Smotrich hails incoming US envoy’s remarks on West Bank annexation
The far-right Israeli Finance Minister has praised the incoming US envoy to Israel Mike Huckabee for making remarks in apparent support of Israel’s potential annexation of the occupied West Bank.
“I congratulate Ambassador-designate Mike Huckabee for his words. I am convinced that we will be able to work closely together with President-elect Trump and with all members of the incoming administration … on the basis of recognition in the unshakable historical belonging of the entire land of Israel to the people of Israel,” Smotrich said on X.
In an interview with Israel’s Army Radio, Huckabee said “of course” annexation of the West Bank is a possibility but noted that he is not the one who sets policy. “I believe that the people of Israel deserve a safe state – anything I can do to help this will be a privilege for me,” Huckabee added.
The two are mutually exclusive, annexing the West Bank will not create a safe state.
Who is Mike Huckabee, Trump’s pro-settlement pick for Israel ambassador?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/12/trump-picks-pro-settlement-mike-huckabee-as-us-ambassador-to-israel
Huckabee, Trump’s former rival in the Republican primary elections, has a long history of support for Israel and for Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
“There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighbourhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation,” he said on the news network CNN in 2017.
Earlier, in 2015, during his run for president, Huckabee attended a fundraiser for US citizens in the illegal Israeli settlement of Shiloh. There, he once again referred to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria”, the territory’s biblical name, and described it as a fundamental part of Israel.
Nominees like Huckabee hint at what some critics fear from a second Trump administration: That he will go further than President Biden in his support for Israel.
