The President-elect's choices for multiple key positions indicate support for Israel is the priority of the incoming administration
News Desk - The Cradle
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AP reported on 13 November that Trump's pick for ambassador to Israel, former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee, has long rejected a Palestinian state, repeatedly signals his unwavering support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, frequently visits Israel, and firmly believes the West Bank belongs to Israel because “the title deed was given by God to Abraham and to his heirs.”
In an interview with Israeli Army Radio, Huckabee said that “of course” annexation of the West Bank is a possibility, but noted that he is not the one who sets policy.
Bloomberg reported that during his run for president in 2015, Huckabee held a fundraiser in the illegal Jewish settlement Shilo, located deep in the heart of the occupied West Bank between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Nablus.
Huckabee's Shilo event was sponsored by Simon Falic, an US-Jewish supporter of both Republican candidates and right-wing Israeli politicians.
Trump’s appointment of Huckabee and other hawkishly pro-Israel figures comes after Israeli-US billionaire Miriam Adelson donated $100 million to his presidential campaign in October, allegedly in exchange for a pledge to allow Israel to annex the West Bank.
On 13 November, Trump named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host, author, and military veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as his pick for defense secretary.
After a visit to Israel to see biblical sites in 2016, Hegseth told the Jewish Press “It's the story of God's chosen people. That story didn't end in 1776 or in 1948 or with the founding of the UN. All of these things still resonate and matter today.”
“I have come to really appreciate the Jewish heritage and the Jewish state. I understand how geopolitically we are linked and how critical it is that we stand by such a strong ally,” he added.
Sources speaking with the New York Times reported Monday that Trump is expected to nominate Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a persistent Israel supporter, to serve as secretary of state.
The Jewish Forward reported that “If picked, Rubio's selection would likely reassure both Israel and traditional Republicans that Trump intends to maintain his strong support for Israel in a second term, amid concerns about an inner circle pushing an isolationist approach.”
The president-elect announced Tuesday that he has chosen John Ratcliffe, who was director of national intelligence (DNI) during Trump's first term, to serve as his CIA director.
Earlier this year, Ratcliffe criticized President Joe Biden's hollow threat to withhold weapons shipments to Israel amid its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, saying the it had put a key ally at risk. He also argued that the administration had not been harsh enough on Iran.
Trump also declared his choice this week of Republican Congressman Michael Waltz of Florida, a former Green Beret, as national security advisor.
Waltz has also worked with prominent neoconservatives who helped launch the 2003 Iraq war on Israel's behalf. Waltz served as an advisor to defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and advised then-vice president Dick Cheney on counterterrorism.
The Jewish Insider described Waltz as an “Israel and Iran hawk” and “stalwart supporter of Israel” who has advocated that Israel strike Iran's oil and nuclear infrastructure.
President-elect Trump has picked Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York to be his next ambassador to the UN.
Politico noted that Stefanik has “made herself a household name among Republicans as a staunch defender of Israel.”
Stefanik has repeatedly accused the UN of anti-Semitism for its criticism of Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and its continued opposition to the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements and oppression of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
She has also supported blocking US support for the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), the main provider of humanitarian aid to Palestinians, amid Israel's effort to starve the remaining Palestinian population in northern Gaza.
On 12 November, Trump announced the delegation of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for the position of secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
As governor, Noem prioritized fighting the so-called rise in anti-Semitism, passing a bill that would criminalize criticism of Israel based on the definition of anti-Semitism proposed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
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