Trump’s appointments are glad tidings for Israel’s expansionists

In contemplating a second Trump presidency, Jews on the right had hope: hope for a green light for the expansionist ethos guiding the Netanyahu government and the settler movement with which it is allied. Jews on the left had fear: fear of domestic repression and an assault on liberalism that might ultimately endanger the Jewish community. With the announcement of Trump’s first picks for his administration, we can now see that both the hopes and fears were well-placed.

In contemplating Trump’s appointments, the centrality of Trump himself is key. As Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, wrote last week in Foreign Affairs, “Over the past eight years, Trump has collected enough acolytes to staff his foreign policy and national security team with like-minded officials [that] the United States will speak with one voice on foreign policy, and that voice will be Trump’s.”

Nonetheless, these appointments can speak volumes about what to expect from the President-elect and what he expects from his team.

Surely the most notable nomination in the “green light for Bibi” category is that of Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel. Huckabee, a former Governor of Arkansas, is a dyed in the wool Evangelical Christian and a Baptist minister. America’s tens of millions of evangelicals are the country’s largest bloc of supporters of a strong Israel with expanded borders.