The Dictatorship
There’s a reason Trump chose Mike Huckabee as his emissary to Israel
President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be U.S. ambassador to Israel. While this doesn’t mean Huckabee will be determining the Trump administration’s official policy on Israel, Trump’s selection of a hard-line evangelical activist to the role is a signal to the world that he’ll likely be pursuing ultra-hawkish policy when it comes to his approach to the country.
Huckabee has already made it clear that he sees allies in the most radically conservative members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, and that he has a similar disregard for international law. “I’ve never been willing to use the term West Bank. There is no such thing. I speak of Judea and Samaria. I tell people there is no occupation,” Huckabee said in a recent interview with the right-wing Israeli media outlet Arutz Sheva. “It is a land that is occupied by the people who have had a rightful deed to the place for 3,500 years, since the time of Abraham.” He added, “I want to use terms that live from time immemorial, and those are terms like ‘promised land.’”
This does not bode well for anyone hoping for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
In case it wasn’t obvious, Huckabee is a right-wing Christian Zionist. That means he’s part of an ideological camp that believes that unconditionally supporting the Israeli government and aiding it in its project of territorial expansion is not just a geopolitical imperative, but also a spiritual duty. This does not bode well for anyone hoping for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, or anything resembling a just solution to the decades-long occupation and displacement of Palestinians.
As BLN columnist Sarah Posner has explainedfor many Christian Zionists, “support for Israel is rooted in its role in the supposed end times: Jesus’ return to Earth, a bloody final battle at Armageddon, and Jesus ruling the world from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In this scenario, war is not something to be avoided, but something inevitable, desired by God, and celebratory.” That appetite for war means that “what happens to the Jews and Palestinians is, to put it very mildly, collateral damage,” and that “settlers’ further control of the occupied West Bank, which they call by its biblical names Judea and Samaria, is a fulfillment of God’s plan.”
That helps explain why Huckabee refuses to use the term “West Bank” and denies Israel’s occupation of the territory, in violation of international law. In fact, Huckabee’s denialism of oppression of Palestinians extends to their very existence: He opposes a two-state solution and once saidduring his 2008 presidential campaign, “There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.”
The Netanyahu administration will likely see Huckabee’s ambassadorship as a green light from the Trump administration to carry on with regional domination in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Lebanon. In fact, in his interview with Arutz Sheva, Huckabee appeared to align himself with Israeli politicians to the right of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When asked about Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call for Israel’s annexation of territory in the West BankHuckabee responded, “That’s a decision for Israel to make.”
Trump selecting Huckabee suggests that the policy agenda Trump set in motion during his first term will resume without interruption. Trump broke with U.S. tradition and international norms in moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel. He has also cast doubt on his commitment to a two-state solution and encouraged Israeli settlements. It’s hard to imagine someone more congenial to this spirit of Israeli expansionism and impunity than Huckabee. Now, as Trump’s emissary, he may help turbocharge that process.
Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for BLN Daily. Previously, he worked at Vox, HuffPost and Blue Light News, and he has also been published in, among other places, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, and The Intercept. You can sign up for his free politics newsletter here.
Healthcare executive Rick Jackson clinched the Republican gubernatorial nomination on Tuesday, pulling off a win over Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and securing a spot in the November election against Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms.
The pair advanced from the Republican primary after neither candidate secured the majority needed to avoid a runoff on May 19.
The contest came as Republicans seek to hold the governor’s mansion in a state that has become one of the country’s premier political battlegrounds. Gov. Brian Kemp is term-limited and cannot seek re-election, creating the first open governor’s race in Georgia since 2018. Kemp threw his weight behind Jones over the weekend.
Jackson, a businessman who entered politics as an outsider candidatesought to position himself as an alternative to career politicians. His campaign focused heavily on economic issues, government spending and opposition to what he describes as establishment politics.
Jackson has argued that Republicans need a nominee who can energize voters frustrated with the political system. He has also attempted to appeal to conservatives who want a candidate outside Georgia’s existing political leadership structure.
The runoff highlights divisions within the Georgia Republican Party over the direction of the state’s conservative movement after Kemp’s tenure. While both candidates embraced many of the same conservative policy positions, they have differed over experience, electability and the future of Republican leadership in the Peach State.
