Pakistan, Muslim bloc denounce US envoy remarks backing Israel expansion
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. PHOTO: REUTERS
Pakistan and 13 other countries have condemned remarks by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggesting he would not oppose Tel Aviv taking over large parts of the Middle East, the Foreign Office said Sunday.
Speaking to journalist Tucker Carlson this week, Huckabee argued Israel has a biblical right to land stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates River. “It would be fine if they took it all,” he said after Carlson noted the verse includes territory between the Euphrates in Iraq and the Nile in Egypt.
In a joint statement, foreign ministers from Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, Kuwait, Oman, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, along with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, League of Arab States and Gulf Cooperation Council, expressed “profound concern”.
🔊PR No.4️⃣8️⃣/2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣
Joint Statement Condemning the Statements Made by the US Ambassador to Israel https://t.co/Nux9LTuDWz
🔗⬇️ pic.twitter.com/sowZyAXqq4“They affirm their countries’ categorical rejection of such dangerous and inflammatory remarks, which constitute a flagrant violation of the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and pose a grave threat to the security and stability of the region,” the statement said.
The ministers said Huckabee’s remarks contradicted “the vision put forward by US President Donald Trump, as well as the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” which they said aims to contain escalation and create a political path toward a settlement ensuring Palestinians have an independent state.
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They stressed that Israel holds “no sovereignty whatsoever over the Occupied Palestinian Territory or any other occupied Arab lands” and reiterated rejection of attempts to annex the West Bank or separate it from the Gaza Strip, warning that expansionist policies would inflame violence and undermine peace.
The statement called for “an end to these incendiary statements” and reaffirmed support for Palestinians’ right to self-determination and an independent state along the June 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Separately, Saudi Arabia condemned in “the strongest terms” Huckabee’s “reckless remarks,” saying they violate international law and diplomatic norms and “threaten international peace and security.” Kuwait said the comments contradict Trump’s stated vision and undermine sovereignty, while Oman called them illegitimate and harmful to regional stability.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry described the remarks as “absurd and provocative,” saying they violate diplomatic norms and the UN Charter and contradict Washington’s declared opposition to annexation of occupied Palestinian land. Egypt called them a “flagrant departure” from international law and said they contradict a US-backed framework aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
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Iraq said the comments were a serious overreach infringing on state sovereignty, while the OIC labelled them “dangerous and irresponsible” and based on “a false and rejected historical and ideological narrative”.
Huckabee, appointed US ambassador to Israel last April, has previously spoken of expansionist claims based on what he described as a “divine right” for Israel in the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told news channel i24 last August that he feels “very attached” to the vision of a “Greater Israel,” calling it a historic and spiritual mission.