Trump Picks One-Time Rival Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is nominating former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel. 

Huckabee, who was in the field of Republican primary candidates who each lost to Trump in 2016, is a supporter of Israel, currently at war with the Hamas terrorist group based in the Gaza Strip adjacent the Jewish state. 

“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, has been nominated to be The United States Ambassador to Israel,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform. “Mike has been a great public servant, governor, and leader in faith for many years.  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!”

Huckabee also was a GOP presidential contender in 2008, when he won the Iowa caucuses early in the year.

Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was Trump’s second press secretary of four during his first term. Sanders, also a Republican, was elected governor of Arkansas in 2022. 

The Jerusalem Post reported that Huckabee, governor from 1996 to 2007, has visited Israel more than 100 times. 

“Everything that I embrace as a Christian is rooted in the promises that God gave to the Jewish people,” the newspaper quoted the 44th governor of Arkansas, a former Baptist pastor, as saying. 

The Times of Israel reported that in 2015, as a GOP presidential candidate, Huckabee said: “I’ve been alone a lot in my life about a lot of things, and I wouldn’t mind being alone if I felt it was the right thing. And I feel it is the right thing to stand with Israel in making sure that they have the right to secure their homeland with safe and defensible borders.”

Huckabee also strongly opposed the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, which Israel’s government also opposed.