Pamela:
A leading Israeli newspaper just ran an editorial detailing multiple stories of state-fueled vigilante violence and impunity: torched cars, raids, and shootings.[1] Days before that, a mob of Israeli settlers attacked Hamdan Ballal, one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning film No Other Land in front of his family and home.
Yet, when Senator Chris Van Hollen recently asked Mike Huckabee, Trump’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Israel, whether Palestinians living in the West Bank should have the same rights as Israeli Jews, he replied, “Senator, if you mean would they be able to live freely, they already do.”
Checkpoints, mob violence, detention, land theft — this is Huckabee’s version of Palestinians living freely. It’s an abhorrent worldview, and with lives on the line across Israel and Palestine, it’s up to us to remind every senator what’s on the line before they vote on Huckabee’s nomination tomorrow.
Right now, every effort should be to renew a ceasefire in Gaza, bring the hostages home, and begin building a path toward peace for Palestinians and Israelis. Confirming a nominee like Huckabee will only help deepen divisions and drive further violence and suffering.
That’s why we need every Senator to wake up to an inbox full of messages from activists like you, who are dedicated to building a lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis alike, that Mike Huckabee is not fit for the job.
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As Ambassador, Mike Huckabee will likely be an enthusiastic partner to Israeli PM Netanyahu, no matter the cost. His appointment would escalate division and sow further conflict in communities that have already borne incalculable levels of suffering and death.
Huckabee has made a career out of extremist views. As an outspoken supporter of Israeli settlements, he holds the same views as far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir that Israel has a ‘biblical right to the entire West Bank’ — a territory he chooses to refer to as ‘Judea and Samaria’.[2] It gets even worse: What’s more, he’s also on record as saying there’s ‘no such thing as a Palestinian’.[3]
Huckabee’s dangerous, extremist views undermine the prospects for peace and justice in the region and should be disqualifying.
That’s why we were recently on Capitol Hill with our partners Combatants for Peace to lobby against Huckabee’s nomination directly. While we met with lawmakers, a mobile billboard, funded by our activists, circled DC to remind decision-makers that Huckabee is a threat to the safety of Palestinians and Israelis alike.
The U.S. government will continue to play a key role in whatever happens next. That means we have a role to play too, Pamela, and that’s why we’ll keep pushing lawmakers to choose peaceful solutions at every turn. We won’t let the Senate confirm nominees like Mike Huckabee without a fight, because they think people like us aren’t paying attention, or worse, that we don’t care.
No matter how the situations in Gaza or the West Bank evolve, we know that more bombs and bullets will not save lives or bring peace to people across Israel, Palestine, or anywhere.
It may not happen as fast as we want or need it to, but if people like us keep pushing we WILL build enough power to create the safer, more peaceful world we all deserve to live in.
Thank you for working for peace,
The Win Without War team
1. Haaretz, “Pogromists Rule the West Bank”
2. Al Jazeera, “Who is Mike Huckabee, the US evangelical, pro-settlement envoy to Israel?”
3. CNN, “Mike Huckabee once said that ‘there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian’”
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