The recent appointment of former governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee as the next U.S. ambassador to Israel has the potential to significantly reshape America’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Huckabee, a long standing supporter of Israel, has been outspoken in his views that challenge the conventional “land-for-peace” formula that has guided U.S. policy for decades.
In a revealing 2014 interview with David Rubin, the former mayor of the Israeli city of Shiloh and the founder of the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund, Huckabee made clear his skepticism towards the two-state solution and his belief in Israel’s biblical and historical claim to Judea and Samaria. Rubin, who started the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund after he and his young son were victims of a terrorist attack, has been a vocal proponent of what he calls a “peace-for-peace” approach – one that rejects the notion of trading Israeli land for promises of peace.
Huckabee echoed these sentiments in his conversation with Rubin, stating bluntly that the “land-for-peace formula…doesn’t work” and that “the two-state solution doesn’t work because at any time that we have given over land for peace, all we’ve gotten is terrorism in its place.” This stance represents a sharp departure from the Biden Administration, which continues to promote the two-state solution even after the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
Huckabee’s appointment sends a clear signal that the Trump administration is willing to challenge the conventional wisdom on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As ambassador, he will likely push for a fundamental reframing of the peace process – one that starts from the premise that Israel has a legitimate, God-given claim to the entirety of its biblical heartland.
While running for President in 2015, Huckabee said “I would happily go to Shiloh anytime. I think it is very important that as Americans we show support for Israelis in their capacity to build their neighborhoods in their own country.” Huckabee, who stressed he did not view Judea and Samaria as occupied territory, said Israel – with a 3,500-year historic tie to Shiloh – “has a much stronger link there than Americans have to Manhattan, a connection dating back only four centuries.”
“I’m not concerned about getting ridiculed for saying that my peace plan and everything that I say is based on biblical guidelines and based on historical precedent,” Rubin told Huckabee during their interview. “I think that we need to look at historical precedent. We need to look at what the core of Israel civilization and Western civilization says about how to proceed on peace in the land of Israel.”
Huckabee appears to share this conviction, having stated that he is “unashamed to talk about the biblical basis for Israel’s existence and even for the borders.” This unapologetic stance represents a shift from the tendency of past U.S. administrations to avoid biblical claims on the land of Israel.
Rubin’s criticism of the mainstream media’s bias against Israel also resonates with Huckabee, who has long been an outspoken defender of the Jewish state. In the interview, Rubin lamented that “the American media doesn’t report the many times that this sort of [terrorist] incident happens” in Israel, and that “there seems to be an incredible bias against Israel when it comes to reporting acts of terrorism and violence.”
As ambassador, Huckabee will almost certainly work to counter this perceived bias, using his platform to amplify the Israeli narrative and push back against what he and other pro-Israel advocates view as an unfairly critical portrayal of the Jewish state. This could involve more aggressive public diplomacy efforts, as well as a concerted push to reshape the prevailing media narratives surrounding the conflict.
Huckabee’s appointment also raises the prospect of a more confrontational approach towards the Palestinian Authority. In the interview, he echoed Rubin’s view that the Palestinians have not indicated a true willingness to genuinely make peace with Israel, and he questioned the “blind trust” of Israelis on the political left who have been “willing to give up so much” in pursuit of a negotiated settlement. That the significant majority of Palestinians consistently support Hamas’ brutal attacks on Israel only confirms Huckabee’s views.
