By Aidan New and Michael Jacobs
President Donald Trump’s second administration had an impact in the Middle East even before his inauguration Jan. 20, 2025: Special Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff was widely reported to have pushed the Hamas-Israel cease-fire past the finish line during President Joe Biden’s final week in office.
Trump himself made Middle East news Jan. 25 when he revealed that he wants Egypt and Jordan to take in Gaza refugees on a short- or long-term basis to facilitate demolition and reconstruction of the Strip.
The team Trump has appointed or nominated for positions likely to have an impact on the U.S.-Israel relationship include the following:
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former Republican senator from Florida, confirmed Jan. 20 on a 99-0 Senate vote. Secretaries of state such as Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance, James Baker, John Kerry and Antony Blinken have taken prominent if not lead roles in negotiations between Israel and its neighbors.
• Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, former Fox News anchor and veterans organization CEO, confirmed Jan. 24 when Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 Senate tie vote. The defense secretary could make decisions related to the U.S. Central Command, which cooperates with Israel and has struck the Houthis and other Iranian proxies, and will have a role in negotiating the next memorandum of understanding on U.S. military aid to Israel.
• CIA Director John Ratcliffe, former Republican congressman from Texas and former director of national intelligence, confirmed Jan. 23 on a 74-25 Senate vote. His Biden administration predecessor, Bill Burns, was deeply involved in Hamas-Israel cease-fire negotiations.
• U.N. Ambassador-designate Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York, who will resign her House seat upon her expected Senate confirmation. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations routinely vetoes anti-Israel resolutions in the Security Council and has a platform to speak out against anti-Israel bias in the world body as Trump’s first U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, often did.
• Director of National Intelligence-designate Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, awaiting Senate confirmation. The director plays a crucial role in coordinating and controlling intelligence sharing between the United States and Israel.
• Ambassador to Israel-designate Mike Huckabee, a former Republican congressman and governor of Arkansas, awaiting Senate confirmation.
• National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, a former Republican congressman from Florida, who did not require Senate confirmation. In addition to security cooperation and negotiations, the national security adviser and his staff often serve as advocates for the U.S.-Israel relationship.
• Special Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff, a real estate developer and top Trump campaign fundraiser, who did not require Senate confirmation. In addition to a wide-ranging role in peace negotiations, Witkoff will help oversee the Hamas-Israel cease-fire. Trump has said he will not be involved with Iran.
• Special adviser on Arabs and the Middle East Massad Boulos, a businessman and father-in-law of the president’s daughter Tiffany, who did not require confirmation. It’s not clear what Boulos’ responsibilities will be.
Relevant statements from each of these Trump picks follow. (Brief biographies of the Cabinet-level nominees are here.)
Marco Rubio
“In the entire region, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democratic nation: the Jewish State of Israel. America has strong ties to Israel on a personal, cultural, political and economic level. It is everything we want the Middle East to look like in the future: free, tolerant, democratic, peace-loving and desirous of a better future. And today Israel stands on the front lines of our civilizational struggle against radical, apocalyptic Islam. That term, ‘apocalyptic Islam,’ is not an attempt at being provocative; it is rather a description of the true beliefs of the leaders of both Iran and the Islamic State: that they are living in the end times and that mass genocide is their way to honor God,” Rubio told the Republican Jewish Coalition in December 2015 while he was a presidential candidate. Read the transcript.
Among many speeches addressing Israel and the Middle East over his career, Rubio told the Senate in a 15-minute speech during the 2014 Hamas-Israel war about the need to remove Hamas to achieve peace.
Rubio’s confirmation hearing (opening remarks).
Pete Hegseth
Hegseth, who has used crusader-type terminology and imagery in reference to his military service in the Middle East and political Islam, celebrated Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and called for the “miracle” of rebuilding the Temple during the Arutz Sheva conference in Jerusalem in 2018, his third trip to Israel.
“Every turn I learn more about the lies that are told about the Jewish people, about the history of this land, about the founding of Israel, about the Israeli government, about the treatment of Arabs and Palestinians, about the West Bank, about Judea and Samaria, about Jerusalem, about the Old City that if revealed to the world would change the way the world sees Israel,” Hegseth said, “which is why I take a solemn responsibility in coming here and learning … about the truth on the ground and then going back to America and fighting the fake news about the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Arab-Israeli peace process, the so-called two-state solution that still drips off the lips of the intelligentsia in America today, when if you walk the ground today, you understand there is no such thing as the outcome of a two-state solution. There is one state.”
After anti-Israel protesters organized by Code Pink disrupted Hegseth’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) asked him to respond. “I am a Christian, and I robustly support the State of Israel and its existential defense and the way America comes alongside it,” Hegseth said. “I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas.”
Hegseth’s confirmation hearing (response to pre-hearing questions).
John Ratcliffe
Little about the Middle East was discussed during his confirmation hearing Jan. 15. He criticized the Biden administration for not being supportive enough of Israel early in the war and blamed its soft treatment of Iran for sparking Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
“They’re afraid of Iran,” Ratcliffe told Fox Business News’ Larry Kudlow on Oct. 23, 2023. “What worked in the Trump administration can work in the Biden administration. It was a combination of lethal force taken against the likes of their top general, Qasem Soleimani, coupled with crippling sanctions. … That made Iran poorer, weaker, less influential and incapable of doing the things that they’re doing right now.”
