{"id":13083,"date":"2026-02-22T17:25:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13083"},"modified":"2026-02-22T17:25:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:25:49","slug":"us-envoy-huckabee-tries-to-deny-saying-he-would-support-israel-expansionism-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13083","title":{"rendered":"US envoy Huckabee tries to deny saying he would support Israel expansionism | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div><button class=\"article-listen-container\" aria-labelledby=\"listen-text listen-duration\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-button\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-listen-container__text\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-text\">Listen to this article<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"article-listen-container__duration\">4 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><button tabindex=\"0\" class=\"tooltip-accessible_trigger\"><svg class=\"icon icon--info icon--main-grey-dark icon--16 listen-to-article-tooltip__icon\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><title>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Despite explicitly saying he \u201cwould be fine\u201d if Israel took most of the Middle East in accordance with his interpretation of the Bible, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee has suggested the remark was selectively edited.<\/p>\n<p>The comment by the United States envoy, made during an interview with podcaster Tucker Carlson, sparked outrage and condemnation across the Arab world, including from Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cThe version Tucker put on X edited out my full response. Truth matters to many of us. Apparently not to Tucker. Sad,\u201d Huckabee wrote in a social media post on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The evangelical pastor also shared a post saying the Arab League, which condemned his comment, \u201cneeds a new translator\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with Carlson on Friday, Huckabee was pressed about the geographical borders of Israel, which he argued are rooted in Old Testament scripture.<\/p>\n<p>Huckabee told Carlson that the biblical verse that promised land to the descendants of Abraham refers to an area between the Euphrates River in Iraq and the Nile River in Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>Such a stretch of territory would encompass modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be fine if they took it all,\u201d said Huckabee, who was appointed by President Donald Trump last year.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, the ambassador, an avowed Christian Zionist and staunch defender of Israel, tried to deny making the statement, claiming Carlson, who aired the full interview on his website, had taken his words out of context.<\/p>\n<p>He shared a Jewish Insider article with the headline \u201cSaudi Arabia leads regional push against Huckabee based on partial remarks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs Paul Harvey would say \u2018Now the REST OF THE STORY,&#8217;\u201d Huckabee wrote, referring to the late American radio broadcaster and his catchphrase.<\/p>\n<p>The US Department of State has not addressed Huckabee\u2019s remarks publicly, and it has not responded to repeated requests for comment by Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>The comments sparked a backlash across the region, including from some close US allies.<\/p>\n<p>Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at the US-based rights group DAWN, stressed that Huckabee\u2019s statement was not a gaffe and called for the ambassador to be sacked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn ambassador who publicly endorses Israeli territorial expansion across the entire Middle East cannot serve as a representative of the United States,\u201d Jarrar told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe should be removed immediately, and the Trump administration\u2019s failure to act will be read by the world as an endorsement of his views.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that Huckabee\u2019s \u201cextremist views\u201d do not align with established US policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe longer he remains in this post, the greater the damage to US credibility and its ability to play any constructive role in the region,\u201d Jarrar said.<\/p>\n<p>Huckabee appeared to walk back his assertion during the interview, saying it had been \u201csomewhat of a hyperbolic statement\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don\u2019t want to take it over. They\u2019re not asking to take it over,\u201d the ambassador replied.<\/p>\n<p>Still, he left the door open for Israeli expansionism. \u201cIf they end up getting attacked by all these places and they win that war and they take that land, OK, that\u2019s a whole other discussion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli law does not clearly demarcate the country\u2019s borders. Since its inception in 1948, Israel has been expanding its territories through war in violation of international law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a04 mins info Despite explicitly saying he \u201cwould be fine\u201d if Israel took most of the Middle East in accordance with his interpretation of the Bible, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee has suggested the remark was selectively edited. The comment by the United States envoy, made during an interview with podcaster Tucker Carlson, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}