Several Arab countries protested on Saturday against the statements of the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, during an interview broadcast on Friday with American journalist Tucker Carlson. In the interview, Huckabee considered that biblical traditions grant Israel rights to lands extending over a large part of the Middle East, forming the so-called “Greater Israel” from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Published on: 02/21/2026 - 22:19 Last updated: 02/23/2026 - 08:24
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On Friday, American conservative journalist Tucker Carlson conducted an interview with Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor and one of Israel's most prominent supporters, who was appointed by President Donald Trump as ambassador in 2025.
Carlson asked the ambassador about his interpretation of a verse in the Book of Genesis that stipulates Israel's rights to the lands between the Nile River and the Euphrates River, extending from Egypt to Iraq and Syria. Huckabee replied, "I think this is correct, and it includes the entire Middle East, and it would be good if they took it all."
Severe reactions
Several Arab countries strongly condemned these statements. Saudi Arabia considered Huckabee’s statements “irresponsible” and a “dangerous precedent,” while Jordan saw them as “an attack on the sovereignty of countries in the region.”
Egypt stressed that “Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or other Arab lands.”
The Palestinian Authority considered that Huckabee's statements "contradict the declared position of US President Donald Trump in rejecting the annexation of the occupied West Bank."
Clarifications and escalation context
The American ambassador published two posts on the X platform on Saturday to clarify his position on other topics discussed during the interview, including the definition of Zionism, but he did not address again his statements related to Israel’s control of lands in the Middle East.
Huckabee's statements came as Israel intensifies measures aimed at increasing its control over the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967. Israel announced decades ago the annexation of East Jerusalem and part of the Syrian Golan Heights.
France 24/AFP
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