Trump 'locked and loaded' if US & Israeli hostages not released soon, will also 'bankrupt' Iran to stop terror, Huckabee tells Sen. Blackburn

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — As current Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew prepares to depart his post, the expected incoming Ambassador Mike Huckabee is meeting with U.S. Senators, hoping to gain their support ahead of confirmation hearings and a full vote in the new year.

Towards that end, Senator Marsha Blackburn – the Tennessee Republican – just recorded a conversation with the Evangelical leader and former Governor of Arkansas for her latest podcast, “Unmuted With Marsha.”

The Apple podcast will be posted soon, but ALL ISRAEL NEWS has an advanced preview.

WHAT DOES TRUMP MEAN THAT THERE WILL BE 'HELL TO PAY' IF HOSTAGES AREN'T RELEASED SOON?

"President Trump warned – and I will use his quote – '[there will be] hell to pay' in the Middle East if the hostages are not released by Inauguration Day," Blackburn noted early in the podcast, discussing her concern for the 101 hostages still being held by Hamas in the terror tunnels underneath the Gaza Strip for 443 days. "I want to have you weigh in on that."

Huckabee replied, "President Trump is prepared to bring something to the Middle East and to the world that even a few years ago people could not have begun to imagine."

He called President-elect Donald Trump's blunt and tough warning to the leaders of Hamas – and their benefactors in Iran – "incredibly important," adding, "I wish it had been said over 400 days ago by Joe Biden."

"A lot of people don't even realize some of those hostages are American citizens," Huckabee noted.

"What Donald Trump said when he just bluntly came out and declared, 'You will have hell to pay if those hostages are not released before I'm inaugurated on January 20,' that is exactly the position that we need to take as a country."

"I'm so proud of him for making that statement," he said.

"We shouldn't let some terrorist organization like Hamas dictate the terms of how those hostages are going to be released."

Huckabee added that "the only reason we're seeing movement right now" in terms of Hamas suddenly becoming willing to negotiate a deal to release the hostages "is because I think they know that a new sheriff's coming to town – and this isn't Barney Fife with one bullet in his front pocket – this is Wyatt Earp, and he's loaded and ready."

HUCKABEE PRAISES BLACKBURN'S TOUGH NEW BILL AGAINST HAMAS AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Sen. Blackburn explained that "the October 7th attack is the reason I recently introduced the 'No Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act.'"

"This would prohibit the Hamas terrorists, or those that are affiliated with Hamas, from coming into our country, and also prevent any of them from getting any taxpayer-funded benefits," she said.

The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Jackie Rosen, the Nevada Democrat, would "amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to deny immigration benefits to aliens who carried out, participated in, planned, financed, supported, or otherwise facilitated the recent attacks against Israel" perpetrated by Hamas.

Gov. Huckabee thanked Sen. Blackburn for taking a tough stand against radical Islamist terrorism and illegal immigration.

He also sharply criticized the Biden-Harris administration for not being tough enough on either issue.

"Senator, sadly, for the past four years, we have tolerated" massive illegal immigration into the United States, a terrible situation that has allowed suspected terrorists to enter the homeland, Huckabee noted, "and that's what has to stop."

"And I do believe it stops at high noon on January the 20th, when Donald Trump puts one hand on the Bible and the other in the air and says, 'I solemnly swear,' and he takes the oath – I believe the world changes that very moment."

"What you just introduced in the Senate – the bill that does not allow Hamas terrorists to come here – my gosh, that ought to pass through the Senate 100 to zero," Huckabee said.

Regarding "anybody who somehow thinks it would be okay to allow Hamas terrorists to find their way to the United States," Huckabee said they need to take "a vacation in Gaza and let us know how much fun they had."

Huckabee said Blackburn's bill is "something that every American should support – every member of the Senate and House should support it."

He added, "President Trump hopefully will have the privilege of signing it."

TRUMP WILL "BANKRUPT" IRANIAN REGIME AGAIN TO STOP TERROR

Blackburn also asked Huckabee about President-elect Trump's approach towards the Iranian regime.

"When Donald Trump was in office, we didn't have to bomb Iran," he said. "We were bankrupting them by way of the very maximum pressure sanctions [so] that it was making it impossible for Iran to give big checks to these terrorist proxies" such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

"But when Joe Biden came in, he took his foot off the brake, put his foot on the gas, started empowering the Iranians, giving them money, making it possible for them to sell their products and oil, particularly," Huckabee said.

"The next thing you know, Iran was awash in funds, and they used it. That ultimately led to the slaughter, the massacre of over 1,200 Jewish civilians on October the 7th of 2023."

Sen. Blackburn wholeheartedly agreed.

"Governor, it is so important to remember that [ex-President Barack] Obama gave Iran billions of dollars."

By contrast, "Donald Trump said, 'We are not going to do business with people that buy your oil.'"

Trump "basically bankrupted" the Iranian regime, she concurred. "We had all of these terrorist organizations complaining they weren't getting their $100 million a year out of Iran because Iran didn't have money to give them." 

BLACKBURN SUPPORTS HUCKABEE AS THE NEW AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL

One thing was clear during the podcast.

Huckabee can count on Sen. Blackburn to vote for his confirmation to be America's next Ambassador to Israel, the first devout Evangelical appointed to that post in U.S.-Israeli history. 

"I think you are the perfect person for filling this ambassadorship," Blackburn told Huckabee.