WASHINGTON: The United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has said he would not object if Israel were to gain control over large parts of the Middle East, citing biblical references during an interview with American commentator Tucker Carlson.
According to international media reports, Huckabee made the remarks when pressed about Israel’s potential geographical boundaries, saying that God had granted the land to the Israelites and that Israel would be justified in controlling territory “from the Nile to the Euphrates.”
Analysts say the concept of territory stretching from the Nile River to the Euphrates River is commonly associated with the controversial “Greater Israel” ideology, which envisions a state extending across parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Huckabee was appointed US ambassador to Israel last year by then-president Donald Trump.
The comments come amid heightened international scrutiny over Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank. Nearly 100 countries and several global and regional blocs have recently criticised Israel’s move to designate land there as so-called “state land.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to reverse the decision, describing it as illegal and a source of regional instability.