Outrage in Muslim countries after US ambassador to Israel's 'extremist' statements about country's biblical right in Middle East
United States Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Credit: DEBBIE HILL / UPI / Profimedia
The Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) criticized statements in which US Ambassador Mike Huckabee appeared to suggest that Israelis have a biblical right to a vast area of the Middle East, according to AFP and the Financial Times.
In an interview with right-wing American commentator Tucker Carlson, the US ambassador to Israel was asked about the biblical verse in which God makes a covenant with Abraham and promises that his descendants will have the land “from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18).
Pressed on whether Israel has a claim to the area, which covers much of today's Middle East, including parts of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Huckabee said “it would be fine if they took it all.”
The ambassador then walked back the statement and described it as “somewhat … hyperbolic,” adding that Israel is “not trying to take over” the rest of the territory mentioned in the Bible verse.
Categorical reaction from Muslim countries
The Arab League, which represents 22 Arab states, condemned the statements on Saturday, calling them “extremist and without any solid basis”.
The OIC, which represents 57 Muslim-majority states, described them as “an unacceptable call for the expansion of Israel, the occupying power, and the seizure of more Palestinian and Arab territories based on a false and rejected historical and ideological narrative.”
It is not the first time that Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, has expressed support for positions that differ from traditional US foreign policy in the Middle East.
Washington has long supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The current president, Donald Trump, has said in turn that he opposes an Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation for almost 60 years.
Instead, Huckabee opposed the two-state solution and rejected even the idea of a Palestinian identity.