The race also attracted attention because of Georgia’s importance ahead of the midterms. Democrats have made significant gains in the state over the past decade, winning presidential and Senate races while turning Georgia into a key battleground. Republicans, however, have continued to perform strongly in statewide races, including Kemp’s decisive re-election victory in 2022.
Bottoms, who served as Atlanta’s mayor from 2018 to 2022 and later worked in the Biden administration, secured the Democratic nomination and is preparing for a competitive general election campaign. Democrats view the open-seat contest as an opportunity to regain control of the governor’s office for the first time in more than two decades.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
A federal judge who was disciplined after an investigation found that she had sex with a police officer in her chambers and attended a partisan event, then lied when confronted with the allegations, has recused herself in a fight over Georgia election records after the U.S. Department of Justice raised questions about her ability to be impartial.
The Justice Department sought to remove U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross from the case, citing her reported attendance at an event for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who prosecuted President Donald Trump. Ross on Tuesday filed an order recusing herself, writing that she was doing so “out of an abundance of caution for the potential perception of bias.”
The Justice Department had sued Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger seeking an unredacted statewide voter list, and Ross was presiding over that case.
“Both the Trump administration’s present and Willis’s past efforts have become heavily polarized,” Ross wrote, explaining that she “cannot discount” that an objective observer might interpret her attendance at an event sponsored by Willis’ campaign as support for the district attorney’s position, even if she only went to see former colleagues.
Ross received a “private reprimand” after a court investigation found that she had sex in the courthouse with a high-ranking uniformed police officer within earshot of staff, attended a partisan event and then initially lied to deny the allegations.
The investigation report says Ross went to an event hosted by a district attorney’s campaign. The judge said the district attorney had been a friend since 1999 and acknowledged having gone to the a private mixer held on the sidelines of the event to visit with former colleagues in the district attorney’s office.
Ross previously worked in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and overlapped there with Willis there before Willis was district attorney.
Willis in August 2023 obtained an indictment against Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. That case was ultimately dismissed in November.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is rallying support within the State Department to help secure a visa for the mother of a World Cup goalkeeper who was unable to attend her newly-famous son’s match in the United States.
Jeffries learned of the situation after Republic of Cabo Verde goalkeeper Josimar Dias helped his team secure a 0-0 draw with Spain during the island nation’s World Cup debut on Monday. Dias stunned fans after making seven saves against the 2010 World Cup champions.
Dias told ESPN that his mother was unable to attend the match in the U.S. because of difficulties obtaining a visa.
“She didn’t manage to be here because of the visa,” Dias said in press conference after the match, noting that the World Cup was the “most important moment of our lives.”
“The money we have to pay for the visa, we didn’t manage on time. And I would like her to be here,” the goalie said.
After learning of Dias’ story, Jeffries said he reached out to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in hopes of helping the goalie’s mother attend Cabo Verde’s the next match in the U.S.
“No mother should miss the chance to see her child make history,” Jeffries wrote on X.
The Cabo Verde national football team shocked Spain on the strength of a historic performance by goalkeeper Vozinha.
His Mom was unable to be there because of visa complications.
No mother should miss the chance to see her child make history.
I have asked Secretary of State…
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) June 16, 2026
In an effort to prevent visitors from overstaying their visas, the U.S. State Department requires that eligible travelers from certain countries, including Cabo Verde, “must post a bond for $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000.”
The Department said that it will waive those visa bond requirements during the 2026 World Cup for “athletes and team members — including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives — who are nationals of countries that are competing,” provided that they meet all visa requirements.
While Dias suggested money was a factor for his mother’s inability to attend the match, a State Department official told MS NOW that it has no record of her applying for one. The official said all relatives of players are eligible for visa bond waivers, and said the State Department is attempting to help with the matter.
Dias, known to fans as Vozinha, is significantly older than most players at 40 years old. Nevertheless, he was named FIFA’s “player of the match.”
After his standout World Cup performance, his following on his Instagram page grew from about 10,000 before Monday’s game to more than 10.5 million by Tuesday.
Cabo Verde’s next match is against Uruguay in Miami on Sunday.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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