Huckabee, Trump's ambassador pick to Israel, says two-state solution not legitimate

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whom President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to be his Israel ambassador nominee, doubled down on his opposition to a Palestinian state on Friday in his first interview since getting the nod last week.

Huckabee, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012, was chosen by Trump last Tuesday as his nominee for ambassador to Israel. An evangelical Christian, Huckabee is a longtime supporter of Israel and the settler movement, as well as an opponent of Palestinian self-determination. He refers to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria, the term preferred by religious Zionists. He said in 2008 that “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian” and, in 2018, expressed interest in buying a home in a West Bank settlement.

Israel captured the West Bank during the 1967 war, and the territory is considered occupied under international law.

In an interview with the right-wing Israeli news outlet Arutz Sheva on Friday, Huckabee reiterated his belief that the occupied West Bank is part of Israel, citing the story of Abraham from the Old Testament. 

“I've never been willing to use the term West Bank. There is no such thing. I speak of Judea and Samaria. I tell people there is no occupation,” he said. “It is a land that is occupied by the people who have had a rightful deed to the place for 3,500 years, since the time of Abraham.”

Huckabee, who said he was “surprised” to receive the nod from Trump, repeated his opposition to a Palestinian state in the interview when referencing criticism of his pending nomination, saying, “Some of my previous positions and our statements, particularly regarding the two-state solution, which I don't believe is legit, … troubled some of the people on the far left.”

According to Huckabee, his view is shared by Trump.

"It's a position I've held for many years, and frankly, it's a position that Donald Trump has held, and I expect that he will continue to,” he said, though he clarified that he will carry out Trump’s policies and not his own.

At the June presidential debate, Trump declined to answer on whether he would support a Palestinian state as president, saying, "I'd have to see." His 2020 peace plan for the region offered Palestinians conditional autonomy.

The Israeli far right has celebrated the Huckabee pick. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said last week that he hopes Israel will extend its sovereignty over the West Bank in 2025 after Trump’s inauguration. When asked about the comments, Huckabee said the decision would be Israel’s but that Trump would support the country in general.

“That's a decision for Israel to make, not for the United States to impose it upon them,” he said. “There has never been a more pro-Israel president ever in history than Donald Trump.”

On the Gaza war, Huckabee criticized the Biden administration’s approach, calling it “painful” to see Washington “tell Israel how to prosecute a war that they're fighting to stay alive.”

President Joe Biden has maintained military and political support for Israel throughout the Gaza war, but he has opposed some of the country's actions, including the invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. The United States delayed the delivery of some bombs to Israel in May over concerns about the killing of civilians in Gaza.

Huckabee called for expanding the Abraham Accords. That deal, brokered in 2020, led to the establishment of full relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and was expanded to include Morocco later the same year.

“I think the United States can be a strong strategic partner in helping to further the mission of the Abraham Accords,” he said. “I want to be a part of making sure that the Abraham Accords that he launched continue to grow, bring more people into those agreements and create a more stable, more peaceful climate in the Middle East.”