Former Arkansas governor says Trump’s Israel ambassador nomination is an honor

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he didn’t ask President-elect Donald Trump to nominate him as ambassador to Israel, but it is the only role that would have prompted “that Isaiah moment and say, ‘Here am I, Lord. Send Me.’”

In a wide-ranging speech at the annual Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting Thursday, Huckabee discussed the spiritual connection he feels to Israel, his surprise at Trump’s nomination, his stance on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, recognition for fellow Arkansan Warren Stephens’ United Kingdom Ambassador nomination, and the pride he feels for his daughter, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Sanders, who introduced her dad at the well-attended event, said that aside from her parents moving to a “dangerous war zone,” the only downside to Huckabee’s nomination is that Sanders’ children will miss their favorite, and cheapest, babysitter.

Huckabee alluded that the role of ambassador to Israel is the only one he would have accepted.

“I had no interest in babysitting a bureaucracy or oiling the machinery of somebody’s bloated government agency,” Huckabee said. “I did enough of that as a governor. But the one that [Trump] could have asked, and he did ask, I believe in all my heart is an extraordinary and incredible privilege and honor.”

Trump nominated Huckabee on Nov. 12, a selection that will go before the U.S. Senate for confirmation in 2025. Following the announcement, at least two Little Rock-based organizations — Taste of Olam Haba and Little Rock Peace for Palestine — issued statements opposing Huckabee’s nomination.

“Huckabee’s support for Israel is deeply rooted in Christian Zionism, a theology that sees Israel and the Jewish people as a vehicle for the fulfillment of Christian prophecy,” Taste of Olam Haba said at the time.

Huckabee has no foreign policy experience, but has traveled to Israel dozens of times after his first trip in 1973, when he was 17 years old. Among those visits was one with his daughter, which Sanders said Thursday was “one of the most transformational experiences of my childhood.”

Huckabee also leads tours through Israel, and said he has likely taken tens of thousands of people through the country.

Though he said he expects to be in a “challenging environment,” Huckabee also said he will “go with an extraordinary joy of being able to be witness of a level of history in a part of the world where history is made every single day.”

Huckabee made several references to his faith during Thursday’s speech and said the nomination was “not a political issue as much as it is a spiritual issue.” He maintained his staunch support for Israel as he referenced the conflict in the Middle East. 

“The level of antisemitism that we have seen, even here in our own county, is absolutely disgusting,” he said. “On some of our most prestigious college campuses, college students are chanting ‘from the river to the sea,’ without even a clue of what they’re even asking for.”

College students who protested the war in Gaza this year and called for a ceasefire in the Middle East faced pushback from many people, including U.S. House leaders.

Referencing Stephens’ ambassador nomination on Thursday, Huckabee said he hoped “that maybe you’ll let another ambassador from a smaller place come and visit you sometime when we’re just wanting to get away from the rockets and the bombs and the missiles.”

Huckabee cracked several jokes throughout his speech, and while the former received seemingly worrisome laughter from the audience, the following was a hit.

“I have one request for those of you who are planning to come see me in Israel: please bring Petit Jean bacon. It’s hard to get there. It really, really is,” Huckabee said. “And as the first-ever evangelical Christian to be named ambassador to Israel, there will be some things that I won’t be able to completely let go of with my Arkansas roots.”

Huckabee served as governor from 1996 through 2006 and ran for president in the 2008 and 2016 Republican primaries.

Also an ordained Southern Baptist pastor, Huckabee hosts a talk show on Trinity Broadcasting Network. He previously hosted shows on Fox News and was syndicated on Cumulus Media Networks.