Trump nominates Mike Huckabee as next US ambassador to Israel

President-elect says former Arkansas governor will work 'tirelessly' to bring peace to the Middle East

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee at an event in Pennsylvania in October. Getty / AFP

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President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and devout Christian, to be US ambassador to Israel in his coming administration.

Mr Huckabee, 69, is a staunch defender of Israel and his nomination comes as Mr Trump has promised to align US foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests as it wages wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Mike has been a great public servant, governor and leader in faith for many years,” Mr Trump said in a statement. “He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him.”

He said Mr Huckabee, an Evangelical Christian, will work “tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East”.

Speaking to NewsNation in June, Mr Huckabee said there can be no negotiating with Hamas, which the US and other countries have designated a terrorist group.

“There's no valid reason to have a ceasefire with Hamas. They're not capable of having an honourable negotiation,” he said. In an earlier interview, he compared Israel's campaign in Gaza to D-Day during the Second World War.

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Mr Trump, who has called himself Israel's “best friend”, has vowed to end the Gaza war. Mr Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister and tried White House runs of his own in 2008 and 2016.

He has led paid tour group visits to Israel for years, frequently advertising the trips on conservative-leaning news outlets.

After leaving the governorship, Mr Huckabee became a political commentator and his show, Huckabee, ran on the Fox network until 2015. It now runs on TBN, an international Christian broadcasting network.

His daughter, current Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was White House press secretary under Mr Trump.

The appointment of Mr Huckabee suggests a return to Mr Trump's original views towards Israel in his first term, when he moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and determined that settlements in the West Bank were not in breach of international law.

In 2017, Mr Huckabee laid the cornerstone of a neighbourhood in Efrat, one of the largest settlements in the West Bank. He has in the past referred to the area as “Judea and Samaria”, the biblical terms settlers use to describe the West Bank.

“I think Israel has a title deed to Judea and Samaria,” Mr Huckabee told CNN that same year.

“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 neighbourhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”

Also on Tuesday, Mr Trump nominated Steven Witkoff as special envoy to the Middle East.

"Steve is a highly respected leader in business and philanthropy, who has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous," Mr Trump said in a statement. "Steve will be an unrelenting voice for peace, and make us all proud."

Mr Witkoff is a real estate investor and Trump campaign donor. He is not known to have any diplomatic experience or experience in the Middle East.