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Mike Huckabee confirmed as US ambassador to Israel
The US Senate has confirmed Huckabee as the country’s next envoy to Israel.
A devout evangelical Christian and former governor of Arkansas, Huckabee is a staunch supporter of Israel and of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In 2017, he told CNN that “there is no such thing as the West Bank”. “It’s Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee said, referring to the territory’s biblical name, which is used by Israeli settlers. “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.”
Huckabee’s nomination was denounced by US rights groups that said his “extreme anti-Palestinian views are profoundly troubling and should disqualify him” from the ambassadorship.
Israeli Air Force commanders threaten reservists over Gaza fighting letter
Senior commanders in the Israeli Air Force have been reportedly calling and meeting with reserve officers and soldiers to threaten them with dismissal if they do not withdraw their signatures from a letter calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza.
The talks were conducted by commanders with the rank of brigadier general in the army on orders of Air Force chief Tomer Bar, according to the Haaretz news outlet.
It said about 970 air crew, including senior reservist officers and pilots, signed the letter. Only 25 of them have so far asked to take back their signatures, and at least eight more have asked to have their names added to the letter due to the latest threats.
The full text of the letter has not been published, but Israeli media has reported that the letter states the war in Gaza is continuing based on political gain, not to safeguard Israel.
