US Ambassador Israel Middle East Expansion | International Outcry

• Context: NGOs accuse Israel of trying to expand Jerusalem’s borders for the first time since 1967
• Understand: EU and UN condemn Israel for measure that authorizes registration of West Bank areas as public lands

During the interview, Carlson stated that, according to the Old Testament, Abraham’s descendants would have the right to lands that would cover “basically the entire Middle East”, including areas that are now part of Egypt, Syria and Iraq. He then asked the ambassador directly: “Does Israel have the right to this land?”

— I’m not sure we’d go that far. It would be a large expanse of land — he initially responded, before stating, upon Carlson’s insistence on the question: — It would be acceptable if they took everything. [Mas] I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here today.

The interviewer then asked whether the ambassador believed it would be “acceptable” for the State of Israel to take control of all of Jordan. Huckabee said the Israeli government is not trying to take control of neighboring countries, but that it “wants to protect its people.” The ambassador added that, in his assessment, the discussion is not about expanding borders beyond what the Jewish State already controls:

— I think you’re missing something, because they’re not asking to come back and take all of this, but they’re at least asking to keep the land that they now occupy, where they live, that they legitimately own, and that is a safe haven for them — he declared.

‘Egregious violation’

The statements provoked a reaction from Egypt and Jordan, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States. In separate notes, the statements were classified as extremist, provocative and at odds with the official US position. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the comments represented a “flagrant violation” of international law and that “Israel does not have sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or other Arab lands.”

• Decision: Israeli court denies life-saving treatment to 5-year-old Palestinian with cancer because of Gaza address

The League of Arab States, in turn, said that “declarations of this type — extremist and devoid of any solid basis — only serve to inflame feelings and arouse religious and national emotions.” The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also criticized Huckabee, saying his words “contradict religious and historical facts, international law and the position expressed by United States President Donald Trump, who rejects the annexation of the West Bank.”

In November 2024, shortly after being announced as President Trump’s nominee for the position, Huckabee declared support for the annexation of the occupied West Bank. On Israel Army Radio, he stated: “I will not be the one to formulate the policy, I will execute the president’s policy. But (Trump) has already demonstrated, in his first term, that there has never been an American president more willing to guarantee the recognition of Israel’s sovereignty.”

Last September, however, Trump said he would not allow Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, emphasizing that “it’s not going to happen.” Suggesting support, even nominal, for Israeli sovereignty over much of the Middle East represents an unprecedented departure from American foreign policy and goes beyond what a significant part of the Israeli far right publicly defends.

• Package: Israel announces control measures over the West Bank and minister says the objective is to ‘kill the idea of a Palestinian state‘

Since its creation in 1948, Israel has not had fully recognized borders. Its boundaries with Arab neighbors have been altered through wars, annexations, ceasefires and peace agreements. In the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. It then withdrew from Sinai as part of a peace agreement with Egypt after the 1973 war and left Gaza unilaterally in 2005.

In recent months, Israel has expanded construction in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, legalized outposts and promoted administrative changes to its policies in the territory. Palestinians have for decades defended the creation of an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, a position supported by a large part of the international community.

Under the current ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has withdrawn troops to a buffer zone but still controls more than half of the territory, without the agreement establishing a timetable for further withdrawals.