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On Wednesday’s CNN This Morning, host Kasie Hunt and international anchor Max Foster fretted that former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR) has been too pro-Israel to the point of being controversial as the two discussed President-elect Donald Trump nominating him to be ambassador to Israel.

Hunt set up the segment by introducing a clip of Huckabee recently posted by CNN’s Kfile unit — which typically tries to uncover controversial or embarrassing comments by politicians: “Mike Huckabee is Donald Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to Israel. The former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate has been a staunch defender of Israel throughout his career. CNN’s Kfile uncovering this comment from Huckabee in 2008.”

Then a clip of the former governor arguing that the Palestinians should not be considered a distinct group of people during his 2008 campaign for President: “Basically, there really is no such thing as — I have to be careful saying this because people will really get upset — there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian. There’s not.”

Without clarifying that there is an argument that Palestinian Arabs are Arabs just like Arabs in neighboring countries, and so could be absorbed as part of their nations rather than treating Palestinians as entitled to live in the West Bank, the CNN host continued: “Huckabee has also said if a Palestinian state is ever created, it should be located in Egypt, Syria or Jordan.”

Then came a clip of Huckabee from 2017: “There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank — it’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement — there are communities, there are neighborhoods, there are cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”

As Hunt brought aboard Foster for discussion, it was not mentioned that there is an argument that the West Bank should be considered “disputed” territory rather than “occupied” because Israel took control of the land from Jordan which did not have an internationally recognized right to hold the territory. Additionally, it has been argued that the settlements are also not illegal in spite of claims by different countries. 

Turning to Foster, Hunt posed:

There are, of course, been some particularly conservatives in Israel likely pleased by the Huckabee choice, but, as you could hear from his language there, he comes down on a certain side of very controversial ways of talking about the region — about Palestinians. What is the reaction broadly across the region?

Again, without explaining the rationale behind Huckabee’s statements, Foster cast them as “extreme”:

His views very clear, and, you know — “there is no such thing as an occupation.” It doesn’t just go against what Palestinians think — it goes against what many of Israel’s allies think as well — that these are illegal occupations of the West Bank. So the Palestinians are facing a situation where they are, you know, this American ambassador will take the view that they might not necessarily be allowed to stay in their homes effectively, and that land could go away, and they could be relocated.

So these are extreme views actually — a minority view that, you know, if you take the world view on what’s happening there, but a very clear statement by President Trump about the sort of person he thinks should be in that role, so presumably reflects, you know, what will be his administration’s views, and they are the most powerful foreign power really in that region.

Hunt then conceded that, in Israel, Huckabee’s views may, in fact, be in tune with the current conventional wisdom about whether a two-state solution should be pursued.

Transcript follows:

CNN This Morning
November 13, 2024
5:13 a.m. Eastern

KASIE HUNT: Mike Huckabee is Donald Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to Israel. The former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate has been a staunch defender of Israel throughout his career. CNN’s KFile uncovering this comment from Huckabee in 2008.

MIKE HUCKABEE [from 2008]: Basically, there really is no such thing as — I have to be careful saying this because people will really get upset — there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian. There’s not.

HUNT: Huckabee has also said if a Palestinian state is ever created, it should be located in Egypt, Syria or Jordan.

HUCKABEE [on 01/03/17]: There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank — it’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement — they are communities, they are neighborhoods, they are cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.

HUNT: CNN’s Max Foster joins us live now from London. Max, good morning to you. There are, of course, been some particularly conservatives in Israel likely pleased by the Huckabee choice, but, as you could hear from his language there, he comes down on a certain side of very controversial ways of talking about the region — about Palestinians. What is the reaction broadly across the region?

MAX FOSTER: Well, his views very clear, and, you know — “there is no such thing as an occupation.” It doesn’t just go against what Palestinians think. It goes against what many of Israel’s allies think as well — that these are illegal occupations of the West Bank. So the Palestinians are facing a situation where they are, you know, this American ambassador will take the view that they might not necessarily be allowed to stay in their homes effectively, and that land could go away, and they could be relocated, so these are extreme views actually — a minority view that, you know, if you take the world view on what’s happening there, but a very clear statement by President Trump about the sort of person he thinks should be in that role, so presumably reflects, you know, what will be his administration’s views, and they are the most powerful foreign power really in that region.

HUNT: Max, it also seems to be a relatively clear indication of where the Trump administration is going to come down on the question of pushing for a two-state solution, which is obviously something that, you know, if you go back to George W. Bush’s presidency, that was something that the Republican Party actually had been — been pushing for — had been hoping for — seems to align with the political realities on the ground in Israel where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, you know, we talked to Joe Rubin which is a former State Department official who was on the program yesterday basically saying, “two-state solution is not part of the conversation in Israel right now — it’s basically off the table.” Does this pick seem to align with reality as Rubin described it?

FOSTER: You know, a two-state solution is the one solution that most countries seem to agree is the only long-term solution there, and so much policy in the Middle East has focused on that as an ultimate goal. So it changes everything if that is no longer an option. And if it’s Mike Huckabee as part of this process, then he would have to contradict himself that he’s now going to start working towards a two-state solution. So it’s very clear focus of intent here, so then you do start asking, “What is the long-term solution? What is Donald Trump’s solution to peace in the Middle East?” which is something he’s promising to bring in. And if it’s not a two-state solution, then is it, you know, allowing Israel to take over that land, relocating Palestinians? There are so many questions that come out of that, so I think, you know, this is one ambassador. We know what his views are. We need to hear more clearly about how he intends to push them through, but, most importantly, whether Trump is going to empower him and whether Trump very much believes in those views, too.

HUNT: All right, Max Foster for us this morning. Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much.