US ambassador Huckabee says Israel at war with Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan
Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, has said that Israel is at war with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan, as part of a “seven-front war”.
The former governor of the state of Arkansas was speaking in an interview on The Tucker Carlson Show on Friday.
“I keep hearing Israel’s fighting a seven-front war right now. What are those seven fronts?” Carlson asked during one fiery exchange.
“Well, you got Lebanon. You have Egypt,” said Huckabee, to which Carlson sought clarification.
“Egypt is not an active war, but you have the Muslim Brotherhood within Egypt,” said Huckabee. “You've got the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. You've got Syria.”
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Carlson pushed back again, asking, “Wait, they’re fighting a war with Jordan?”
“With the Muslim Brotherhood that is in Jordan, not directly with Jordan, not the government of Jordan,” Huckabee responded.
He said that the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza, and Iran make up the seven fronts. “I'll give you an eighth one,” he added. “The media.”
What is the Muslim Brotherhood?
Founded in 1928 in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is one of the world's largest and most well-known Islamic movements.
It was established in opposition to British colonial rule, and its leaders have consistently said the organisation renounces violence and operates as a political and social movement.
After operating in secret for years, it was outlawed and attacked by nationalist Arab rulers like Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Hafez al-Assad of Syria.
However, the Muslim Brotherhood gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s as secular, authoritarian governments pushed modernisation and western agendas.
In the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, its popularity skyrocketed as protesters took to the streets to overthrow autocratic rulers.
In 2012, Mohamed Morsi, a senior figure in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, won what is widely regarded as the country's first and only free presidential election.
He was overthrown a year later in a military coup and died in custody in 2019.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have all banned the Muslim Brotherhood. Jordan banned the organisation in April, allegedly after pressure from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel.
Many autocrats and monarchies view the group as a threat to their rule.
‘Fine’ if Israel took over Middle East
Elsewhere in Huckabee’s interview, the US ambassador caused outrage in the Middle East after he said that Israel was within its rights to seize all the land between the Euphrates and Nile River, which would span five countries as well as occupied Palestine.
“What land are you talking about? Because I just read Genesis 15 [in the Bible] as I have many times, and that land, I think it says from the Nile to the Euphrates, which is, once again, basically the entire Middle East,” Carlson said.
“What does that mean? Does Israel have the right to that land? Because you're appealing to Genesis, you're saying that's the original deed.”
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee defended Israel's killing of 14-year-old children in Gaza during an interview with Tucker Carlson. pic.twitter.com/qhWqZYw3aY
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Huckabee paused and said: “It would be fine if they took it all.”
Statements slamming the remarks have come out from Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League.
The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the statements by Huckabee as “irresponsible, escalatory and absurd”.
Saudi Arabia described the statement as “reckless” and “irresponsible”, while Kuwait called it a “flagrant violation of the principles of international law”.
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