{"id":1666072,"date":"2026-02-23T07:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1666072"},"modified":"2026-02-23T07:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T12:45:00","slug":"saudis-lead-arab-fury-after-huckabee-floats-greater-israel-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/saudis-lead-arab-fury-after-huckabee-floats-greater-israel-vision\/1666072\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudis Lead Arab Fury After Huckabee Floats ‘Greater Israel’ Vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudis Lead Arab Fury After Huckabee Floats ‘Greater Israel’ Vision<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Blowback was swift across the Arab world after US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee declared it would be<\/a> “fine” if Israel took over the entire Middle East<\/strong>, words featured in a Tucker Carlson interview from Jerusalem published days ago.<\/p>\n

Governments from Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman issued statements condemning the comments, joined by both the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League – a rare moment of quick unity for these countries.<\/p>\n

Tehran Times<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

In a joint statement they “express[ed] their strong condemnation and profound concern regarding the statements made by the United States Ambassador to Israel, in which he indicated that it would be acceptable for Israel to exercise control over territories belonging to Arab states, including the occupied West Bank.”<\/p>\n

Most notably close American ally Saudi Arabia was among the first to blast Huckabee’s provocative statement and perspective. Saudi Arabia called it “reckless” and “irresponsible”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Jordan too in a rare moment lashed out at Washington<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d the ministry said in a sharply worded response.<\/em><\/p>\n

Asked whether a passage from the Book of Genesis could be read as granting Israel the right to claim all the land between Egypt’s Nile River and Syria’s Euphrates, Huckabee didn’t hedge.\u00a0He bluntly and without apology said it would be “fine” if Israel and its military took over the whole Middle East<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It would be fine if they took it all,”<\/strong>\u00a0Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist Minister and previously the governor of Arkansas made clear. This led to a wide ranging conversation and back and forth over whether the modern nation-state of Israel, officially founded as a sovereign government on May 14, 1948, is synonymous with the Israel written about in the Old Testament, stretching back thousands of years.<\/p>\n

Here’s how that contentious segment of the interview unfolded, according to a transcript and\u00a0commentary<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Huckabee was asked in an interview with US conservative commentator Tucker Carlson about his understanding of a biblical verse suggesting that land including parts of Egypt, Syria and Iraq had been divinely promised to the Jewish people.<\/p>\n

Carlson said that according to the Old Testament, the boundaries would be \u201cbasically the entire Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued:\u00a0\u201cDoes Israel have the right to that land?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNot sure we\u2019d go that far,\u201d Huckabee said in reply.\u00a0\u201cIt would be a big piece of land.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carlson then pressed him: \u201cDoes Israel have the right to that land?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be fine if they took it all,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Huckabee responded, before adding,\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about here today.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carlson asked:\u00a0\u201cYou think it would be fine if the state of Israel took over all of Jordan?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

BREAKING: US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee tells Tucker Carlson that Israel has the Biblical right to take over all of the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be fine if they took it all.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/BN4fXh03ga<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Tucker Carlson Network (@TCNetwork) February 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s when Amb. Huckabee must have realized he was entering some hot diplomatic water, which would be sure to outrage Washington’s Arab allies in the region. And indeed condemnation from Middle East leaders has been swift, but it will probably just stop there – though some could pull their support for anti-Iran operations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nMon, 02\/23\/2026 – 02:45<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/saudis-lead-arab-fury-after-huckabee-floats-greater-israel-vision<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudis Lead Arab Fury After Huckabee Floats ‘Greater Israel’ Vision Blowback was swift across the Arab world after US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee declared…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1666073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1666072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1666072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1666073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1666072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1666072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1666072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}