Mike Huckabee, new US envoy to Tel Aviv, once said 'there is no such thing as Palestinian'

By Maryam Qarehgozlou

The US Senate this week confirmed Mike Huckabee, a radical Christian Zionist who once said "there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian," as the new US ambassador to Tel Aviv.

Huckabee, a Baptist pastor who preached for more than a decade in Arkansas churches, also served as Arkansas governor from 1996 to 2007.

He has been known for his staunch support for illegal settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories, dehumanization of Palestinians, and opposition to Palestinian statehood.  

The 70-year-old unsuccessfully ran for the 2008 and 2016 Republican US presidential nominations.

US President Donald Trump, who has a long association with Huckabee, announced him as his nominee for ambassador to the Zionist entity shortly after the election in November.

“He loves Israel and the people of Israel,” Trump said, “and likewise, the people of Israel love him.”

His nomination instantly sparked an outcry, with lawmakers, lobbyists, and faith groups of various denominations raising objections due to his “extremist” positions on Palestinians.

On Wednesday, he was finally confirmed as the Trump administration's ambassador to Tel Aviv by a vote of 53 to 46, with senators largely divided along party lines.

Republicans all backed Trump’s nominee, and every Democrat except Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, a staunch and outspoken supporter of Israel, voted against him.

Huckabee’s confirmation comes at a critical time, just three weeks after the Israeli regime, with support from the Trump administration, broke a two-month ceasefire with Hamas and resumed its devastating war against the Gaza Strip, where nearly 60,000 Palestinians have been killed so far.

What is Huckabee’s stance on Palestine?

Huckabee is a devout Christian Zionist, firmly embracing the Zionist narrative that the occupied Palestinian territories belong to the Jewish people.

During his nomination hearing last month, Huckabee recounted his first trip to Israeli-occupied territories in 1973, noting that the experience had deeply affected him.

Since 1981, Huckabee has led numerous trips to occupied territories, taking approximately 10,000 people with him from different parts of the US for what observers call "propaganda tours."

Trump picks supporter of West Bank annexation as US envoy to Israel

Donald Trump has nominated Mike Huckabee, who apparently supports the annexation of the occupied West Bank, to the post of US ambassador to Israel.

In 2008, on the presidential campaign trail in Massachusetts, he had extremely inflammatory remarks that triggered severe backlash. “There is really no such thing as a Palestinian,” he said, dehumanizing Palestinians and calling their identity “a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”

In an interview last year, he went even further, saying that he doesn’t even believe in referring to the Arab descendants of people who lived in British-controlled Palestine as “Palestinians.”

Huckabee fervently supports West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, and the Israeli “annexation” of Palestinian territories.

He advocates for a one-state solution favoring the Israeli regime, effectively promoting the erasure of Palestine from the map and the ethnic cleansing of its indigenous people.

In 2015, while he was running for president a second time and touring occupied al-Quds, he rejected the terms “occupied” and “West Bank” when speaking to reporters.

Instead, he referred to the occupied territory as “Judea and Samaria,” using the biblical name of the area used by Zionists to erase Palestinians’ name for the region.

Huckabee suggested then that if a Palestinian state were to be created, it should be in neighboring countries like Egypt, Syria, or Jordan, rather than within the Israeli-occupied lands.

He repeated the same beliefs in 2017 in an interview with CNN: “I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria.”

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

On a 2018 visit to the occupied territories, he participated in a groundbreaking ceremony in one of the illegal settlements and said he “might want to purchase a holiday home” there.

His appointment as the next US ambassador to Israel also received enthusiastic support from Israeli settler communities as well as far-right ministers who advocate the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Last November, Yishai Fleisher, spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron (al-Khalil), expressed elation, calling Huckabee a “great friend to Israel” and that they were “thrilled to have him.”

Huckabee also supports the controversial “Pompeo doctrine,” a policy initiated by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that recognized Jewish settlement rights in the occupied West Bank.

But during his questioning by a Senate committee last month, he sought to play down some of his past statements and distance himself from them, saying he would “carry out the president’s priorities,” not his, and denied backing the expulsion of Palestinians.

When asked about Trump’s plan for a Gaza takeover in his hearing, Huckabee denied that the president ever said he would “forcibly displace” Palestinians from Gaza “unless it is for their safety” and said Palestinians could be incentivized to leave.

Trump has made his inflammatory proposals about a US takeover of Gaza after he took office in January, which drew strong criticism from Arab nations and others.

Trump's super Zionist picks

Trump

In an interview on Israeli Army Radio last November, after Trump nominated him to serve as United States ambassador to Israel, he said it was “of course” possible that the US would back the Israeli regime if it were to try and “annex” the Israeli-occupied territory.

“From the moving of the embassy, recognition of the Golan Heights and Jerusalem as the capital, no one has done more than President Trump. And I fully expect that that will continue,” he said, referring to Trump’s pro-Israeli policies during his first term.

Reactions to Huckabee’s confirmation

Israeli regime officials publicly celebrated the outcome of Wednesday’s Senate vote.

“This is a great day for the Israeli-American alliance,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Huckabee’s appointment would “strengthen the unbreakable bond” between Israel and the US following a phone call between the two.

Many Democrats have, however, been critical of his previous statements about the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, which continues to claim innocent lives, most of them children. 

Democratic Senator Jerry Nadler last month said Huckabee was “woefully unfit” for the role.

Nadler said he has been engaging in “brazen denial of the existence of the Palestinian people,” referencing his past statements about Palestinian statehood.

Advocates for Palestinian rights have also raised alarm about Huckabee’s nomination over his clear bias toward the Israeli regime and his numerous statements dehumanizing Palestinians.

More than 65 rights and faith groups protested Huckabee’s confirmation and have sent numerous letters urging US senators to vote against him.

Among them were Christian, Jewish, and Muslim groups that said “his appointment would embolden those who oppose peace and fuel further division, rather than encouraging constructive dialogue and understanding.”

“He has claimed Palestinians do not exist & has allied with Israel’s violent settler movement and extremist evangelicals in the United States — and will undoubtedly pursue his dangerous Christian Nationalist worldview as ambassador,” IfNotNow, a movement of American Jews, said in a statement.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk