Newly designated U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, spoke about his appointment in a first, short interview with Israel's Army Radio on Wednesday morning.
"I'm kind of in shock. It's been an unusual and wonderful day all at the same time. And I'm just incredibly honored that the president would ask me to serve in this capacity," Huckabee said.
While choosing his words carefully, the well-known friend of Israel and vocal supporter of the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria said that there was the possibility of Israel applying sovereignty to the area during the coming tenure of President-elect Donald Trump.
The issue has resurfaced in Israeli public discourse since the election of Trump, with Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich recently declaring that "now is the time" for applying sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria.
"I have been, as you know, a frequent visitor to Judea and Samaria," Huckabee said, pointedly using the Israeli way to describe the areas commonly known as the "West Bank" internationally.
"I also very much believe that the people of Israel deserve a secure and safe country, and anything I can do that will help accommodate that is going to be a great privilege for me," he added.
Not satisfied with this answer, Army Radio's Yanir Kozin asked Huckabee again whether in his opinion, there was a possibility of Israel annexing parts of Judea and Samaria.
"Well, of course. And you know, I won't make the policy. I will carry out the policy of the president. But he has already demonstrated in his first term that there's never been an American president that has been more helpful in securing, uh, an understanding of the sovereignty of Israel from the moving of the embassy, recognition of the Golan Heights and Jerusalem as the capital. No one has done more than President Trump. And I fully expect that will continue," said Huckabee.
Kozin then asked him about the possibility of settlements in the Gaza Strip, where the IDF is seemingly preparing for a longer stay.
"Well, I haven't had time to process that," Huckabee answered. "As I say, today has been a pretty intense day of just fielding hundreds, literally hundreds of calls, emails, text messages. So, you know, I don't want to make any comments about policy because those won't be mine to make. That'll be the president's. And it will be my job to carry out the policy that he prescribes."
Huckabee, who serves on the All Israel News advisory board and was the first person to agree to do so when we established this media platform in 2020, also sent a message to the people of Israel.
"For me, on a personal level, this is an extraordinary opportunity to be able to represent my country to a land that I have loved since I first visited there in July of 1973, almost 52 years ago, and with dozens and dozens of trips that I have made to Israel and having taken tens of thousands of Americans there to see the land," Huckabee said.
"I cannot tell you what a joy it is to be able to serve in this capacity."
Republished with permission from All Israel News