U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with President Trump’s nominee to be the Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Daines praised Huckabee’s strong support for America’s closest Middle Eastern ally Israel and emphasized the need for peace through strength.
Watch the full exchange HERE.
Daines emphasized the importance of peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia:
Daines: Governor Huckabee, I want to jump into the issue of Israel. I think this is perhaps the single most important relationship we have on the earth- the relationship with the United States of America and Israel. If confirmed, you are gonna be a terrific ambassador and a very important ambassador who looks at the priorities. I’m grateful for this president and the team he’s assembled in terms of the moral clarity they’re bringing back to Israel and the Middle East. The world will be a lot safer with this strong leadership coming from the Trump administration. Governor I was in Israel a month before the October 7th attack. We did not know that was coming. I was there, went to the north, went down in those Hezbollah terror tunnels that don’t get a lot of attention, descending some 80 feet down to the ground, extensive tunnel networks, spray painted inside the tunnel that says “On our way to Jerusalem.” Hezbollah was using that as a way to infiltrate Israel for an organized attack from the north. There’s no question that terrorists and state sponsors like Iran continue to plot for the annihilation of Israel. My question is, how important do you think it is for Israel to normalize relations with U.S. partners like Saudi Arabia? I remember my meeting with Bibi. It was late August. There was great optimism about what was happening with Israel and Saudi Arabia Arabia, of renormalized relationships, I think it’d be a breakthrough moment in the Middle East– of course, shattered with what happened on October 7. And I hope and pray that we’ll be back to working with the Saudis in seeing Israel and Saudi Arabia normalize their relationship. But how important do you think it is that link between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and what should our role as the United States be in that regard?
Huckabee: The President has made it very clear that his goal is to see a real and lasting peace in the entire Middle East.
Daines also asked Huckabee about the status of foreign military sales in the State Department:
Daines: Governor, I can’t help but reflect exactly what you said around the optimism we had towards the end of President Trump’s first term. With the Abraham Accords, the Iranians weakened by the strong sanctions, we were weakening the bad guys, strengthening the good guys. And then we went through the Biden years where that was absolutely turned on its head. And I’m grateful to return back to that trajectory that we were on to bring peace back to the Middle East. Governor, I’ve got significant concerns about the status of foreign military sales sitting in purgatory at the State Department waiting to be fulfilled. Could this committee get your commitment to work towards the completion of the sales that the United States has made to Israel?
Huckabee: Senator, if confirmed, it would be a delight and privilege to work with the Secretary, the President, and the Department of Defense to ensure that we continue the commitment that we’ve already made. It’s not a new commitment, it’s a long-standing commitment to the State of Israel. And yes, I would commit to that.
###
Contact: Matt Lloyd, Rachel Dumke