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.
