Trump picks Huckabee to be US ambassador to Israel
US President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as the US ambassador to Israel.
Mike Huckabee (2015)
Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, is a staunch supporter of Israel and defender of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, considered illegal by most of the international community.
“He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!” Trump said in a statement.
Huckabee, 69, has criticised President Joe Biden for pressuring Israel to moderate its conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip.
“If a person is pro-Israel, how can you be pro-Biden because the Biden administration has made it very clear they will make concessions to Hamas,” Huckabee said in an interview in March on News Nation.
Huckabee served as Arkansas governor from 1996 to 2007.
He fell short in bids for the Republican nomination for president in 2008 and 2016.
His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is the current governor of Arkansas.
She served as Trump’s White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019.
Trump earlier on Tuesday picked Republican representative and former Army Green Beret Mike Waltz to be his national security adviser.
Trump has spent most of his first week as president-elect behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida, where he is working the phones, reconnecting with foreign leaders and building his new administration.
Trump is expected to return to public view on Wednesday, when he goes to the White House to meet with Biden and visits the Capitol to consult with House Speaker Mike Johnson.
with AP
