Mike Huckabee nomination advances in Senate, one step closer to becoming ambassador to Israel

Anti-Israel protesters interrupt Huckabee ambassador hearing

Anti-Israel protesters interrupted President Donald Trump's nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, as he made his opening remarks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing on Tuesday, Mar. 25, 2025.

Mike Huckabee, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel, cleared a key hurdle Tuesday after the Senate voted to end debate on his nomination.

The Senate voted 53 to 46 to advance Hucakbee's nomination. He now awaits a final confirmation vote as Israel continues its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

While Republicans have championed Huckabee as an ardent supporter of Israel, Democrats have questioned his previous "extreme" position on Palestinians.

ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS INTERRUPT HUCKABEE HEARING, ATTACK TRUMP NOMINEE'S FAITH

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with then-presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Jerusalem on Aug. 19, 2015. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO via Getty Images)

The former Arkansas governor has previously argued it is Israel’s right to annex the West Bank and has flatly rejected the push to establish a two-state solution when it comes to the Gaza Strip. 

Huckabee has not commented on whether he still views the West Bank as Israel's right to claim, or where he stands when it comes to Trump’s position on the Gaza Strip, which the president said he would like to turn into the "riviera of the Middle East" and called for the "relocation" of more than 2 million Palestinians.

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel, arrives to testify during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Mar. 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. Huckabee, the former governor and presidential candidate, answered questions on Israel and its campaign against Hamas. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

During his confirmation hearing, the former governor pushed back on claims that Trump wants to take over the Gaza Strip, insisting the president has not called for the "forced displacement" of Palestinians from Gaza – "unless it is for their safety."

"If confirmed, it will be my responsibility to carry out the president’s priorities, not mine," Huckabee said in response to questions levied at him from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

Mike Huckabee speaks with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a community roundtable in Delaware County in Drexel Hill, PA on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, before being named as Trump's nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel.  (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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But Huckabee’s testimony during Senate questioning is unlikely to have garnered much new support from Democrats in Congress. 

"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," New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, a senior Jewish Democrat, said in a statement last month. "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."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news.