US envoy suggests it would be ‘fine’ if Israel expands across Middle East

‘It would be fine if they took it all,’ Mike Huckabee says when asked about expanding Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates.Published On 20 Feb 2026Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, has suggested that he would not object if Israel were to take most of the Middle East, stressing what he described as the Jewish people’s right to the land.In an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that aired on Friday, Huckabee was pressed about the geographical borders of Israel, which he argues are rooted in the Bible.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3In Gaza, Trump’s Board of Peace met with deep scepticism, little hopelist 2 of 3Iran says US military build-up ‘unnecessary and unhelpful’, deal achievablelist 3 of 3Israeli attacks across Lebanon kill at least eight peopleend of listCarlson told Huckabee that the biblical verse had promised the land to the descendants of Abraham, including the area between the Euphrates River in Iraq and the Nile River in Egypt.Such a swath would encompass modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia.“It would be fine if they took it all,” said Huckabee, who was appointed by President Donald Trump last year.Carlson, who appeared taken aback by the statement, asked Huckabee if indeed he would approve of Israel expanding over the entire region.“They don’t want to take it over. They’re not asking to take it over,” the ambassador replied.The US envoy, an avowed Christian Zionist and staunch defender of Israel, later appeared to walk back his assertion, saying that it “was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement”.Still, he left the door open for Israeli expansionism based on his religious interpretation.“If they end up getting attacked by all these places, and they win that war, and they take that land, OK, that’s a whole other discussion,” Huckabee said.The Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio shares Huckabee’s views on Israel’s right to expand.