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Last Updated on March 25, 2025.

Washington – Win Without War Policy Director Sam Ratner released the following statement on today’s hearing regarding Mike Huckabee’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Israel: 

“At a time when the Israeli government is carrying out a brutal assault on Gaza with full U.S. backing, nominating Mike Huckabee—a man who dodges basic questions about war crimes and openly invokes religious justifications for land theft—is an affront to professed U.S. values and international law. The Senate must reject this dangerous nomination.

“In today’s hearing, Huckabee repeatedly refused to answer hard questions by saying he would simply “carry out the president’s policies” as an emissary—refusing to offer his own positions on basic issues of international law, human rights, and equal treatment. He deflected Senator Merkley’s line of questioning on whether Palestinian families in the West Bank should have equal rights to their Israeli settler neighbors, including the right to vote. When pressed by Senator Van Hollen, Huckabee leaned on a “biblical mandate” to defend Israeli territorial claims. He also dodged direct questions about the well-documented use of U.S.-made 2,000 lb. bombs in Gaza and the forced displacement of civilians, saying “the real question is not whether Palestinians deserve to live freely, but ‘where and when’”—a chilling implication that their existence must be limited to spaces deemed acceptable by the Israeli state. This is not diplomacy—it’s a dog whistle for President Trump’s plan to forcibly remove millions of people from Gaza.

“It is appalling that someone who describes annexation as security and opportunity, yet can’t say whether Palestinians should have the right to vote, might represent the United States in Israel. At a time when Trump has given Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu a green light to destroy Gaza and enact ethnic cleansing across the strip, it’s outrageous that the Senate could confirm a nominee who would enthusiastically support pushing Palestinians off their land. The Senate should vote no on Huckabee’s nomination”

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Win Without War is a diverse network of activists and national organizations working for progressive foreign policy in the United States.

March 25, 2025