US Ambassador: It Would Be Fine if Israel Took Over the Middle East... Middle East in Upheaval
The US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has sparked controversy by suggesting Israel has a right to most of the Middle East, claiming it is in the Bible.
Mike Huckabee, the US Ambassador to Israel, has ignited significant controversy with recent comments suggesting that Israel has a legitimate claim to the majority of the Middle Eastern territory, based on biblical interpretations. During an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, Huckabee quoted scripture to assert that God granted 'the land' to Abraham's descendants, which he said includes areas far beyond modern-day Israel. When Carlson probed the extent of this claim, Huckabee controversially responded that he would be alright with Israel occupying that entire territory.
Following Huckabee's remarks, numerous Middle Eastern countries voiced their outrage. A coalition of 14 nations, including the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Indonesia, and Pakistan, along with relevant organizations like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council, issued a joint statement condemning him. They characterized his statements as a violation of international law and a serious threat to regional security, firmly rejecting any notion that Israel could exert sovereignty over Palestinian or Arab territories.
Huckabee, a Republican known for his extreme right-wing and fundamentalist Christian viewpoints, attempted to clarify his comments by stating that he does not demand Israel to claim all of that land, indicating that his language may have been exaggerated. Despite this clarification, the backlash from the Middle Eastern nations signifies a profound concern over the implications of Huckabee's words and their potential impact on the precarious geopolitical landscape of the region.