Gaza Genocide22 February, 20263 min read
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee Backs Israel Seizing 'Entire Middle East'
Said Israel had a biblical right 'from the Nile to the Euphrates'. Fourteen Arab and Islamic countries and regional bodies condemned the remarks.
59 outlets told this the same way.
Outlets did split on Israel Marks Oct. 7 Anniversary With Strikes on Gaza, Netanyahu Faces Election After Nova Tribute →
Israel National News was read line by line by the Watchdog: 6.7. See the score →
Huckabee Nile-to-Euphrates comments
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Tucker Carlson that Israel has a biblical right to territory "from the Nile to the Euphrates."
“US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Tucker Carlson that ‘it would be fine if [Israel] took it all’ when asked about a biblical claim to territory the host described as ‘essentially the entire Middle East,’ suggesting Israel could control land ‘between the River Nile and the Euphrates.’”
He said "it would be fine if they took it all," a remark that quickly became the focus of international outrage and reporting.
Multiple outlets recorded the phrase and the geographic formulation.
BBC cited his line "it would be fine if [Israel] took it all" and described Carlson's framing as land "between the River Nile and the Euphrates."
News18 said Huckabee told Carlson a biblical promise "might justify Israeli control 'from the Nile to the Euphrates'."
ANI News also reported that Huckabee said it "would be fine if [Israel] took it all," language that provoked the diplomatic uproar described across the region.
Regional diplomatic condemnation
The remarks triggered an immediate, broad diplomatic condemnation from Arab and Islamic states and regional organisations. BBC and multiple outlets reported a joint condemnation from more than a dozen governments — including the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Indonesia, Pakistan and the State of Palestine — and from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, calling the comments "dangerous and inflammatory" and a violation of international law. World Israel News, ANI and Egyptian Streets likewise reported that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and others demanded clarification and called the statements a breach of sovereignty and the UN Charter.
Israeli territorial changes
Those remarks arrived against a backdrop of concrete Israeli territorial expansion and occupation across multiple frontiers. The Associated Press and theweek.in say Israel "captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan in 1967" and later returned Sinai and withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The Inquirer and Mathrubhumi report that, since the Hamas war, Israel "expanded its ground control in Gaza and now occupies more than half the territory."
“The piece recounts how Israel—without formally recognizing permanent borders—captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan in 1967 (later returning Sinai and withdrawing from Gaza) and has in recent years tightened control over the occupied West Bank through settlement expansion, legalizing outposts and administrative rule changes.”
Those outlets also say Israeli forces "seized or occupied buffer areas in Syria" and "took hilltop posts in Lebanon" after 2024 clashes. Multiple outlets document settlement expansion, legalisation of outposts and administrative changes that consolidate West Bank control.
Allegations over Israeli actions
Human‑rights and international bodies, plus regional governments, have framed Israeli policies and recent operations in severe terms. thenationalnews reports a UN human rights report saying Israeli “policies and actions from Nov 2024–Oct 2025 may amount to war crimes and reflect a concerted effort to consolidate annexation and domination over Palestinians.”
Anadolu Ajansı quotes Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei calling Huckabee’s remarks evidence of “American active complicity” in Israeli expansionist aggression and “colonial genocide.” Haaretz and other outlets record continued deadly actions on the ground — arrests, settler shootings, soldiers firing on Palestinian youths — underscoring the humanitarian and security consequences cited by rights monitors.
Reactions to Huckabee remarks
Media outlets and political actors diverge on blame, intent and diplomatic consequence, and Huckabee himself issued clarifications that some outlets call partial. BBC reported Huckabee later described the Nile-to-Euphrates line as "hyperbolic" and said Israel was not seeking that territory but only to "take the land that they now occupy." Mint and kurdistan24.net recorded Huckabee posting clarifications on X without retracting the disputed biblical phrasing.
“Huckabee later called the remark ‘hyperbolic,’ saying Israel was not seeking that territory but only to ‘take the land that they now occupy’ to protect its people.”
Israeli parliament speaker Amir Ohana publicly praised Huckabee's pro-Israel stance, showing political support inside Israel even as Arab capitals demanded clarification. Different outlets thus shape the story as a diplomatic crisis, a media controversy, or evidence of a wider policy shift in U.S.-Israel ties.
