ISRAEL – In a podcast released on Friday Feb. 20, the US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee stated that it’d be fine if Israel took it all, since it has a biblical right to land stretching from Nile to the Euphrates rivers.
Huckabee made the remarks in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, during which he defended Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and voiced support for the concept.
After Huckabee claimed Israel had a divine right to vast portions of the Middle East, Carlson asked him to clarify “what land are you talking about?” Interpretations of the biblical phrase “river of Egypt” vary, with some scholars identifying it as a riverbed in the Sinai Peninsula and others as the Nile.
“It would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee replied, referring to Israel’s biblical right to the territory stretching from the Nile River to the Euphrates.
“But I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here today. … They don’t want to take it over, they’re not asking to take it over,” he said.
Huckabee said Israel is referring to the territory where the State of Israel currently exists and seeks to live in peace, emphasizing that Israel is not attempting to take control of Jordan, Syria, Iraq or any other country, but wants to safeguard its population.
Israel has Right to Nuclear Weapons but Iran is a Threat
Carlson brought up allegations that Israel developed its nuclear program using stolen US materials. Huckabee did not deny that Israel has nuclear capabilities.
When Carlson said, “I don’t want anyone to have a bomb, including Israel. I don’t know why we’re okay with Israel having nuclear weapons … It’s mass murder,” Huckabee argued that Iran poses a genuine threat because of its nuclear ambitions and long-standing anti-American rhetoric, maintaining that deterrence helps preserve peace rather than provoke conflict.
“What are the costs if they were to get a nuclear bomb? They’ve said for 47 years, ‘Death to America.’ They’ve targeted us. They’ve targeted President Trump specifically,” he said.
Palestine’s Reaction
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Saturday said comments by the US ambassador to Israel suggesting acceptance of Israeli control over the entire Middle East amount to “an explicit call to violate the sovereignty of states.”
The ministry said the “provocative” comments represent “an explicit call to violate the sovereignty of states.”
The remarks, it added, provide support for Israel to continue a war of genocide and displacement and to pursue annexation and expansion plans against the Palestinian people – steps it said have been rejected by the international community, which considers the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, occupied Palestinian territory under international law.
The ministry called on the US to take a clear and explicit position on Huckabee’s statements and to reaffirm the positions announced by Trump regarding achieving peace in the Middle East, ending wars and violence, and rejecting Israeli annexation of the West Bank.
It said the comments “do not help achieve President Trump’s vision for lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Huckabee, named US ambassador to Israel last April, is an evangelical Christian who has previously spoken of expansionist claims based on what he described as a “divine right” for Israel in the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told news channel i24 last August that he feels “very attached” to the vision of a “Greater Israel.” He said he considers himself “on a historic and spiritual mission” including “generations of Jews that dreamt of coming here and generations of Jews who will come after us.”
“Greater Israel” is a term used in Israeli politics to refer to the expansion of Israel’s territory to include the West Bank, Gaza, and Syria’s Golan Heights, with some interpretations also including Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and parts of Jordan.
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