This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
PALM BEACH, Florida – Mike Huckabee, the incoming U.S. ambassador to Israel, is optimistic about the future of the Mideast, believing "something of biblical proportion" will happen in the region under the leadership of President Donald Trump.
"I'm personally optimistic that we're going to see something bold," Huckabee said on "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo.
"I will use this term, Maria. I think we will see something of biblical proportion happen with his leadership in the Middle East."
His remarks come in the wake of last week's announcement by Trump that the U.S. will take over the troubled Gaza Strip to help transform it from a "demolition site" to a Riviera-style region.
"President Trump did something bold," Huckabee said." He looked into the future and said kind of a what if. We don't know exactly what might happen in Gaza, but here's what could have happened in Gaza.
"Gaza could have been Singapore. Instead, Hamas turned it into Haiti and, in fact, maybe worse, far worse than that.
"So let's hope that people will listen to President Trump. The only time we've had real, significant peace in that a region was the four years that Donald Trump was president, and I'm very optimistic that with his leadership, his bold and innovative thinking, he doesn't think like the other politicians and diplomats have thought. And thank God he doesn't, because we get results.
"I heard somebody say he's thinking outside the box. That's ridiculous. He's not thinking outside the box, he throws the box away and says let's start with a blank slate and see where this could go. That's leadership. And that's what we have with President Trump."
When asked if he believed the U.S. could have an ownership piece of Gaza, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, indicated he did not know.
"The one thing we know is that Hamas not going to be able to exist. That's just a done deal. It's sort of like saying Iran can't have a nuclear weapon, and Hamas cannot continue to exist. They can never have anything to do with the governance of Gaza.
"A lot of people forget Gaza was once inhabited by both Jews and Palestinians until 2005 when Ariel Sharon decided to give it all away. He did. They militarily marched 10,000 Jewish people out of Gaza, turned it into a complete Palestinian state, and the result, we saw October the 7th. So there's something that has to be rethought."
Asked when he expected to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to his ambassadorship, Huckabee responded, "I wish I knew. It's all up in the hands of the Senate, and as you know, there's a little bit of tension going on right now in Washington, and I have nothing if to do with that.
"I'm patiently waiting through the process. I do have to be confirmed, that's the process we all must go through, and I respect that. So I hope it's soon because I think that our country needs our ambassador in place in this very, very delicate and difficult region. And so I would hope that even Democrats would say the sooner the better."
