Supporters of Israel's decades-old settlement enterprise in the occupied Palestinian territories have been quick to welcome Donald Trump's recent U.S. election victory and what they clearly expect will be a boon to their aim of formally annexing the West Bank.

Arab Americans and liberal Jewish voters, however, have ample reason to fear the naming of pro-settlement, pro-Netanyahu officials to top foreign policy posts in the new administration.

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The idea is seen as illegal by most of the international community and could threaten Israel’s relations with its Arab allies.

The day after the US election, right-wing factions in Israel clearly felt emboldened. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a leader of the 600,000‑strong West Bank Jewish settler movement, told reporters that Donald Trump’s victory gives Israel the chance to impose sovereignty over that area,

After Donald Trump’s announcement, Huckabee was asked whether West Bank annexation was possible during the coming presidential term. “Of course,” he replied. (Huckabee is a Christian Zionist, which is to say he believes that Jews should be in Israel—an area he deems to include the West Bank—so as to trigger the Second Coming,