Senior Trump administration officials have called around to several Arab countries in recent days to mollify their concerns after Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee claimed Israel has a right to control much of the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the discussions, officials including Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker and others, have explained to concerned countries that Huckabee\u2019s assertion in a podcast interview with Tucker Carlson reflects his personal views and is not a shift in administration policy, according to three people familiar with outreach, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic discussions.More than a dozen governments such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates condemned the comments in a joint statement Saturday, calling Huckabee\u2019s assertions \u201cdangerous and inflammatory\u201d as well as directly contradictory to Trump\u2019s plans for the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The remarks threaten to derail one of the Trump administration\u2019s key goals: integrating Israel into the Middle East, said one of the people familiar with the conversations, a senior diplomat from a Gulf country.\u201cThe sovereignty of Arab states is not something to be made light of, specifically when we are in the midst of attempting to create a unified Middle East that includes Israel,\u201d the diplomat said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said over the weekend Huckabee\u2019s comments \u201cwere taken out of context.\u201dHuckabee has posted several times on X to criticize Carlson since the interview was released. He has faulted news outlets for covering his remarks about possible Israeli control of the Middle East without providing \u201cthe full context.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who has long supported the West Bank settlement movement, has long been seen as a more extreme voice on Israel in the administration.He doesn\u2019t represent our views and doesn\u2019t represent the best version of the pro-Israel position,\u201d said another one of the people, a State Department official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about ideological splits in government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt under the peace treaty that followed the 1973 war, and Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. After an October ceasefire with Hamas that ended two years of combat, Israeli troops now hold much of eastern Gaza.More than 500,000 Israelis live in more than 100 Israeli settlements built across the occupied West Bank, in addition to more than 200,000 settlers in East Jerusalem, which was annexed by Israel in 1967. A majority of United Nations members considers all the settlements to be illegal. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza for a future state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.\u00b9 https:\/\/x.com\/i\/status\/2026077009110274348<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n