Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas defended his record and endured hollering protesters from the gallery, as well as hostile questions from Sen. Chris van Hollen (D-MD), during his confirmation hearing Tuesday for the post of U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
Huckabee, the first evangelical Christian nominated for the role, sat patiently as he was interrupted multiple times, leading the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to demand order.
Van Hollen, who has emerged as one of the most anti-Israel members of the Senate, offered somewhat more articulate but no less implacable objections to Huckabee’s nomination. He questioned the nominee on his past statements about the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”), which Huckabee has said belong to Israel.
Huckabee clarified that he was referring to the Jewish right to the land according to the Bible, not U.S. policy. He also stressed that he would follow the Trump administration’s policy, and not his own views.
Van Hollen pressed Huckabee on whether Palestinians would have the right to vote if Israel annexed the territory. Huckabee did not say, except to say that they would live freely, and that they would not be removed from the land.
Huckabee stressed that President Trump was hoping to expand on the Abraham Accords in seeking peace in the Middle East.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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