Mike Huckabee, our candidate for President Donald Trump Israeli Ambassadorcleared a key hurdle on Tuesday after the Senate voted to end discussions about his nomination.
The Senate voted between 53 and 46 to advance Hucakbee’s nomination. He is now waiting for a final confirmation vote as Israel continues its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Republicans have defended Huckabee as an avid person Israeli supportersDemocrats question his previous “extreme” position on Palestinians.
Anti-Israel protesters suspend Huckabee hearing and attack Trump candidate’s faith
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Jerusalem’s then-presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee on August 19, 2015. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO via Getty Images)
The former Arkansas governor previously argued that annexing the West Bank was Israel’s right, and he completely refused to push to establish a solution for the two states regarding the Gaza Strip.
Huckabee has not commented on whether he still looks at the West Bank as a right to assert Israel, or whether he stands when it comes to Trump. Location of the Gaza StripThe president called for the “relocation” of more than 2 million Palestinians, saying he wanted to change to the “Middle Eastern Riviera.”
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a candidate for US President Donald Trump’s Israeli ambassador, arrives to testify at a confirmation hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the Darksen Senate Office building in Washington, DC on March 25, 2025. Former governor and presidential candidate Huckabee answered questions about the campaign against Israel and Hamas. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
During his confirmation hearing, the former governor argued that Trump wanted to take over the Gaza Strip and that the president did not seek “forced evacuation” of Palestinians from Gaza. “Unless it’s for their safety.”
“If confirmed, it is my responsibility to carry out the President’s priorities, not my priorities, but my responsibility,” Huckabee said in response to questions he was being asked by Sen. Jeff Markley (D-ore).
Mike Huckabee will be appointed Trump’s candidate as Israel’s next US ambassador after speaking to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a Delaware Regional Roundtable in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, October 29, 2024. (Washington Post via Javin Botsford/Getty Images)
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However, Huckabee’s testimony during Senate interrogation is unlikely to have attracted many new support from Congressional Democrats.
“Huckabee’s position is not the words of thoughtful diplomats. They are the words of provocates who are outside the international consensus and who are against the core bipartisan principles of American diplomacy.” “In one of the most unstable and violent regions of the world today, more extremism is not needed, and certainly not from behind the historic ambassador posts and the powerful seal of the United States.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
