Washington - "Jerusalem" dot com - Said Arikat
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, stated in an interview conducted last week that the United States has never asked Israel to "refrain from applying sovereignty," referring to the possibility of Israel annexing parts of the occupied West Bank.
Huckabee said, according to a statement published on September 5 by a journalist on Israeli Channel 14: "The United States has never asked Israel not to apply sovereignty. I have repeatedly stated that the United States respects Israel as a sovereign state and will not dictate to it what it should do. This is also what Minister Rubio said recently this week."
Israeli officials said last week that Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated to them that the United States would not oppose Israel if it proceeded to annex the West Bank. He also publicly stated that annexation could be Israel's response to Western countries taking steps toward recognizing a Palestinian state.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently proposed annexing 82% of the West Bank, leaving six isolated Palestinian population centers as islands. He stated that his plan aims for "the maximum possible area of land, and the minimum possible number of Arab residents."
Huckabee also clarified that the Trump administration does not oppose the recent significant expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which Smotrich claimed would "erase" the idea of a Palestinian state. Huckabee asserted that the settlements are not illegal under international law, despite their clear prohibition under the 1949 Geneva Convention, which both the United States and Israel signed and ratified.
It is noteworthy that Huckabee is an extreme Christian Zionist, and his approach to Israel and Palestine is based on his belief that God granted historic Palestine to the modern state of Israel, a doctrine rejected by the Catholic Church and most other Christian denominations. When Huckabee was asked in a recent interview with the Jerusalem Post about the growing skepticism toward Israel among Americans, he hinted that Christian pastors who have not taught his viewpoint are to blame.
He said: "There are pastors in the evangelical world who have not explained to their congregations the biblical basis for supporting Israel."
שתף את דעתך
Hekabi says that the United States will not ask Israel not to annex the occupied West Bank.