(AP/Oded Balilty)
Mike Huckabee

Huckabee laid bricks and spread cement in a new neighborhood in Efrat, where he said he may one-day “purchase a holiday home.”

By: AP and United with Israel Staff

Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has symbolically taken part in the building of an Israeli community in Judea.

The former governor of Arkansas laid bricks and spread cement Wednesday in a new neighborhood in Efrat, where he said he may one day “purchase a holiday home.”

Huckabee, whose daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the White House press secretary, said he is sure President Donald Trump would have been pleased to join him “because he is a builder and he loves to see construction sites.”

“I certainly can say that the president would be very proud to see beautiful, wonderful, thriving neighborhoods being built,” he added, before praising Efrat Mayor Oded Revivi for building a community “where people can bring their families and can thrive, their children can be educated, they can be safe, secure, and have a wonderful future.”

He said how happy he and his delegation were “that the long-time, almost 15-year freeze on construction [in Judea and Samaria] is no longer in place” and that “families looking for a better life can come to wonderful neighborhoods like this.”

The evangelical Christian says Trump is now “building a new world order.”

He noted that giving jobs to hundreds of Palestinian construction workers that enable them to “have a long-term sense of prosperity” is “the greatest way to peace.”

Huckabee expressed strong support for the Israeli communities of Judea and Samaria during a visit to the region in 2015 by publicly recognizing it as part of Israel.

Speaking to reporters at the site of biblical Shiloh, for which a modern Israeli community nearby is named, he stated that he was “delighted” to be at Shiloh.

“It is an exciting place and an important place. It is the place where the tabernacle once was. It’s a place of biblical history,” he underscored.

Responding to a reporter’s question, he reiterated that Judea and Samaria is in Israel.

“If you’re going to visit Israel, you should visit all of Israel, and that would include Judea and Samaria,” he said.