The US ambassador to Israel also told Fox News that the two allies are “linked inseparably.”
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee hit back at French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent declaration that he would soon recognize a Palestinian state, saying that he should create one in his own country if it is that important to him, the US Fox News Digital reported on Saturday.
Huckabee’s statement confirmed that the US would not be attending the upcoming “International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Palestinian Question and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution” that France will be co-chairing with Saudi Arabia in New York.
“It’s incredibly inappropriate in the midst of a war that Israel is dealing with to go out and present something that I think increasingly Israelis are steadfast against,” he told the global media outlet last week in an interview.
A poll published in February showed that fully 71% of Israelis oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, agreeing with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and most of the Opposition that it would be handing the Palestinians the ultimate prize for their terrorism.
“Oct. 7 changed a lot of things,” Huckabee explained, referring to the Hamas-led invasion of Israel in 2023, massacring 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 251 hostages, of whom 58 are still being held captive, only 20 of them alive.
“If France is really so determined to see a Palestinian state, I have a suggestion for them – carve out a piece of the French Riviera and create a Palestinian state,” he said.
“They are welcome to do that, but they are not welcome to impose that kind of pressure on a sovereign nation. And I find it revolting that they think they have the right to do such a thing,” the fervently pro-Israel Evangelical Christian added.
On Friday, Jerusalem accused Macron of undertaking a “crusade against the Jewish state” after he said recognition of such a state was “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.”
He also said that the international community should “ensure” that the two sides “effectively engage” in the two-state solution that the conference members have determined is the “only” way for peace to come to the Middle East.
“The US … simply will not be a part of such a ruse,” Huckabee said.
The ambassador reaffirmed America’s strong support for Israel, saying that no one should be concerned that there is “some rift” between them, because the relationship is “solid,” he said.
“It has to be,” he continued. “We don’t have a choice. It’s critically important that the United States maintains its partnership — and I use that word very deliberately — it’s not a friendship, it’s not an alliance, it’s a partnership, which means we are yoked together in our intelligence sharing, military — so many ways in which our nations are linked inseparably.”
Huckabee also referred to the threat Iran poses as “one of the if not the greatest, threats to world peace,” including to the US, reiterating that the Trump administration would never allow the Islamic Republic to have nuclear weapons due to the danger.
“The Iranians have said Israel is the ‘Little Satan,’ but America is the ‘Great Satan,’” he recalled.
“They’ve always treated Israel as the appetizer and the United States as the entrée,” he said. “It’s just important when people tell you over and over for 46 years they plan to kill you, you might want to start taking them seriously.”
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