President-elect Donald Trump, having secured a decisive return to the White House, began assembling his new team late Saturday, making his first official announcements about the composition of his emerging cabinet.

In a formal statement, Trump confirmed that neither Nikki Haley, his former UN Ambassador, nor Mike Pompeo, who served as Secretary of State from 2018 to 2021, will be returning to positions in the White House.

"I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our Country," the president-elect wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Haley, who mounted a significant challenge against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, ultimately withdrew from the race in March 2024 after Trump's commanding victory. Both Haley and Pompeo have maintained strong pro-Israel positions throughout their careers. Pompeo demonstrated this commitment by visiting Israel after the outbreak of the war in 2024, meeting with wounded soldiers and participating in a blood donation drive alongside his wife.

The potential return of Pompeo faced fierce opposition from some Trump loyalists. Media personality Alex Jones criticized the potential return of Pompeo, calling him untrustworthy and suggesting that Pompeo poses a personal threat to Trump and that Trump's handling of this situation will demonstrate his ability to identify and remove what Jones refers to as Deep State influences.

The intense criticism of Pompeo stems from his perceived cooperation with certain investigations targeting Trump. Similarly, Trump's trust in Haley eroded due to her extended primary challenge and her criticism of his statements in the lead-up to the election.

American media reports indicate three leading contenders for secretary of state: Robert O'Brien, Senator Bill Hagerty, and Senator Marco Rubio. For the position of US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, who served in this role during Trump's first term and maintains a long-standing relationship with the president-elect, is being considered.

The final vote tallies, released four days after Trump's victory, confirmed his win in Arizona over Kamala Harris – completing his sweep of all swing states. The Arizona victory added 11 electoral votes to Trump's column, bringing his total to 312.

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The Israel Hayom Group will hold its first conference at the Davidson Center in Jerusalem, with former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley as the keynote speaker.

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The forum will celebrate the strong bond between Washington and Jerusalem and will deal with a host of subjects, including the bilateral economic relations and trade, cultural ties and technological cooperation.

Arens, a prominent Likud member who served in various ministerial positions and as Israel's ambassador to the United States, died earlier this year.

Arens was born in Lithuania in 1925 and moved to the United States in 1939. After serving in the US Army, he moved to the Jewish state shortly after its founding in the late 1940s.

Entering the Knesset in 1974, he quickly became a prominent Likud lawmaker and served in various high-profile positions in Israeli politics.

Arens's ally early in his career was fellow Likud MK Yitzhak Shamir (who would go on to serve four terms as prime minister). Both shared a hawkish ideological view and opposition to the peace treaty with Egypt in 1979. A year later, when then Prime Minister Menachem Begin offered Arens the defense portfolio, he refused, saying he didn't want to be in charge of dismantling Jewish settlements in the Sinai Peninsula as part of the peace treaty.

In 1982, he was tapped for the position of ambassador to the US, and in 1983 he became defense minister after Ariel Sharon had to step down over his conduct in Operation Peace for the Galilee. Arens is credited for revamping the Israel Defense Forces by creating a joint command for the ground forces.

As defense minister, he also pushed forward the IAI Lavi project, which would have allowed Israel to manufacture its own fighter jets. Although the project was ultimately terminated before completion, it helped Israel obtain important technological know-how.

He would go on to serve as a minister without portfolio (in charge of minority affairs) and then foreign minister before returning to the Defense Ministry in 1990. As defense minister during the first Gulf War in 1991, he pushed for more active Israeli involvement, with the goal of stopping Iraq's missile attacks on Israeli territory.

Arens studied aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ultimately became a professor at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He was also awarded the Israel Defense Prize.

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The forum will celebrate the strong bond between Washington and Jerusalem and will deal with a host of subjects, including the bilateral economic relations and trade, cultural ties and technological cooperation.

The forum will have some 500 participants and will be open to the press.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take part in the event, as will Israel Hayom Publisher Dr. Miriam Adelson and Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth. The speakers include U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason D. Greenblatt.

Philanthropist and businessman Sylvan Adams, who has dedicated his life to strengthening Israel, will be among the speakers. Other prominent figures from Israel and abroad will attend as well.

During Ms. Haley's time as the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations between 2017 and 2019, the United States stood proudly with its allies, repeatedly taking a strong and principled stand against the chronic anti-Israel bias in the organization.

In the U.N. Security Council, she proudly issued the first American veto in six years defending the United States' sovereign right to move its embassy to Jerusalem – Israel's true capital.

It will be Haley's first visit to Israel since leaving office.

Prior to being appointed ambassador, Haley was elected in 2010 as the first female and first minority governor of South Carolina. She was re-elected in 2014.

Although no longer holding public office, Ms. Haley is still an admired figure in the Republican Party, in the United States and abroad.

Israel Hayom is honored to have her as the keynote speaker in its first conference.

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Speaking at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank often sympathetic to Israel, Haley agreed with a questioner who suggested that UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, exaggerates their number.

The United States earlier this year cut its aid to UNWRA to $60 million from a promised $350 million for the year.

"We will be a donor if it [UNRWA] reforms what it does. ... If they actually change the number of refugees to an accurate account, we will look back at partnering them," Haley said.

UNWRA says it supports about 5 million Palestinian refugees. However, the vast majority are descendants of individuals who fled Palestine in the war that surrounded the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Haley also questioned the emotionally charged issue of the "right of return" to Israel, claimed by the Palestinians as part of any eventual peace settlement.

Asked whether the right of return should be "off the table," Haley replied: "I do agree with that, and I think we have to look at this in terms of what's happening [with refugees] in Syria, what's happening in Venezuela. ... So I absolutely think we have to look at the right of return."

US President Donald Trump and his aides say they want to improve the Palestinians' plight, as well as start negotiations on an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

But under Trump, Washington has taken a number of actions that have alienated the Palestinians, including the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The status of Jerusalem – home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions – is one of the biggest obstacles to any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

The United Nations says the status of the ancient city can only be resolved by negotiations.

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