Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, denounce US ambassador\u2019s remarks suggesting Israel has right to much of the Middle East.<\/p>\n
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United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has triggered an avalanche of criticism from Arab and Muslim countries after suggesting Israel has a right to expand its territory across a large swath of the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Huckabee delivered the remarks<\/a> during a sit-down interview with US commentator Tucker Carlson<\/a>, broadcast on Friday, as he was pressed about the geographical borders of Israel.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n Carlson asked Huckabee, a self-professed Christian Zionist and staunch supporter of Israel<\/a>, to clarify his stance on the Biblical promise of the land spanning the area between the Euphrates River in Iraq and the Nile River in Egypt to the descendants of Abraham, and if the modern Israeli state had the right to claim that lineage.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be fine if they took it all,\u201d said Huckabee.<\/p>\n Such territory would encompass modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n The US ambassador later appeared to walk back the claim, saying it was \u201csomewhat of a hyperbolic statement\u201d. He also said Israel was not looking to expand its territory and has a right to security in the land it currently holds.<\/p>\n \u2018Extremist rhetoric\u2019<\/p>\n Huckabee\u2019s comments sparked immediate backlash from neighbouring Egypt and Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States, which in separate statements called them \u201cextremist\u201d, \u201cprovocative\u201d and \u201cnot in line with Washington\u2019s official position\u201d.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia\u2019s foreign ministry described Huckabee\u2019s comments as \u201cextremist rhetoric\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d, and called for the US Department of State to provide clarification.<\/p>\n Egypt\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the remarks a \u201cblatant violation\u201d of international law, adding that \u201cIsrael has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or other Arab lands.\u201d<\/p>\n Jordan\u2019s foreign ministry dismissed them as \u201cabsurd and provocative,\u201d a violation of diplomatic norms and \u201can infringement on the sovereignty of states in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cStatements of this nature \u2014 extremist and lacking any sound basis \u2014 serve only to inflame sentiments and stir religious and national emotions\u201d, the League of Arab States also said in a statement.<\/p>\n Huckabee, whom US President Donald Trump nominated<\/a> as ambassador in 2024, has long opposed<\/a> the idea of a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian people, and denied the existence of an illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Back in 2008, Huckabee went so far as to question Palestinian identity altogether, saying, \u201cThere\u2019s really no such thing as a Palestinian.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled<\/a> that Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and must cease immediately.<\/p>\n But Israeli law does not clearly demarcate the country\u2019s borders. Israel also occupies the Golan Heights in Syria, which it illegally annexed in 1981.<\/p>\n The US is the only country that recognises Israel\u2019s claimed sovereignty over the Syrian territory, and only since 2019<\/a>, during Trump\u2019s first term as president.<\/p>\n After its 2024 war with Hezbollah, Israel also set up military outposts in five points inside Lebanon.<\/p>\n