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As Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza heats up again, President Trump's pick to be U.S. ambassador to Israel faced tough questions on Capitol Hill. Mike Huckabee is a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas who has a long history with Israel, as NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
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MIKE HUCKABEE: Thank you very, very much for giving me the privilege of coming to...
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTOR: I am a proud American Jew.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: The protest began just as Mike Huckabee started his opening remarks.
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: Let Gaza live...
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTOR: Jews say no to Huckabee.
: Jews say no.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTOR: Jews say no to war.
KELEMEN: The former Arkansas governor smiled through the repeated protests and talked about his deep ties to Israel. He says he first went there 52 years ago, and in recent decades, he's led over a hundred religious tours, adding that many American churches have connections to Israel.
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HUCKABEE: We ultimately are people of the book. We believe the Bible. And therefore, that connection is not geopolitical. It is also spiritual.
KELEMEN: Huckabee often uses biblical terms when talking about Israel, referring to the occupied Palestinian West Bank as Judea and Samaria and supporting the right-wing Israeli efforts to annex land that Palestinians want as their future state. Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, pressed him on that.
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JEFF MERKLEY: Have you previously supported the idea of annexation of the West Bank?
HUCKABEE: I have previously supported it. Yes, sir...
MERKLEY: Thank you.
HUCKABEE: ...Judea and Samaria. But it would not be my prerogative to make that the policy of the president.
MERKLEY: Yeah. Do you support the annexation of Gaza as well?
HUCKABEE: Senator, once again, it would be the prerogative of the president.
KELEMEN: Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen called Huckabee a big hero of the Israeli settler movement, while Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen pressed him on whether the U.S. should continue to support the idea of two states for two people, Israelis and Palestinians. Huckabee says Israel is a tiny country, while Muslim countries control much more land.
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HUCKABEE: I think the question is not, is there a need for people who are Palestinian to be able to live and have a future? The question is, where and when? Where will that be? Will it be on top of the Israeli Jewish state?
KELEMEN: Or somewhere else, he wondered. On Gaza, Huckabee says President Trump does not want to force Palestinians to leave, but he thinks it would be better if they do so that the territory can be rebuilt after the war ends. He says Hamas has no future there.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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