Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Jerusalem, said he has “no problem” with Israel controlling large swathes of the Middle East.
In an interview with conservative American commentator Tucker Carlson, Huckabee was asked about his understanding of a Bible passage that suggests that the Jewish people were promised land, including parts of Egypt, Syria and Iraq, by God.
Carlson said that according to the Old Testament, the border would be “basically the entire Middle East.”
He continued, “Does Israel have a right to the land?”
“I don’t know if I’ll go that far,” Huckabee said. “It’s going to be a lot of land.”
Carlson then confronted him and asked, “Does Israel have a right to that land?”
“I hope they accept everything,” Huckabee responded, adding, “I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here today.”
Carlson asked, “Do you think it’s okay for the state of Israel to occupy all of Jordan?”
“They’re not trying to take over Jordan. They’re not trying to take over Syria. They’re not trying to take over Iraq or anywhere else, but they want to protect their people,” Huckabee responded.
“I think you’re missing something, because they’re not asking to come back to take all of that back, but they’re asking to at least take away the land that they currently occupy, that they currently live on, that they legally own, that is a safe haven for them,” Huckabee added.
In November 2024, shortly after President Donald Trump announced that he would choose Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, Huckabee announced that he supported Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank.
“I don’t set policy, I carry out the president’s policy,” he told Israel Army Radio. “But (President Trump) has already proven in his first term that no American president has been more helpful in ensuring understanding of Israeli sovereignty.”
Last September, President Trump said, “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. No, I will not allow it. That will not happen.”
Suggesting even nominal support for Israeli sovereignty over much of the Middle East is an unprecedented departure from American foreign policy. It also goes far beyond what many on the Israeli far right are willing to ask publicly.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that Huckabee’s comments “contradict religious and historical facts, international law and the stated position of US President Donald Trump rejecting the annexation of the West Bank.”
CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment on Huckabee’s remarks.
