What Mike Huckabee means for US-Israel relations

Just a few weeks after his electoral victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, President-elect Donald Trump has wasted little time in filling out his incoming administration. This roster of high profile supporters and MAGA notables will all likely face a friendly, GOP-led Senate for their confirmation process. While some of Trump's choices are relative political neophytes, his pick to represent the United States in Israel — Mike Huckabee — is anything but. Beyond serving as the governor of Arkansas for more than a decade, Huckabee has been a fixture in conservative politics for nearly forty years, long before his daughter Sarah — now Arkansas' governor in her own right — became one of the most notable figures of Trump's first administration as the frequently controversial White House press secretary.

Huckabee "loves Israel, and the people of Israel," Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the nomination. "And likewise, the people of Israel love him." Trump's laudations notwithstanding, Huckabee's nomination has raised eyebrows and red flags among some observers who cite his past comments about the region and strict evangelical theology as complicating his plenipotentiary duties. Huckabee is the "first non-Jew nominated for the post" since 2008, said The Times of Israel.

Although perhaps not the most jarring of Trump's proposed administration officials, Huckabee nevertheless has the potential to dramatically upend the American-Israeli relationship as it's stood under previous presidents.

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'There's no such thing as an occupation'

Throughout his career, Huckabee has "repeatedly signaled his staunch support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu" and argued against the creation of an independent Palestinian country, a stance that "contradicts longstanding official U.S. support for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state," The Associated Press said. Huckabee has also been "vocal about his evangelical Christian faith, which he ties to his policies towards Israel," said Al Jazeera. "There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria," Huckabee said in 2017, using the biblical names for the territories favored by Israeli settlers. "There's no such thing as an occupation." Huckabee has also "advocated for Israel to annex the territory," Foreign Policy said. His nomination is mirrored by that of Yechiel Leiter, a "strong supporter of settlements" who was tapped by Netanyahu to serve as his ambassador to the United States.

Israel's right wing has unsurprisingly celebrated Huckabee's nomination, offering "enthusiastic support from Israeli settler communities and advocates of the country's territorial claims in the West Bank," Newsweek said. "We are very excited about Mike Huckabee," Yishai Fleisher, a spokesperson for the Jewish community in the West Bank city of Hebron, said to Newsweek. "Governor Huckabee is an amazing person, both in his spiritual and political awareness." Huckabee is a "supporter of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria," said Israel's ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on X. "Together with him we will strengthen Israel's security and strength and strengthen our hold in all its territory."

'I won't make the policy, I will carry out the policy of the president'

For his part, Huckabee has been "keeping his cards close to his chest" when it comes to the specifics of what the U.S.-Israel relationship might look like under the incoming administration, said the BBC, even as Israel's right wing has used his nomination to predict "another term of American policy highly favorable to their longstanding aims."

"Of course" full Israeli annexation of the West Bank might occur during Trump's second term, Huckabee said in his first Israeli interview since being nominated. "You know," he added, "I won't make the policy, I will carry out the policy of the president." But pressed on the "question of resettling Gaza," Huckabee was "less definitive," Israel's Ha'aretz said, with Huckabee adding he needed time to "process" the issue before "declining to respond any further."

Although many American conservative groups have lauded Huckabee's nomination, the left-leaning U.S.-Israel relations lobby J Street warned that the consequences of a Huckabee ambassadorship could be historically dire. If implemented, Huckabee's policies toward Israel and worldwide Jewry "would shatter the foundations on which a healthy and strong U.S.-Israel relationship has been built over the past 75 years," said the group in a statement.