Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), the most senior Jewish Member of the House of Representatives, issued the following statement ahead of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Israel:

“Governor Mike Huckabee is woefully unfit to serve as the United States’ ambassador to Israel. A vote by any Senator for Huckabee is a vote for enacting policies that are counter to American interests, Israel’s vital character as both a Jewish and democratic state, and Israel and the region’s long-term security. A vote for Huckabee is a vote to empower a Christian nationalist vision for American foreign policy.

"Huckabee, like President Trump, has a disturbing history of spreading dangerous, unfounded fantasies that not only jeopardize U.S. interests but also destabilize global relations, as evidenced by his brazen denial of the existence of the Palestinian people. During his 2008 presidential campaign, he said that there is “no such thing as a Palestinian.”[1] Huckabee has said the two-state solution is “unworkable” and that any Palestinian state needs to be “outside” of the Land of Israel. Also similar to Trump, Huckabee has spoken about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in terms of “real estate” and suggested that there is “plenty of land” for a Palestinian state in neighboring countries like Egypt, Syria, or Jordan. He has also peddled offensive Holocaust comparisons when, in 2015, he said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would “take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.”[2] In this moment of tumult in the region, we cannot afford a United States ambassador with such dangerous views.

“Huckabee’s positions are not the words of a thoughtful diplomat—they are the words of a provocateur whose views are far outside international consensus and contrary to the core bipartisan principles of American diplomacy. In one of the most volatile and violent areas in the world today, there is no need for more extremism, and certainly not from the historic ambassador’s post and behind the powerful seal of the United States. All those committed to Israel’s future and a vision of a prosperous Middle East must band together to oppose Mike Huckabee’s nomination.

“I urge my colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee not to advance his nomination, and should his nomination come to the floor, I implore every Senator to vote a resounding no.”

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