By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he will be nominating Christian Zionist Fox News host Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense.
“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social. “Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”
Hegseth is a veteran who founded Vets for Freedom, a pro-war, Sheldon Adelson-funded group that lobbied Congress to support the Iraq War.
During a trip to Israel in 2018, Hegseth gave a speech to the National Council of Young Israel stating that “anyone who wants to talk about dual loyalty is dead wrong.”
“Zionism and Americanism” are intertwined as “the front lines of Western civilization and freedom in our world today,” Hegseth insisted.
On yet another trip to Israel in 2016, Hegseth told a Jewish group that people should ask not what Israel can learn from America but what America can learn from Israel.
“What can Israel learn from America? You need to reverse that question: The question is what can America learn from Israel,” Hegseth said.
He also suggested he was preparing his young boys to fight future wars “side by side” with Israel.
Hegseth also expressed his hope that the Third Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and called for Israel to annex the West Bank.
Just last week, Hegseth described himself as a “recovering neocon for six years now” in an interview with former Navy Seal Shawn Ryan.
Though he understands neocons are no longer popular, the fact remains he’s still advocating for all of Israel’s wars and pushing the same neocon agenda.
Hegseth’s appointment will have to be confirmed by the Senate.