Washington
CNN
—

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has nominated former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as United States ambassador to Israel.

“Mike has been a great public servant, governor and faith leader for many years. He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel love him in the same way. Mike will work tirelessly to bring peace to the Middle East!” Trump said in a statement.

Huckabee’s daughter and current Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders served as Trump’s press secretary during his first administration.

Huckabee has been a strong defender of Israel throughout his career — including what he says is the country’s claims to the West Bank.

His selection will be a welcome culmination of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long mission to strengthen ties with American evangelical Christians.

Huckabee has spent ample time in Israel and led a tour of the country for the company Senior Adult Travel Inc. in May 2024, according to the company’s website.

He has been a supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including laying a cornerstone for a new neighborhood in one of the largest Israeli settlements in the West Bank, just east of Jerusalem, in 2017.

He told CNN’s Oren Lieberman at the time that he rejected the use of the word “settlements.”

“I think Israel has a title deed to Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee said, using Biblical terms for the West Bank. “There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It is Judea and Samaria. There is no such thing as a settlement. They are communities, they are neighborhoods, they are cities. There is no such thing as a profession.”