President Trump’s pick to be the US ambassador to Israel, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, told Israeli media on Wednesday that full Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank will be possible under the next Trump administration.
When asked about the possibility in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio, Huckabee said, “Of course … There has never been an American president that has been more helpful in securing an understanding of the sovereignty of Israel… and I fully expect that will continue.”
Huckabee has close ties to Israeli settler organizations and has long been outspoken about his desire for Israel to annex the West Bank, which he calls “Judea and Samaria.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also in charge of expanding settlements in the West Bank, recently said that Trump’s election victory provides an “important opportunity” to annex the territory. “The year 2025 will be, with God’s help, the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” he said.
The Times of Israel reported this week that Trump aides have cautioned Israeli ministers in recent months not to assume the president-elect will back Israel supporting the West Bank. But the appointment of Huckabee is a sign that the administration will be supportive of the move.
In the Israel Army Radio interview, Huckabee would not commit to backing Israeli settlements in Gaza, an idea favored by many Israeli ministers and lawmakers. “I do not want to make any comments about policy because those won’t be mine to make,” he said. “That’ll be the president’s. It will be my job to carry out the policy that he prescribes.”
Huckabee is an Evangelical Christian who believes God gave historic Palestine to the modern state of Israel. He said back in 2008 that there’s “no such thing as a Palestinian” and argued the Palestinians should be expelled to other Arab states.
During a visit to a West Bank settlement in 2017, Huckabee said, “I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria. 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.
