Arab and Muslim countries strongly condemned a statement by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who stated in an interview broadcast on Friday with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that Israel has a right to much of the Middle East, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse reported.
Carlson asked the ambassador about his interpretation of a verse from the first book of the Bible - Genesis, according to which God promised Abraham and his descendants the lands located "between the Nile and the Euphrates", that is, stretching from Egypt to Iraq and Syria.
"That would be the Levant, that is, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon. It would be a large part of Saudi Arabia and Iraq," Carlson said.
"I think that's true. And that would cover almost the entire Middle East," Huckabee replied, adding: "It would be good if they took everything".
"I'm not sure we would go that far. I mean, it would be a large area," he noted, stressing that Israel is not seeking to expand its territory and that it has the right to security in the lands it legally owns.
His words provoked an immediate reaction from neighboring Egypt and Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry described Huckabee's comments as "extremist rhetoric" and as "unacceptable", and called on the State Department to clarify its position on them.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry called Huckabee's remarks "a flagrant violation" of international law and stated that "Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or other Arab lands".
"Statements of this nature - extremist and without any solid basis - serve only to provoke sentiments and incite religious and national passions," the Arab League said.
There has been no comment from Israel or the United States on the matter at this time.
Since its creation in 1948, Israel has not had fully recognized borders. Its borders with its Arab neighbors have changed as a result of wars, annexations, ceasefires and peace agreements. 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. It withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula as part of a peace deal with Egypt after the 1973 Middle East war. In 2005, it also unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, the AP recalls.
In recent months, Israel has sought to tighten its control over the occupied West Bank. It has significantly expanded construction in Jewish settlements, legalized outposts and made significant bureaucratic changes to its policies in the territory. US President Donald Trump has said he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank and has vowed to block any move in that direction.
The Palestinians have been demanding an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital for decades, a demand that is widely supported by the international community.
Huckabee, an evangelical Christian and a strong supporter of Israel and the West Bank settlement movement, has long opposed a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian people. In an interview last year, he said he did not believe that Arab descendants of people who lived in British-controlled Palestine should be considered "Palestinians."
Israel has entered more territory since the start of its war with Hamas in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Under the current ceasefire, Israel withdrew its troops to a buffer zone, but still controls more than half of the territory. The ceasefire agreement suggests that Israeli forces will withdraw further, although it does not set a deadline, the AP notes.
After Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power in late 2024, the Israeli army took control of a demilitarized buffer zone in Syria, created under a 1974 armistice between the countries. Israel said the move was temporary and aimed at ensuring security on its border.
In addition, Israel still holds five posts on high ground in Lebanese territory after its brief war with "Hezbollah" in 2024, the agency added.