President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Trump announced his decision on Tuesday, per Fox News.
“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 said in a post on Truth Social.
“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years,” Trump wrote. “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, an ordained Baptist minister, served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.
In 2008 and 2016, he vied for the Republican nomination for president. He won Iowa caucuses in 2008.
Huckabee was the host of the Fox News show “Huckabee” from 2008 to 2015.
His daughter is current Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She served as White House press secretary in the first Trump administration.
Sanders wrote how proud she was of her father in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“I went to Israel for the first time with my dad when I was eleven and it changed my life. There is no one President Trump could have picked with a greater love for the Israeli people and commitment to the unbreakable bond between America and Israel than him,” she wrote. “Love you dad!”
Huckabee has led tour group visits to Israel for many years and has defended Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
He has also been skeptical of the Palestinian statehood movement, saying in 2008 that “there’s no such thing as a Palestinian.”
