Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be ambassador to Israel, has long rejected a Palestinian state in territory previously seized by Israel and has repeatedly signaled his staunch support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Huckabee, a former TV host and Baptist preacher, frequently visits Israel and once said he wanted to buy a holiday home there. He has maintained throughout the years that the West Bank belongs to Israel, and recently said 鈥渢he title deed was given by God to Abraham and to his heirs.鈥�
His argument for a so-called 鈥渙ne-state solution鈥� contradicts longstanding official U.S. support for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.
He has described the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas as 鈥渉orrific" and " beyond anything I鈥檝e ever witnessed in my lifetime鈥� and argued that the U.S. needs to stand firmly behind Israel.
Here are some things Huckabee has said over the years about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He is decisively against a two-state solution
Huckabee has never supported a two-state compromise even when Netanyahu endorsed the idea in 2009.
Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians want those territories for a future state and view them as parts of a single country now under military occupation.
The U.S., along with most of the international community, has supported the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines as the cornerstone of a peace agreement. Even Israel鈥檚 hardline prime minister once endorsed a two-state solution while rejecting a return to Israel鈥檚 pre-1967 lines. Netanyahu now rejects the creation of a Palestinian state.
Huckabee has never supported any solution that would require Israeli settlers to be uprooted.
In an interview with The Associated Press in 2015, Huckabee, then running for the GOP presidential nomination, said recognizing the West Bank as Israeli would be the 鈥渇ormal position鈥� of his administration. He criticized Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza and described settlers evacuated by Israeli forces as having been 鈥渕arched at gunpoint.鈥�
鈥淚 feel that we have a responsibility to respect that this is land that has historically belonged to the Jews,鈥� he said.
He once compared the Iran nuclear deal to the Holocaust
In 2015, Huckabee likened the Iran nuclear deal to marching Israelis 鈥渢o the door of the oven,鈥� a reference to the crematorium in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust.
Huckabee was criticizing then-President Barack Obama for his role in the agreement the U.S. and other world powers reached with Tehran. Republicans back then were united in their opposition to the deal, arguing it didn鈥檛 address Iran's support for terrorism. Trump during his first administration withdrew from the deal, in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
The comment was denounced by Democrats, but Huckabee stood by it.
He doesn鈥檛 accept Palestinians as a term and criticizes 鈥榬adical Muslims鈥�
In a recent interview with a podcaster, Huckabee said he did not believe in referring to the Arab descendants of people who lived in British-controlled Palestine as 鈥淧alestinians.鈥�
鈥淭here really isn鈥檛 such a thing,鈥� he said earlier this year on 鈥淭hink Twice鈥� with Jonathan Tobin. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a term that was co-opted by Yasser Arafat in 1962,鈥� referring to one of the early leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
During the same podcast, Huckabee described himself as an 鈥渦napologetic, unreformed Zionist.鈥�
In defending Israel, Huckabee said he wished people understood that 鈥渢his is an extraordinary oasis in a land of totalitarianism surrounded by tyranny.鈥�
The former governor also said many 鈥渞adical Muslims want to take us back to the seventh century.鈥�
鈥淚 don't want to go back there,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 like modernity.鈥�
He expresses outrage over Oct. 7 attack by Hamas
Huckabee has described the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, as 鈥渉orrific鈥� and 鈥渂eyond anything I鈥檝e ever witnessed in my lifetime." He was outraged by how Hamas spread images of the killings on social media.
鈥淎s horrible as the Nazis were, they weren鈥檛 posting their atrocities on social media and trying to trumpet what they were doing to the world,鈥� he said in an appearance with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. 鈥淲hich is what makes this horrendous thing Hamas has done so much, to me, worse, because they want everyone to see what they鈥檝e done.鈥�
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 people hostage. Israel responded with one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history, killing more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say.
Adriana Gomez Licon, The Associated Press
