US ambassador Huckabee says Israel has right to take over ‘all' of Middle East
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on The Tucker Carlson Show on Friday that Israel is well within its rights to seize all the land between the Euphrates and Nile Rivers, which would span five countries as well as the occupied Palestinian territories.
The remarks are a reference to the "Greater Israel" project that has been espoused by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several other senior Israeli officials.
The conservative political commentator pressed Huckabee repeatedly to identify the exact borders of the land that he has long insisted was given by God to the Jewish people.
Huckabee is a Baptist minister and an avowed Zionist.
"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.
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"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."
Huckabee paused and said, "It would be fine if they took it all."
"But I don't think that's what we're talking about here today," he added.
"Well, that's exactly what we're talking about today," Carlson responded. "I don't think it would be fine."
"They're not asking to take it over," Huckabee then said.
"They're not asking to go back and take all of that, but they're at least asking to take the land that they now occupy, that they now live in," he explained.
In an interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, commentator Tucker Carlson questioned him about the interpretation of Genesis 15 and asked whether the text implies that Israel has a divine right to territory extending “from the Euphrates to the Nile” pic.twitter.com/wwOYC8mkSw
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) February 20, 2026
"You're explaining what Christian Zionism is in your theological beliefs," Carlson replied. "And I think you just said it would be fine with you if the State of Israel took all of Israel, all of Syria, all of Lebanon..."
"That's really not exactly what I'm trying to say," Huckabee interrupted.
"It was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement."
"They're not trying to take over Jordan. They're not trying to take over Syria. They're not trying to take over Iraq or anywhere else, but they do want to protect their people now," he continued.
“Now if they end up getting attacked by all these places, and they win that war, and they take that land then, okay, that’s a whole other discussion."
The setup
Earlier this month, as Carlson interviewed a Palestinian Christian and a Jordanian Christian about the harmony with which they live among Muslim majorities - and the oppressive policies of Israeli military occupation - he peppered the episode with his own assessment of how Huckabee has not taken up the issue of Christian ill-treatment with the Israeli government.
In June, the ambassador told Bloomberg News that a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank is no longer a US policy goal, and that Israel’s “Muslim neighbours” could give up their land to create one.
“Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there’s no room for it,” Huckabee, a longtime advocate of Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, said.
"What ambassador Huckabee is doing is shameful, and he's gonna have to answer for it," Carlson said during his interviews with Arab Christians.
Not long after that episode was posted on YouTube, Huckabee took to X.
"Hey @TuckerCarlson instead of talking ABOUT me, why don’t you come talk TO me? You seem to be generating a lot of heat about the Middle East. Why be afraid of the light?"
"Thanks for this," Carlson replied on X.
"I’d love to. We’ll reach out to your office today to set up an interview. Much appreciated."
Carlson, an ally of President Donald Trump with whom he often has disagreements on foreign policy, travelled to Israel on Wednesday for a sit-down with Huckabee.
He said Israeli security officials detained him and members of his team shortly after the interview.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Carlson said Israeli officials confiscated passports and took one of his colleagues into a separate room for questioning.
“Men who identified themselves as airport security took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about,” Carlson told the Daily Mail.
“It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country.”
As he taped his full 165-minute show, which was released on Friday, Carlson lambasted Huckabee for not even calling him to ask about his airport experience.
"If you're an American in Israel, you can be certain that your government will take the side of the Israeli government and not your side," Carlson said.
"And really is that so different from the experience of Americans in the United States? Can you be sure that your government will take your side over the Israeli government? No, of course not. They will always take the Israeli government's side over yours."
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