Senate affirmation hearings started final Tuesday for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel, an Evangelical Christian whose steadfast help for Israel within the battle towards terror stands in stark distinction to the pro-Qatar technique launched by Trump’s chief negotiator Steve Witkoff.
Speaking to Tucker Carlson, an outspoken critic of Israel, chief Trump negotiator Steve Witkoff praised the function of Qatar, a chief sponsor of Hamas, calling claims Qatar is “not properly motivated … preposterous.”
Witkoff has business ties price $623 million to the Emirate of Qatar, which is taken into account the house of the Muslim Brotherhood and hosted late Muslim Brotherhood chief Yusuf al-Qaradawi for years. Terror group Hamas, which brutally massacred over 1200 individuals on Oct. 7 2023, together with 32 Individuals, is the Gaza arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and has been funded with $1.8 billion by Qatar. Qatar hosted the Hamas management in luxurious resorts, who accrued private fortunes of over $11 billion. Qatar funds the anti-American, pro-Hamas propaganda community Al-Jazeera, which has been banned in Israel as an Hamas entrance.
Chatting with Tucker Carlson, Witkoff referred to as the Qatari management “good, first rate individuals” who “need to be acknowledged as a peacemaker.”
Carlson famous that Qataris are “virtually universally accused within the US Media of being brokers of Iran.”
Witkoff referred to as these accusations “preposterous.”
“Look, they’re a Muslim nation. Previously, they’ve had some views which might be a little bit bit extra radical … from an Islamist standpoint than they’re at present, however it’s moderated fairly a bit,” Witkoff stated.
Chatting with Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday, Witkoff admitted “I assumed we had a take care of Hamas, however perhaps that’s simply me getting duped.”
Requested by Carlson what it’s prefer to take care of Hamas, Witkoff needed to admit that “I’ve by no means actually been in the identical room as them, which is a little bit bit bizarre, wouldn’t you say? Like a negotiation the place you don’t have the opposite get together.”
Wittkoff referred to as peace in Gaza “a prerequisite” and “a situation precedent to Saudi normalizing. And in the event that they normalize, we’re constructing on the framework of the Abraham Peace Accords, which after all is the President’s creation. He needs the Abraham Peace Accords to be augmented and we’re within the technique of doing it. We predict we’re going to be saying a number of new nations who’re becoming a member of.”
This strategy appears to be the other of what led to the Abraham Accords within the first Trump Presidency, by ignoring Jihadi “Palestinian” Arab calls for and negotiating instantly with Arab Gulf states that search normnalization with Israel.
Israeli commentator Yishai Fleischer referred to as Witkoff “weak”: “He’s bought Biden speaking factors. Should you simply do the correct factor in Israel, by gifting away land to the jihadis, the Saudis will make peace with Israel after which the area might be steady. That’s such malarkey.”
“Cease being duped,” Fleischer stated. “And cease being bought out to (qatari) pursuits.”
In marked distinction to Witkoff, Trump’s designated Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee took a way more strong line in his Senate testimony March 25:
“I can not think about below any circumstances that any right-minded particular person would discover it acceptable to help or to even acknowledge that there was justification in any manner for the bloodbath of harmless civilians on October seventh. If I’m confirmed, I might be completely clear to hold the president’s insurance policies. They’ve been clear that Hamas can have no future in Gaza. It will possibly’t,” Huckabee stated.
The assault of Oct. 7, 2023 “was not merely cold-blooded homicide wherein individuals got here throughout the borders and shot harmless individuals,” Huckabee stated: “They massacred them. And so they did it in the way in which that was most bodily painful and in the way in which that was most personally humiliating. And worse, they video-taped themselves doing it as a result of they had been happy with it. They printed it with satisfaction, they usually introduced repeatedly that they might do it once more.”
On Nov. 5, 2023, Hamas held a packed screening of probably the most ugly footage of their Oct. 7 bloodbath within the yard of their Headquarters within the so-called Al-Shifa “Hospital”, to cheering crowds. Al-Shifa was a Hamas command heart riddled with tunnels and arms depots posing as a hopital, which has since been leveled by the IDF.
“Hamas is just not a governmnt, it’s a terrorist group, they usually acted prefer it, and have to be handled as such. And if confirmed, I’d hope that this unlucky horrific warfare that has resulted in lots of, many deaths, together with Individuals, the taking of hostages for an extended time period than even the hostages in 1979 had been taken in the course of the Iranian takeover, that every one of that would come to an finish. And there may very well be accountability for what was executed to Jewish individuals on October the seventh of 2023,” Huckabee testified.
“This isn’t nearly Israel. It’s about us, and if we don’t stand with them, they stand alone. And in the event that they fall alone, we fall subsequent,” Huckabee stated. “Israel is the appetizer, and (the US) is the entree.”
Huckabee, a Southern Baptist pastor, first visited Israel when he was 17 in 1952, and has since visited “roughly 100” instances.
He refers to Judea and Samaria by their biblical names and has endorsed annexation of Israel’s biblical heartland.
“There isn’t a such factor because the West Financial institution — it’s Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee has stated, referring to the biblical names of the house of Jacob and Abraham. “There isn’t a such factor as settlements — they’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There isn’t a such factor as an occupation.”
Luke Hilton from The Israel Guys referred to as Huckabee “the primary non-Jewish ambassador in years”.
“We performed music with Governor Huckabee within the Psagot winery 15 years in the past. He has a report of robust help for Israel, together with sovereignty in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.”
So paradoxically, the Trump Mideast coverage now faces a cut up between a New York Jew, Witkoff, who appears snug with Qatar and Hamas, and a Christian Zionist ambassador, Huckabee, who acknowledges that Hamas have to be destroyed to achieve any kind of peace in Gaza.
The Israel Guys: Luke Hilton, Joshua Waller, Rabbi Ari Abramowitz, and Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel talk about the Witkoff-Huckabee cut up:
Yigal Carmon, president of the Center East Media Analysis Institute (MEMRI), exposes Qatar’s affect on western society on the Caroline Glick Show:
