Recent Remarks by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee during a recent media appearance have sparked significant controversy, prompting Washington to engage in diplomatic damage control following strong backlash across the Arab world.

The controversy began during an interview with anti-Israel commentator Tucker Carlson, when Huckabee was questioned about the Jewish people’s biblical right to the Land of Israel. Carlson asked whether the Biblical promise “from the Nile to the Euphrates” – which covered parts of Jordan, Syria, and Iraq – implied a broader territorial right today. 

Huckabee responded that indeed “it would have been fine if they took it all.”

He later backtracked somewhat, saying that the remark was “somewhat of a hyperbolic statement,” adding that Israel is not seeking to take over other countries but rather aims “to live securely in a land to which it has a 3,800-year connection.”

The comments drew swift condemnation from more than a dozen Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates, which issued a joint statement calling the remarks “dangerous and inflammatory” and warning that such statements threaten regional stability and national sovereignty.

Amid the growing backlash, senior U.S. officials contacted Arab governments to clarify that Huckabee’s remarks reflected his personal views and did not represent a shift in policy under President Donald Trump. 

A State Department official stated that the ambassador “does not represent our views,” while the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said the comments had been “taken out of context,” as American diplomats worked to calm tensions.

Despite the hedging, the very fact that high-profile figures are publicly acknowledging – on an international platform – the historic ownership and biblical borders of the Jewish people to Eretz Yisrael is itself noteworthy.

As the Rebbe said at the farbrengen of Motzaei Shabbos Parshas Balak 5738 (1978): “Since the prophecy of Bilaam, the nations of the world have known that in the End of Days the Land of Israel will belong to the Jews. Now they see without any doubt that we are already in the End of Days…”

The Rebbe added that if the Jewish people, especially Israel’s political leadership, would speak openly and confidently about this truth, this would help the world itself recognize it. 

At a farbrengen on 10 Shevat 5735 (1975), the Rebbe explained that this argument is particularly persuasive to an American audience, given the country’s biblical foundations and long history of leaders who believed in the authority of the Tanach.

“It is clear that Mount Chermon (and Quneitra) belongs to the Jewish people,” the Rebbe said at the farbrengen of Behar-Bechukosai 5734 (1974), citing the possuk in Yehoshua describing ‘the Lebanon Valley under Mount Chermon.’ After an interruption caused by golus, it has returned to Jewish control, and it must be maintained – both for security and as part of the biblical Jewish heartland.”

The Rebbe did not advocate seeking to control or conquer additional territory for nationalist purposes. However, once Jews both returned en masse to the Land and areas came under Jewish control – largely as a result of wars fought to escape persecution and defend Jewish lives rather than to create a nationalist state – halacha forbids speaking of territorial concessions. Such discussion, the Rebbe warned, emboldens enemies and places Jewish lives in danger.

The Rebbe repeatedly stressed that the Jewish claim to the Land must be expressed without hesitation or qualification, grounded in the Torah’s eternal truth.

While the Jewish people do not, before Moshiach’s coming, engage in taking Eretz Yisroel by force just for the sake of settling the land, the truth of ownership because of Hashem’s promise in Torah is true and should be communicated.

In a 1969 letter to Geulah Cohen, the Rebbe wrote: “Some, including myself, do not use the term ‘The State of Israel.’ This is because the Land of Canaan was given as an inheritance to the People of Israel starting from the bris bein habesorim with Avraham Avinu… Changing this name weakens the People of Israel’s claim to ownership of the Land of Israel, including even the limited area that was liberated in 1948, since the new name indicates that it was founded just then.”

In another letter to a member of the B’nai B’rith Messenger editorial staff, the Rebbe wrote: “I believe that a publication that carries the banner of B’nai B’rith has the primary obligation to carry the message of the Divine covenant to its readers… that Eretz Yisrael is ours by Divine covenant, as indeed is recognized by all who believe in the sanctity of the Bible; and… that what has passed into our hands is only a restitution of what is rightfully ours by Divine will and grace, not by the ‘false grace’ of the United Nations.”

“We cannot afford to be generous and give away any part of our tiny land in response to the threat of force, since retaining every last inch of it is a matter of vital security for its three and a half million Jews, men, women, and children, as well as for our Jewish people as a whole.”

As the Rebbe emphasized: If the Jewish people and Israel’s political leadership would speak openly and confidently about this truth, the world would recognize it. 

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