Huckabee: U.S. fights Iran for itself, not Israel

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in an interview published on Wednesday rejected the notion that the United States was fighting Iran to defend Israel, arguing it was for America’s own defense.

In the interview with Israeli outlet Ynet, Huckabee also dismissed the accusations that Israel was an “apartheid state” or guilty of genocide, but condemned what he called intimidation by radical Israelis who live in Judea and Samaria.

On Iran, Huckabee said: “America has never defended Israel. Not one time since 1948 has America ever put boots on the ground for Israel. “When we are partnering against Iran, we’re not defending Israel; we’re defending the United States. Israel is maybe the appetizer, but we’re the entree.”

Huckabee pushed back against the narrative according to which U.S. President Donald Trump was strong-armed or misled into the conflict by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I disagree with the idea that he was nudged in or led or pushed or deceived. That simply didn’t happen,” said Huckabee. “Nobody pushed President Trump into anything. Nobody misled him into anything,” he said, adding: “He did it from his own volition.”

Asked specifically about the decision to go to war against Iran on Feb. 28, Huckabee said: “He didn’t do that because Israel was over here begging, saying, ‘Please help us, we can’t handle it.’ Israel never begged anything. Israel never pushed President Trump into engaging.” Trump did it “because he sees Iran as a threat to America and to Americans,” Huckabee added.

On the U.S. partnership with Israel, Huckabee said: “We’re partners. We work incredibly close together, more than most people will ever, ever understand.” He added: “I’d like to believe that people in America largely, mostly recognize Israel is an incredibly valuable, important strategic partner, not just an ally, but a partner.”

The relationship between Netanyahu and Trump is “still strong and solid,” with both leaders speaking regularly, he said, and maintaining a personal relationship built over years.

Regarding the threat posed by Iran, he said that “from Iran they can hit London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Rome, Athens. Pretty much all of Europe. I was shocked that there was not a greater level of reaction from throughout Europe when that was evident once they hit Cyprus.” In early March, a drone hit the RAF Akrotiri base, British officials said. Several drones were intercepted near Cyprus, in incidents that were widely attributed to Iran.

Asked about Israel’s general election in October, Huckabee said that the U.S.-Israel relationship “is not built upon the next election, it’s built upon our mutual interest.”

U.S. policy, he continued, “is that a decision for the voters of Israel to make. It’s not the U.S. position to say this is how the government ought to look after October any more than it would be for Israel to say this is who we want you to vote for.”

Huckabee also spoke about an incident earlier this month in which he filmed an Israeli entering a local property in a Palestinian village.

“It was one of those things that I felt like people needed to understand,” he said. The Israeli, he said, “was not protecting or guarding his property. He was actually encroaching on someone else’s.”

Huckabee added: “It’s perfectly legitimate to protect your own property. That’s something every person has a right to do. But what they don’t have a right to do is to go to someone else’s property and to drive around on it and to potentially intimidate or frighten people as to why you’re there.”

He added however that he had never attributed such actions to all settlers. “In fact, I say they’re not settlers, they’re unsettlers,” he said of law-breaking Israelis in Judea and Samaria. Many of those involved, he added, do not live in the West Bank at all.

“Probably 99.9%” of Israelis in Judea and Samaria are “responsible people” who’ve “built beautiful communities,” he said, citing Ma’ale Adumim and Efrat. “They’re just wonderful places where people live and they just want to raise their families.”

International media are overly eager to label anything that happens in Judea and Samaria as “extreme settler violence,” but “It’s not accurate,” he said, and it “besmirches” most residents, he said.

Asked whether the United States would investigate cases of violence in Judea and Samaria said to involve U.S. citizens, Huckabee said: “We are guests in a foreign country. The U.S. government does not have the authority to investigate criminal activity or adjudicate criminal activity.”

On allegations that Israel was carrying out ethnic cleansing or genocide in Gaza, Huckabee said: “I know of no one in a position of genuine authority who is for the forced displacement of anyone in Gaza. But I also find it incredible that some people seem to be in favor of forcing people to stay in Gaza who would like to leave. Why would there be such a desire to imprison people and to hold them hostage in a place that they no longer wish to live?”

Huckabee said that all the interlocutors he’s spoken to, “from the prime minister to the president, [have] been crystal clear: no one’s going to be forced to leave. But neither should anyone be forced to remain who would like to leave and start a new life somewhere else.”

On the genocide allegation, he said: “How do you commit genocide when you’re sending 700 trucks of supplies and food in? Israel deserves credit for ensuring that happens. They don’t get the credit. They’re accused of genocide.”

Hamas, Huckabee said, has surrendered zero weapons so far despite agreeing to a ceasefire that called for its disarmament. “Not one gun, not one bullet, not one bomb, not one rocket” has been given over, he said. “They have no intention of voluntarily doing it. At least they haven’t given any demonstration of it.”

Huckabee also dismissed the apartheid allegation against Israel.

“Twenty percent of the population is Arab. Arabs serve in the Knesset. Arabs sometimes are the CEO of the largest bank in Israel. Arabs are on the Supreme Court. Arabs serve in the military. They vote, so it’s nonsense,” he said.

On reports that Israel had an anti-Christian problem, Huckabee said: “I live here. I’ve been coming here for 53 years. I’m a Christian. I’ve never been heckled. I’ve never been spat upon. You cannot blame a country of 10 million people for the actions of a very small minority of thugs who do terrible things.”

Huckabee also praised the United Arab Emirates for its religious tolerance, and welcomed increased trade between it and Israel. “A person can walk around Abu Dhabi, Dubai wearing a yarmulke and nobody’s going to attack them or even scream at them. I think they’re the gold standard.” With regard to whether Saudi Arabia was on course to normalize relations with Israel, he said only the kingdom could answer that.

Asked whether he supports the two-state solution that the Trump Administration reaffirmed as a desirable outcome in its 20-point plan last year, Huckabee said: “It’s a great question, but it’s not one that I have the solid answer to because I don’t get to make the policy that determines it. When the president makes a firm decision about that, I’ll let you know.”