U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday dismissed a report claiming President Donald Trump intends to announce American recognition of a Palestinian state during his upcoming trip to the Middle East.
“This report is nonsense,” Huckabee wrote on his X account. “Israel doesn’t have a better friend than the president of the United States.”
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Palestinian Authority Chair Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. President Donald Trump
(Photo: AP)
The report, published by independent news outlet The Media Line and later echoed in an Israeli media channels, cited an unnamed Gulf source who claimed Trump would declare support for a Palestinian state without Hamas presence, with the goal of shifting regional dynamics and expanding the Abraham Accords.
Huckabee mocked the report, writing, “My 4-year-old grandson Teddy is more reliable. And Take it from Teddy. This report is nonsense.” Israeli officials also denied the claim, telling Ynet there’s “no indication this is true.”
Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week, though no stop in Israel is planned. His top priority, according to officials who spoke with CNN, is to secure economic agreements with the Gulf states aimed at increasing their investments in the U.S.
Trump’s former senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with other aides, are also pursuing the broader goal of expanding the Abraham Accords, under which Israel normalized relations with the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. “It’s under discussion,” a senior White House official said.
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Officials involved in talks with Arab leaders said the Trump administration doesn’t expect a formal agreement with Riyadh during the visit but views the in-person meetings as an opportunity for progress.
“We fully expect other countries to sign agreements before Saudi Arabia,” one senior official involved in the talks said, noting the administration is in contact with “a wide range of states.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump recently acknowledged during a fundraiser at his Florida estate that the war in Gaza poses a major challenge, saying that “they’d been fighting for a thousand years.”
Some officials have expressed frustration with Israel’s plans to expand the war but Trump has continued to support the idea of reconstructing Gaza and has reportedly given Israel a green light to continue its military campaign until Hamas changes its position.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has expanded his advisory team in preparation for post-war Gaza plans. According to sources familiar with the matter, the team now includes former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and attorney Alan Dershowitz.
“We’ll see if they succeed but at least they’re trying,” Dershowitz said. “I feel it’s more challenging than they had hoped.”