Mike Huckabee, ambassador-designate to Israel, on March 25. Photo by Screenshot/livestream by Senate Foreign Relations Committee
By Jacob Kornbluh
March 25, 2025
Mike Huckabee, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Israel, faced relatively benign questioning from Democrats at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday despite his support for Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank and past remarks on Palestinians. However, he was repeatedly interrupted by protesters who objected to his strong Christian Zionist views and support for the war in Gaza.
Huckabee, a Baptist minister who has taken more than 100 trips to Israel since 1973, is an evangelical hardliner who believes that the Jewish return to Israel is a precursor to the second coming of Jesus. Huckabee published The Kids Guide to Israel, which promotes his Christian Zionist worldview. He has also previously claimed that “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.”
The spiritual connection between churches in America, Jewish congregations, and the State of Israel is undeniable, Huckabee, 69, said, “because we ultimately are People of the Book. We believe the Bible, and therefore, that connection is not just geopolitical — it is also spiritual.”
In his opening statement, Huckabee insisted he was not there to defend his personal views but rather to serve as a representative of “the overwhelmingly elected president.” Instead, he highlighted his commitment to backing additional normalization agreements between Israel and Arab nations, known as the Abraham Accords. On Monday, in public remarks at a cabinet meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance said that the administration was working to expand the accords by bringing more countries on board.
“It will be my duty to carry out the president’s policies, not mine,” Huckabee told Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who asked if he still supports annexation. Huckabee said in a radio interview following the announcement of his new role in December that there’s a chance that Israel will be given the green light to annex the occupied West Bank. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who has been critical of Israeli settlements and how Israel conducted the war in Gaza, was the only Democrat to press Huckabee hard on his views on the conflict.
Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, asked Huckabee what his role would be in securing the release of Edan Alexander, the last known living U.S. citizen held by Hamas in Gaza and a New Jersey native. Huckabee said it is the “most important thing” on his duty list.
Christian Zionist views, now mainstream in the GOP
Huckabee’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict closely aligns with congressional Republicans and Trump’s national security team. In January, a group of GOP members launched the “Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus,” which promotes Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territories it seized from Jordan in the 1967 War. Republican leaders have reintroduced legislation and submitted memos urging that government spokespeople and documents refer to the occupied West Bank by its biblical names.
Before the hearing, Jewish Democrats denounced Huckabee as unqualified. “A vote for Huckabee is a vote to empower a Christian nationalist vision for American foreign policy,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, co-chair of the Congressional Jewish Caucus, said in a statement. Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said Huckabbee’s nomination reflects Trump’s “extremist, transactional and out of touch” approach to Israel.
Despite Democratic opposition, Huckabee is expected to be confirmed with backing from Senate Republicans. GOP members defended his nomination, arguing that his deep ties to Israel and unwavering support for its security make him the right choice for the post.
Huckabee would be the first non-Jewish ambassador to Israel since 2011 and the first non-Jewish appointee without diplomatic experience in more than four decades. The position has traditionally been reserved for Jewish donors, trusted Jewish officials, or career diplomats.
“The Jewish people need to know they have friends,” Huckabee said. “It’s going to be a privilege to be able to be one of those people — not Jewish, Christian in fact — to say to our Jewish friends: you will never go through what you’ve gone through alone. We will stand, not behind you; we will stand with you.”
The hearing was seemingly overshadowed by a simultaneous Senate hearing with top Trump intelligence officials following the revelation that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz had mistakenly added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, to a Signal group chat about U.S. strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, a breach of national security protocol. The group chat messages revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wanted to attack the Houthis before Israel could.
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