Arabic version: دول عربية تدين تصريحات السفير الأمريكي حول توسيع إسرائيل
According to Middle East Eye,
Several Arab countries on Saturday condemned comments made by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who said it would be “fine” if Israel took over the entire Middle East. Statements slamming the remarks have come out from Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League. The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the statements by Huckabee as “irresponsible, escalatory and absurd”.
The official spokesperson for the ministry, Ambassador Fuad Al-Majali, rejected these absurd and provocative statements, which constitute a violation of diplomatic norms, an assault on the sovereignty of the countries of the region, and a flagrant breach of international law and the Charter of the United Nations. It noted that Huckabee’s remarks, made during an interview on The Tucker Carlson Show on Friday, contradict the position of US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has rejected the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Saudi Arabia described the statement as “reckless” and “irresponsible”, while Kuwait called it a “flagrant violation of the principles of international law”. Oman warned that the comments “threatened the prospects for peace” and stability in the region. The Palestinian foreign ministry echoed similar sentiments, saying that the remarks represent an “explicit call to infringe on the sovereignty of states”. It added that the comments also back Israel’s extermination and displacement of Palestinians, alongside the annexation of internationally recognised occupied territories.
The OIC condemned the remarks as a “clear call to violate international law”, warning that “extremist ideological rhetoric would fuel extremism and encourage [Israel] to continue its illegal measures”. The Arab League on the other hand stressed that Huckabee’s statements “violated all the basic principles and established norms of diplomacy, as well as defying logic and reason”.
During an interview on The Tucker Carlson Show, Huckabee claimed that Israel would be well within its rights to seize all the land between the Euphrates and Nile Rivers, which would span five countries as well as the occupied Palestinian territories. The remarks are a reference to the “Greater Israel” project that has been espoused by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several other senior Israeli officials. Huckabee paused and said: “It would be fine if they took it all.” Huckabee is a prominent leader in the pro-Israel evangelical Christian movement. Huckabee has rejected the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine question outright, saying that to prevent Israeli Jews from being a minority in one state, there should be an “aggressive interest in bringing Jews from around the world to the homeland”.
