Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders will travel to Israel and the United Arab Emirates on a trade mission next week, she announced in a Thursday morning news release.
Sanders’ goal in Israel, a country she has visited multiple times, is “to meet with government officials and business leaders and deepen Arkansas’ economic ties,” she said in the announcement. In the UAE, she plans to “continue our effort to bring more foreign investment and jobs to Arkansas,” she said.
Sanders’ father, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, is the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
The trip, from August 3 to August 9, will be Sanders’ fifth international trade mission since she took office in January 2023. Most recently, she visited France and Switzerland in June, and her meeting with American technology company L3Harris in France resulted in the company’s six-figure investment in a rocket motor production campus in Camden, a South Arkansas hub of defense contracting.
According to the news release, expanding Arkansas’ defense industry will be a primary focus of Sanders’ trip to both Israel and the UAE. In Israel, she will “host roundtables with Israeli companies focused on agritech and defense, and meet with several companies that already have investments in Arkansas.” She also plans to meet with aerospace companies in the UAE.
Sanders will also visit Israel’s Western Wall and Judea and Samaria, according to the news release. A new state law requires state agencies to use the term “Judea and Samaria” instead of “West Bank” in official government documents.
Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories, including Gaza and the West Bank, has recently drawn backlash from members of Congress as starvation has spread throughout the occupied land and the Palestinian death toll has continued to grow. Israel increased its military presence in the region after an attack by Palestinian militants on October 7, 2023.
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