If countries unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, this should “serve as encouragement to Israel to consider declaring sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria,” according to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
He made the comment last Thursday in a closed interview with ILTV, aired Sunday night, as four Western countries — Britain, Canada, Australia, and Portugal — all recognized a Palestinian state.
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U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee with ILTV Executive Editor Maayan Hoffman
(Courtesy ILTV)
“I think the general view of this administration, both in the first term and in this one, is that we have great respect that Israel is a sovereign country, and it is our partner, and we respect that Israel will make decisions that are best for Israel, and we will respect those,” the ambassador said. “I have no reason to doubt that that's not the case here.”
Watch the full interview:
Huckabee highlighted that during the first Trump term, the administration made clear that it is not illegal for Jews to live in Judea and Samaria.
“Brits can move into Judea and Samaria. Nobody says anything,” Huckabee told ILTV. “French people can move there. Why can't Jews move there and live there? It really is kind of absurd, if you look at it in that way, that anybody can live there except Jews. That makes no sense.”
At the same time, he said what has changed since the first term is the president’s belief in a two-state solution. Trump’s Deal of the Century, which would have given the Palestinians a state on large parts of Judea and Samaria, was rejected by the Palestinian leadership.
“They walked away from everything,” he said. “Everybody forgets that.”
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U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee with ILTV Executive Editor Maayan Hoffman
(Courtesy ILTV)
Huckabee added that the world already gave the Palestinians a state in 2005 when Israel disengaged from Gaza. Two years later, they elected Hamas, and 18 years after that came October 7, 2023 — “the worst nightmare since the Holocaust happened to Jewish people in Israel,” Huckabee said, noting that not only Jews were murdered and kidnapped that day.
“For those who try to deny it, they can't, because Hamas videotaped the act of doing these hideous things, because they were actually proud of it,” Huckabee stressed. “You can't stop and say, Well, they didn't really mean it. Not only did they mean it. They have continued to say they would do it again and again and again.”
As for Gaza’s future, Huckabee said it is too early to discuss, but he “would be surprised” if the Palestinian Authority were put in charge unless “they make some serious changes in the way they're governing now. I'm not sure the US could be supportive of that.”
He pointed to the PA’s “pay-for-slay” program, which rewards the families of terrorists with money, and school textbooks that promote antisemitism and extremism.
“Those are things that the United States has repeatedly said to the PA, you got to stop this. It violates our law. We have a law called the Taylor Force Act. We can't even work with or give money if they're going to continue these practices,” Huckabee explained. He added that “until all of the hostages come out and Hamas surrenders, there is no day after” in Gaza.
Regarding rumors of tension between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, Huckabee dismissed them as “false news.”
“The relationship between the United States and Israel is as strong as it ever has been, and the relationship between the president and the prime minister is as strong as it's ever been,” he told ILTV. “So let's take off the table that there's this rift or there's division.”
He acknowledged that disagreements sometimes arise, but not ones that could cause a rupture.
Instead, Huckabee stressed, the US and Israel are tied by a common enemy — anti-Western extremists, the same groups behind both 9/11 and October 7.
“We're not going to forget that for 46 years, Iran and its proxies, which are Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah, have said that Israel is the little Satan. We're going to annihilate them, and then we're coming after the great Satan, which is in their mind, the US. So Israel has always been the appetizer. The US is the entrée. And those of us who have lived through these past 46 years understand that when people keep telling you for 46 consecutive years they're going to kill you, you might want to take them seriously.”
He also voiced concern about the decline in young evangelical Christian support for Israel. He blamed both the billions of dollars in Middle East funding that has poured into universities, indoctrinating young Christians that Israel is not special, and “weak pastors” who have failed to explain from the pulpit the biblical basis of supporting the Jewish people.
“That troubles me greatly, and it's kind of incumbent upon the rest of us to help explain why this relationship is what it is, and why it has to remain solid and even grow and get in more depth,” Huckabee said.
Still, he emphasized that overall support for Israel in America remains strong.
“We've got to do a better job of explaining why the relationship is important, how America benefits from it, because there are people in America who foolishly believe, well, we're doing all this stuff for Israel. They're doing nothing for us, and that's not true,” the ambassador concluded. “We're getting as much as we are giving. It is a two-way partnership that America benefits from not just Israel.”
Huckabee highlights - special reel of interview excerpts:
SPECIAL INTERVIEW: ONE-ON-ONE WITH MIKE HUCKABEE
