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Arab and Muslim states have reacted with outrage after the US ambassador to Israel told an interviewer that it would be “fine” if Israel annexed a large part of the Middle East.
Mike Huckabee, a devout evangelical Christian, made these comments in an interview with right-wing American commentator Tucker Carlson, who asked about a Bible verse in which God promised Abraham’s descendants the land between the “Wadi of Egypt” and the Euphrates.
Pressed on whether Israel has a right to this land, which includes much of the modern Middle East, including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and parts of Saudi Arabia, Huckabee said, “It would be OK if they took it all”.
The ambassador later hit back, calling his statement “somewhat exaggerated”, and saying that Israel was “not trying to occupy” the remaining lands mentioned in the Biblical verse.
However, his statement – ​​which came at a time of rising tensions in the Middle East and growing fears of war between the US, Israel and Iran – sparked angry reactions across the region.
The Arab League, which represents 22 Arab states, on Saturday condemned Huckabee’s comments as “extremist and lacking any solid basis.”
It said his comments would “inflame passions” and “inflame religious and nationalistic sentiments” at a time when the US was trying to work with countries in the region to establish a lasting peace in the wake of the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which represents 57 predominantly Muslim-majority states, also criticized Huckabee’s comments. It labeled them “an unacceptable call for Israel’s expansion, seizure of power, and annexation of more Palestinian and Arab lands based on a false and rejected historical and ideological narrative.”
This is not the first time that Huckabee has expressed support for positions radically different from traditional US foreign policy in the Middle East.
Washington has long supported a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, including the establishment of a Palestinian state. President Donald Trump has also said he will oppose Israel’s effort to annex the West Bank, which the Palestinians want as the heart of a future state but which Israel has occupied for nearly 60 years.
In contrast, Huckabee has poured cold water on the idea of ​​a two-state solution, and has even rejected the idea of ​​Palestinian identity.
The appointed Southern Baptist minister also refers to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria” – the Biblical name preferred by Jewish settlers – and refuses to describe Israel’s presence in the region as an occupation.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Huckabee’s comments.
