimed annexation wouldn’t be his “prerogative.”
Huckabee refers to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria, a biblical name the state of Israel uses for the Palestinian territory.
While visiting an Israeli settlement in the West Bank in 2017, Huckabee claimed the territory was not under Israeli occupation. “I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told CNN. “There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”
Back in 2008, Huckabee said that there’s “no such thing as a Palestinian” and argued the Palestinians should be expelled to other Arab states.
At his Senate hearing in March, Huckabee dismissed concerns about the massive civilian casualties in Gaza and Israel’s move to impose a total blockade on humanitarian aid and all other goods entering the besieged territory. He expressed support for Israel using heavy US-provided bombs, which have been used to obliterate residential buildings in densely populated parts of Gaza.
Theocrats in Suits…!
Christian Zionism is strong now in the USA. It always used to be there as a religious belief and under "freedom of religions" no one paid too much attention. They saw their avenue of success in government and for control of others with Trump and ran with it.
Since I voted for Trump in 2016, I did not realize how much control that segment of society was having. Since they are winning regardless how chaotic, they believe firmly that God is on their side and even quote OT bible passages.
Trump is their ticket to success, that's why Trump can do no wrong in their eyes.
Any attempt to turn the Zionist movement, or later the state of Israel, into a bastion of religious orthodoxy, of rabbinical dogma, met with [Chaim] Weizmann's emphatic disapproval…
Ouite early in his caree he had protested at the harmful influence of the rabbis, at the undue wieght given to the Mizrachi in Zionist councils…
Religion should be relegated to the synagogue and the homes of those families that want it; it should occupy a special position in the schools; but it shall not control the ministries of state. (Chaim Weizmann, A Penguin Book, Norman Rose, P-267-268)
I Heart Huckabees just another example that no politician is too stupid, biased, or past a shelf-life not to fall bass-ackwards into just the wrong positions of power. FFS. Notorious racist David Duke still alive, any chance he wants a post as Ambassador to Ukraine ?