As members of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations, both of Utah’s senators had a chance Tuesday to weigh in on President Donald Trump’s controversial pick for ambassador to Israel.
One used his allotted time to examine a different nominee, and the other focused his questioning on the presence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the region.
An evangelical Christian and staunch supporter of Israel’s right wing, former Arkansas governor and once presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is slated to fill the U.S. diplomatic post in Jerusalem amid a war between Israel and Hamas.
A ceasefire deal between the parties disintegrated last week. Tens of thousands of people have died in the war, with more than 95% being Palestinian, NPR reported. The Gaza Health Ministry announced Sunday that the death toll for Palestinians living in the territory had surpassed 50,000.
A number of advocacy groups — both those critical of Israel’s actions in Palestinian territories and some supportive of Israel — have condemned Huckabee’s views on the region as “extreme.”
In November, Huckabee said during an interview on Israeli Army Radio it was “of course” possible that the U.S. would back the Israeli government if it were to try and annex the West Bank, CNN reported.
“I won’t make the policy, I will carry out the policy of the president,” Huckabee said. “But he has already demonstrated in his first term that there’s never been an American president that has been more helpful in securing an understanding of the sovereignty of Israel.”
And in a video obtained by BuzzFeed in 2015, Huckabee was recorded during his 2008 presidential campaign suggesting to two Orthodox Jewish men that he does not believe in a sovereign state for Palestinians, and if one were to be created, it should be in a neighboring Arab country — not within Israel’s borders.
“Basically, there really is no such thing as — I need to be careful about saying this, because people will really get upset — there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” Huckabee said in the recording.
Huckabee echoed those sentiments on Israeli TV in 2015.
In a statement Monday, the head of self-described “pro-Israel” Jewish advocacy group J Street wrote that Huckabee’s “embrace of annexation, extremist settlers and fanatical Christian Zionism stands in stark contrast to the Jewish, democratic values held by the overwhelming majority of our community — and in stark contrast to Israel’s founding values of justice, equality and peace.”
“I am not here to articulate or defend my own views or policies, but to present myself as one who will respect and represent the president,” Huckabee told committee members in his opening statement Tuesday.
Both Utah Republican Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Lee did not direct any questions toward Huckabee, instead using his allotted time to query Reed Rubinstein — the nominated legal adviser for the State Department.
Curtis reflected on his time living on an Israeli settlement, called a kibbutz, as part of a program through the LDS Church’s private higher education institution, Brigham Young University.
“I don’t need to go into the past,” Curtis said, “but this might be a good opportunity to send a message to Utah about how you feel about our dominant faith, and I just didn’t know if you would have me carry anything back to Utahns.”
The following transcript represents a four-minute exchange between Curtis and Huckabee during Tuesday’s confirmation hearing.
Curtis • Mr. Huckabee, I can’t imagine on one hand a more rewarding and, on the other hand, a more challenging assignment than what you’ve been given. And I’m actually very jealous. Utah has a very special relationship with Israel. I like to tease my friends with ties to Israel that until I was 18, I thought I grew up in Zion in Utah. We have Zion Park, we have a Jordan River. There’s lots of ties. One of those ties is Brigham Young University, sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that has a campus there.
And when I was 18 years old in 1979, I spent six months on that campus. At the time, the campus wasn’t built. We lived in a kibbutz, and I had the opportunity to be there the day Jimmy Carter signed the peace accord with Israel and Egypt. And I bring that up, I actually have a picture of The Jerusalem Post hanging in my office from that day to show that we can have peace. It’s hard. Some gave their lives for that accord.
And, likewise, President Trump’s attempt on the Abraham Accords is equally noteworthy and is important. And so, it’s clear that Utah, that myself, Brigham Young University, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has this tie. And I don’t need to go into the past, but this might be a good opportunity to send a message to Utah about how you feel about our dominant faith, and I just didn’t know if you would have me carry anything back to Utahns.
Huckabee • Senator, let me be very clear, and I appreciate the question and the opportunity. The respect that I have for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is extraordinary, because I respect very much the commitment to family, to moral righteousness, to a sense of right and wrong. It’s part of what has drawn me to an understanding that Israel, in many ways, is a reflection of our own heritage and history.
It is the Judeo-Christian law that there is a right and that there is a wrong upon which all of Western civilization is built, but certainly our system of government. There is no country across the globe that more mirrors our own struggle and our own level of democracy than does the state of Israel. And it’s one of the reasons that it is a natural ally.
The spiritual connections between your church, mine, many churches in America, Jewish congregations, to the state of Israel is because we ultimately are people of the book. We believe the Bible, and therefore that connection is not geopolitical. It is also spiritual. And to ignore that, to deny that, would make it very difficult for us to ever understand how to go forward in a relationship with them.
Curtis • Thank you. I will certainly carry that message back to Utah, and I agree. I can’t imagine doing what I’m doing now without that spiritual opportunity that I had to understand both Arab, Jew and Christian in that period of my life. Brigham Young University has a center over there. It’s on the Mount of Olives. I would like to invite you to meet there on the campus as you get your feet underneath you. And if you’re okay, I’ll help broker that agreement. I think they’d love to have you there and see what they’re doing there in Jerusalem.
Huckabee • Senator, just for the record, I have been there.
Curtis • Oh, excellent. Good.
Huckabee • And it’s a beautiful, beautiful facility on the Mount of Olives and has one of the most spectacular views of the old city in all of Israel.
Curtis • Yes. And we’ll make sure there’s an organ recital on your next visit back there as you do that.
Huckabee • As long as I’m not required to play it.
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