Ratcliffe also emphasized the destabilizing influence of Iran in a Heritage Foundation column about Israeli and U.S. security in June 2024.
Ratcliffe’s confirmation hearing (responses to post-hearing questions).
Elise Stefanik
Noted for her tough questioning of university presidents about antisemitism on campus in December 2023, Stefanik clashed with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), one of Israel’s strongest critics in the Senate, during her confirmation hearing Jan. 21, culminating in her saying that Israel has a biblical right to the West Bank.
“In the context of the day-after question, I think President Trump is uniquely positioned at this very challenging moment to bring peace to the region, to eradicate terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah, to protect Israel’s national security. If you look at the failures, we’ve given billions of dollars, and this is just the bilateral aid, to the Palestinians, and it has been abused by Hamas,” Stefanik said. “I support human rights for all, and I think it’s a disgrace that Hamas and Hezbollah have stripped human rights of the Palestinian people, and we need to ensure that we are standing up for human rights. And Israel is standing up for human rights. It is a beacon of human rights in the region. … I believe that the Palestinian people deserve so much better than the failures that they’ve had from terrorist leadership.”
Stefanik’s confirmation hearing (opening remarks).
Tulsi Gabbard
Gabbard has long been criticized for saying now-ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was not an enemy of the United States and for introducing legislation in 2016 to stop arming the anti-Assad rebels because they included terrorist groups.
But although her prescription for the Middle East amounts to little more than Trump’s leadership, she attended the March for Israel in Washington in November 2023 and condemned Hamas.
“People are pouring in from all across the country to take this very important stand against antisemitism and against the Hamas terrorist Islamist group that are vowing to exterminate not only the Jews, but sending this call to action to people around the world to go after and destroy and kill anyone who doesn’t adhere to their radical interpretation of Islam,” Gabbard told Fox News from the rally.
Confirmation hearing scheduled for Jan. 30.
Mike Huckabee
Trump is “a new sheriff in town” who is feared in the Middle East, Huckabee said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Nov. 12. “There’s no reason that you have people like Iran and Communist China on human rights committees when they violate rights more than anybody. It’s time for a complete reset of our internal and international relationships.”
Huckabee criticized the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with Holocaust comparisons.
He said he has visited Israel about 100 times, starting in 1973 when he was 17. Like Trump’s first-term ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, Huckabee has expressed support for Israeli annexation of the West Bank and opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state.
“I think Israel would only be acting on the property it already owns. I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria,” he said in 2017. “There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as the West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities. They’re neighborhoods. They’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”
Confirmation hearing not yet scheduled.
Mike Waltz
“What we’re talking about here is making sure that Hamas is destroyed as a terrorist organization. Hamas is no different than ISIS or Al-Qaeda or any of the worst of the worst that has so brutalized the Middle East over the years,” Waltz said during a 15-minute appearance on the CBS show “Face the Nation” on Jan. 19. “And what we have made clear to Bibi Netanyahu, to his government, and I want the Israeli people to hear loud and clear: If Hamas reneges on this deal, if Hamas backs out, moves the goalposts, what have you, we will support Israel in doing what it has to do, No. 1, and, No. 2, Hamas will never govern Gaza.”
During an appearance on CNBC in late November, Waltz also tied the Middle East and Iran to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Steven Witkoff
Witkoff has a lower policy profile than others because he is not a politician. He has been a strong supporter of Israel and has been deferential to Trump.
“President Trump’s leadership has redefined what is possible in the pursuit of progress and stability in the Middle East,” he said during an 11-minute speech at Trump’s inaugural celebration Jan. 20.
Witkoff added an explanation of the Trump approach to the Middle East and foreign policy in general: “One, respect for sovereignty. Every nation deserves the right to determine its own destiny, free from the interference of external powers. Two, economic prosperity as a bridge to stability. Through economic partnerships and investment, we can build a foundation for cooperation that transcends historical grievances. Three, courageous diplomacy. Real progress requires difficult conversations and bold decisions, and it is through these that trust is built and maintained. And finally, four, reciprocity and accountability. The United States requires reciprocal actions from our partners. We are done carrying the financial burden for nations that are unwilling to fund their own progress. The days of blank checks are over.”
Witkoff told The Bulwark in May 2024 that Trump received a major fundraising boost from Biden’s resistance to Israeli military action in Rafah.
Questions have been raised about Witkoff’s praise for and business ties to Qatar, a major Hamas supporter, and he expressed a willingness to deal with Hamas during a Fox News appearance Jan. 22.
Massad Boulos
“Finish those military targets that you have to do, achieve those, and let’s move to peace, and let’s move to rebuilding Gaza and rebuilding Lebanon,” Boulos told Sky News on Oct. 22, noting that he had not been back to his native Lebanon for many years because of the violence there. “We want Gaza to be prosperous. We want the Palestinian people to be prosperous, to live in peace, to live in harmony side by side with the Israelis in full security on both sides. Same thing with Lebanon. We want Lebanon to prosper again.”
Boulos campaigned for Trump among Arab voters, especially in Michigan, and in an Arabic interview with Lebanon’s LBC International in July (video and English transcript here), he said, “The United States has historically been an ally of Israel, and no current or future president can oppose Israel.”