His name, which briefly crossed American borders during the presidential campaigns of 2008 and 2016, when he competed for the Republican nomination, should not take long to establish itself in the conversation in the Middle East. Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas (1996-2007), was nominated by Donald Trump for the post of United States ambassador to Israel. The Senate being won by the Republicans, the nomination of this fervent supporter of the Jewish state should be validated without difficulty.
“He adores Israel and the people of Israel, and reciprocally, the people of Israel adore him. Mike will work tirelessly to restore peace to the Middle East! »said the president-elect, familiar with the Huckabee clan: Sarah Huckabee Sanders was spokesperson for the White House between May 2017 and June 2019, before being elected at the end of 2022, like her father, governor of very Republican Arkansas.
At 69, Mike Huckabee said Wednesday in the first interview he has given since his appointment, to Israeli Army Radio, that he will not shape the United States’ Israel policy. “I will implement that of the president”he declared, while affirming that he was “of course possible” that Washington supports an annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories.
“There are no real Palestinians”
Mike Huckabee is already following in the footsteps of his predecessor during the first Trump administration. For four years, David Friedman actively contributed to the reshaping of US Israel policy, through the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017, the transfer of the embassy a year later and the recognition of sovereignty Israeli on the Golan Heights.
“No one has done more than President Trump. And I expect this to continue”added Mike Huckabee, who hosted his own show “Huckabee” on Fox News for thirteen years.
More than a friend of Israel, this former Baptist pastor – the first non-Jewish ambassador to this post since James Cunningham in 2008 under George W. Bush – is an ardent defender of colonization and a virulent opponent of the creation of a Palestinian state. For him – as for current Minister Bezalel Smotrich – the Palestinian people do not exist.
In 2008, Mike Huckabee was filmed by news outlet Buzzfeed telling a rabbi at a campaign event in Massachusetts: “I have to be careful what I say, because people get really angry, but there aren’t really any Palestinians. It was a political tool to try to take land away from Israel. »
In 2015, he still affirmed Washington Postthat the idea according to which the Palestinians “had a long history, going back hundreds or thousands of years, is not true.”
In early January 2017, the former governor participated in a ceremony in Maale Adumim, one of Israel’s largest settlements, located east of Jerusalem, during which he laid the foundation stone for a new neighborhood, in front of a “Build Israel Great Again” banner, in a nod to the Trumpian slogan “Make America Great Again”. The opportunity for him to underline the extent to which the Israeli policy of Donald Trump, just elected, would be different from that of Barack Obama.
The opportunity also to challenge the use of the terms “settlements” and “West Bank” in front of CNN cameras. “There are certain words I refuse to use, he explained. The West Bank does not exist. This is Judea and Samaria. Colonies do not exist. These are communities, neighborhoods, cities. Occupation does not exist. »
“With him, we will consolidate our hold”
Although he has no experience in diplomacy, Mike Huckabee knows Israel very well. He has been going there several times a year for years, notably as a tourist guide in the Holy Land, most recently in May with the travel agency Senior Adult Travel.
With such a pedigree, the nomination of Mike Huckabee already has the scent of victory for Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long worked to strengthen ties with American evangelicals. His far-right and religious Zionist allies within the government did not hide their jubilation.
“With him, we will strengthen the security and strength of Israel and consolidate our hold on all its spaces”reacted the Minister of Finance, responsible for civilian management in the West Bank, Bezalel Smotrich. His national security colleague Itamar Ben Gvir posted the name of Mike Huckabee with a heart between the Israeli and American flags on the social network X.
In addition to his future ambassador to Israel, Donald Trump has appointed the person who would be his special envoy for the Middle East: Steven Witkoff, a New York investor specializing in real estate, who raised significant funds for the Republican’s campaign, especially among Jewish voters. Another choice which outlines the already explicit contours of Donald Trump’s future Israeli policy.