Mike Huckabee will likely be voted in as US ambassador to Israel, largely along party lines. [Getty]
US President Donald Trump‘s nomination of Mike Huckabee for US ambassador to Israel has advanced to the next step, while a new nomination for United Nations ambassador has not yet been named.
Following a high-profile senate confirmation hearing last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have advanced the nomination of Huckabee to one of the country’s most important diplomatic positions.
However, the vote will likely be along narrow party lines, with Democrats (with the possible exception of John Fetterman) generally seeing Huckabee as too extreme to represent the US on the world stage.
Among his more controversial positions on Israel and Palestine, Huckabee, an openly religious evangelical Christian, has opposed a two-state solution, voiced support for Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, referred to the area as Judea and Samaria, and he has denied the existence of Palestinians.
“Huckabee’s positions are not the words of a thoughtful diplomat—they are the words of a provocateur whose views are far outside international consensus and contrary to the core bipartisan principles of American diplomacy,” said Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York in a public statement prior to the senate hearing.
“In one of the most volatile and violent areas in the world today, there is no need for more extremism, and certainly not from the historic ambassador’s post and behind the powerful seal of the United States. All those committed to Israel’s future and a vision of a prosperous Middle East must band together to oppose Mike Huckabee’s nomination,” he said, echoing a widespread sentiment among elected officials who support Israel but see Huckabee as too extreme to represent the US.
Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to search for a new ambassador to the US after withdrawing his nomination of Elise Stefanik of New York, fearing her vacated congressional seat could flip to a Democrat in a special election. Stefanik made national headlines when she grilled elite university presidents over allegations of antisemitism on college campuses.
Recent news reports have indicated that Trump could choose David Friedman, who served as ambassador to Israel in his first term, or Richard Grenell, who served as ambassador to Germany, also during Trump’s first term.
