As Israel prepares to receive the remains of eight of the 26 hostages listed for imminent release by Hamas, U.S. Ambassador to Israel nominee Mike Huckabee told Newsmax on Wednesday that it isn’t “a big surprise” that the Palestinian militant group killed some of the captives held in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.
“These people have been tortured,” Huckabee said on “Wake Up America.” “They’ve been treated horribly. Let’s keep in mind, they were innocent people, taken hostage, not by a government, but by a terrorist group. Criminals, thugs, savages. These are not people that you can sit down and make nice with because they don’t know how to do that. Even as recently as a week ago, their leaders are still saying that they are proud of what they did Oct. 7. They want to do some more of it. So, any sense that these are folks that you can deal with in some honorable way, let’s forget about that. These are not those kind of people. And I hope that the world wakes up and recognizes that Israel ultimately really has to completely eradicate Hamas. They can never govern Gaza. They can never govern anything. And we need to make sure that the world understands that there will be a heavy price to pay for what they did that can’t be undone.”
President Donald Trump invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with him at the White House next week. Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump in the Oval Office since his second term began and Huckabee said that the meeting “sends the message that President Trump is the most pro-Israel president in American history.”
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