US ambassador’s remarks on Israel cause uproar among regional states

TEL AVIV

Arab and Islamic countries issued a joint condemnation on Feb. 22 of remarks by U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who suggested Israel had a biblical right to a vast swath of the Middle East.

Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and a fervent Israel supporter, was speaking on the podcast of far-right commentator and Israel critic Tucker Carlson.

In an episode released on Feb. 20, Carlson pushed Huckabee on the meaning of a biblical verse sometimes interpreted as saying that Israel is entitled to the land between the river Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates in Syria and Iraq.

In response, Huckabee said, "It would be fine if they took it all."

When pressed, however, he continued that Israel was "not asking to take all of that", adding: "It was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement."

The backlash widened sharply on Feb. 22 as more than a dozen Arab and Islamic governments, alongside three major regional organizations, issued a joint statement denouncing the US diplomat's comments as "dangerous and inflammatory.”

The statement, released by the United Arab Emirates' Foreign Ministry, was signed by Türkiye, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and the State of Palestine, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

They said the comments contravene the U.N. Charter and efforts to de-escalate the Gaza war and advance a political horizon for a comprehensive settlement.

Iran joined the chorus with its Foreign Ministry accusing Huckabee on X of revealing "American active complicity" in what it called Israel's "expansionist wars of aggression" against Palestinians.

Earlier, several Arab states had issued unilateral condemnations.

On Feb. 21, Huckabee published two posts on X further clarifying his position on other topics touched upon in the interview, but did not address his remark about the biblical verse.

The speaker of the Israeli parliament, Amir Ohana, praised Huckabee on X for his general pro-Israel stance in the interview, and accused Carlson of "falsehoods and manipulations.”

Carlson has recently found himself facing accusations of antisemitism, particularly following a lengthy, uncritical interview with self-described white nationalist Nick Fuentes, a figure who has praised Hitler, denied the Holocaust and branded American Jews as disloyal.