A series of boisterous protests broke out at the start of the Senate confirmation hearing for Mike Huckabee, the nominee to be U.S.ambassador to Israel.
Capitol Police officers forcibly removed several protesters at three separate moments during the few minutes as Huckabee delivered his opening statement.
The activists shouted messages like “Jews say no” and “Free Palestine,” and claimed Huckabee “misuses Christianity to justify ethnic cleansing.”
“Israel and U.S. have desecrated the Holy Land, stop the ethnic cleansing,” shouted another protester.
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“The good news is they’re not members of my family, which might be the case protesting me sometimes,” Huckabee quipped.
Later on, a fourth set of protesters interrupted the hearing, prompting an annoyed Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, to sigh and say, “All right, out!”
Huckabee is set to answer questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, alongside Kevin Cabrera, nominee for ambassador to Panama, and Reed Rubinstein, nominee for legal adviser to the Department of State.
Trump nominated Huckabee, a staunch Israel supporter and evangelical Christian who served as governor of Arkansas, to take up the critical post as he works to end the 17-month war in Gaza.
Huckabee has described himself as an “unapologetic, unreformed Zionist.”
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During his opening statement, he described Israel as “holy ground to Jews, Christians and Muslims.”
It comes as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas fell apart last week and Israel renewed its bombing campaign after it said Hamas was unwilling to negotiate on the next phase of a deal.
Huckabee expressed support for Trump’s return to a “maximum pressure” policy on Iran as the regime draws closer to building a nuclear weapon.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and it is better to bankrupt them than it is to bomb them,” he said.
Asked about his previous comments supporting Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, Huckabee emphasized that he would be serving at the prerogative of the president.
“I have previously supported it. Yes, sir. But it would not be my prerogative to make that the policy of the president.”
He was then asked if he supported Israel annexing Gaza.
“Once again, it would be the prerogative of the president.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., pressed Huckabee on whether he agreed with Israel withholding food aid to Gaza.
“You don’t believe in collective punishment, do you?” he asked.
“I don’t believe in collective punishment. If the Palestinians in Gaza have participated in the holding of hostages and in the torture –” Huckabee said.
“There are 2 million people there,” Van Hollen interrupted. “Finance Minister Smotrich suggested, and I’m quoting, it might be justified and moral to starve 2 million Palestinians in Gaza as part of a strategy to free the hostages. Simple question: Do you disagree with Finance Minister Smotrich?”
“As you know, an ambassador doesn’t get to argue with the people of the country,” Huckabee said.
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