Yair Lapid backs 'biblical' borders for Israel
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has expressed his support for expanding the state's borders to their "biblical" extent when the security situation allows.
Asked at a press conference on Monday about US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee's comments that the country had a religious right to seize all the land between the Euphrates and Nile rivers, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party said he backed a Greater Israel.
"I support anything that will allow the Jews a large, broad, strong land and a safe haven for us, our children and our children's children. That I support," he told a Kipa News reporter.
When asked "How broad?" Lapid reponded: "As broad as possible.
He added that there were practical "considerations of security and policy and time", but said Israeli territory could expand as far as Iraq.
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"Zionism is based on the Bible, our mandate over the land of Israel is biblical, the biblical borders of Israel are very clear," he said.
"I believe our ownership deed over the land of Israel is the Bible, therefore the borders are the Bible's borders."
'Zionism is based on the Bible, our mandate over the land of Israel is biblical, the biblical borders of Israel are very clear'
- Yair Lapid
Lapid, who has been the leader of the opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since January 2023, has previously expressed support for a two-state solution for Palestinians.
However, he described the decision by a number of European states in September to recognise the State of Palestine as a "reward for terror".
Huckabee's controversial comments were made last week in an interview with right-wing American commentator Tucker Carlson, in which the avowed Zionist and Baptist minister also said it "would be fine" if Israel took all of the Middle East.
When pushed by Carlson to say if he thought it would be fine if Israel took Lebanon, Syria and other Arab states, Huckabee said it was a "hyperbolic statement" but said it would be a "whole other discussion" if Israel captured the land after being attacked by those states.
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