US envoy-designate to Israel says Trump could back West Bank annexation

US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick as Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has said the incoming administration might support Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank.

In an interview with Israeli Army Radio, Huckabee said: “No one has done more [for Israel] than President Trump and I fully expect that will continue”

Huckabee emphasised his commitment to advancing the administration’s policies, saying: “Anything I can do to support this plan, I will do. I will implement the president’s policy. He has already shown during his first term that no other president has been as helpful in securing an understanding of Israel’s sovereignty” referring to Trump’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and Jerusalem, which are designated as illegally occupied territories by the UN.

Huckabee, a seasoned politician and Evangelical Christian leader known for his strong backing of Israel, was announced as Trump’s nominee on Tuesday. He has previously said Israel has “title deed” to the occupied West Bank, and that he refuses to refer to the area as the West Bank, saying it is Judae and Samaria, the Biblical name for the area. Adding that “there is no such thing as an occupation” or “settlements, they are communities”.

Trump’s envoy to Israel: ‘West Bank does not exist’

‘There is no such thing as the West Bank, it is Judea and Samaria,’ concerns raised as US president-elect Donald Trump appoints former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as American ambassador to Israel. Huckabee has hard line… pic.twitter.com/a3bOfteuBh

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) November 13, 2024

Earlier this week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said “time has come, in this new era under US President Donald Trump, to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. We were just one step away from implementing sovereignty over the settlements during his previous term.”

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