On Tuesday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Wake Up America,” Mike Huckabee, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel, said that Hamas never keeps its word and “if you negotiate with terrorists, you only give them more freedom.” But it’s also important the U.S. is “engaged and involved” in negotiations over the next phase of the ceasefire.
Huckabee said Hamas has to be eliminated by Israel, and “every time Hamas says they will do something, they simply never do.”
Co-host Sharla McBride then asked, “[W]e know that U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will be heading to the Middle East tomorrow to discuss extending that first phase of the ceasefire with Israel, Qatar, and Egypt. And with a lot of the President’s focus on Ukraine and Russia right now, how important is the U.S.’s role in all of these mediations and all of these negotiations over in the Middle East?”
Huckabee answered, “Sharla, the most important thing we’re watching is that we are engaged and involved. Until Donald Trump was sworn in, there was a disengagement, and when we were engaged, it was schizophrenic. We never knew whether the American policy was steadfast with Israel or kind of with Israel, but telling them how they ought to prosecute the war and at what point they could go into certain cities and whether or not we were going to withhold arms, which we did, by the way, withhold the very defense weapons that Israel needed to defend itself, not just against Hamas, but against Hezbollah and the Houthis. Under Donald Trump, there’s clarity. There’s a certainty. The trumpet is blowing a clear, clear signal, and that signal is, America will stand with its allies, number one. Number two, we are not going to flinch when it comes to dealing with these murderous terrorists. Hamas is not a government. I hope everybody remembers that. They are terrorists. There is no governing force of Hamas. They’re not a country. They’re simply Iranian-backed savages. That’s what they are.”
Co-host Marc Lotter then said, “[O]n Saturday, Israel was supposed to release 620 Palestinian prisoners after the return of six hostages from Hamas captivity. But Prime Minister Netanyahu said the prisoners will not be released while Hamas continues the gross display of hostages in these staged ceremonies. And, to your earlier point, I remember when the position was don’t negotiate with terrorists. So, what has to happen now? Hamas just needs to basically realize, negotiation’s over.”
Huckabee responded, “Marc, you made the point so eloquently just then, and that is that, if you negotiate with terrorists, you only give them more freedom. … If you reward a behavior, you get more of it, if you consequence or punish a behavior, you get less of it. So, when you reward terrorists, you get more of what they have. If you consequence them, that’s the only way you get less of it. And that’s something, I think, everyone understands.”
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