Washington — Announcement by President-elect Donald Trump On Tuesday, he selected the former Arkansas governor. Mike Huckabee to serve as United States Ambassador to Israel.
“Mike has been a great public servant, governor and faith leader for many years,” Trump said in a statement. “He loves Israel and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring peace to the Middle East!”
The position requires approval by the Senatealthough Huckabee is unlikely to face major obstacles to being confirmed in the upper house, where Republicans are expected to hold at least 52 seats in the next Congress.
Huckabee is among the first picks announced by the president-elect as he begins assembling his Cabinet and other key positions. Among these are Representative Elise Stefanik as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Representative Michael Waltz as National Security Advisor. Sources say he is expected to exploit The senator from Florida. Marco Rubio for the position of Secretary of State, although the selection has not been finalized.
Huckabee served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007 and ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016. After leaving office, he hosted a show on Fox News and a radio show. He is a staunch supporter of Israel and has said he has visited the country more than 100 times in 50 years.
During his first term, Trump has moved the American embassy of Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his first term, which President Biden maintained.
If confirmed next year, Huckabee will take the job amid Israel’s war with Hamas and Hamas’s holding of dozens of Israeli hostages, including four U.S. citizens. Discussions on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly stalled and on Saturday Qatar, mediator with Hamas, announced that it had suspended his efforts and would resume them when “the parties demonstrate their will and seriousness to end the brutal war and the continued suffering of civilians.”
Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee, said in a interview in “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday, he believes that “the environment has totally changed” after Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke with Trump three times in recent days and called the conversations “good and very important.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Mr. Biden at the White House on Tuesday.
More than 1,200 civilians were killed and 250 kidnapped when Hamas launched its terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023. Around 100 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza, although a third are believed to have died. More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, but it is unclear how many are civilians and how many are militants.
After the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah, allied with Iran, began firing rockets, missiles and drones from Lebanon towards Israel.
