A single interview with an American diplomat has triggered a furious joint statement from 14 states, most of them allies of the US. Is there a precedent for an interview of a sitting ambassador of any state that has created such shock waves? The online reaction was often hysterical.

If we live in an attention economy, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — an evangelical Baptist pastor and the US ambassador to Israel — has just scored big time, as has his interviewer, the right-wing conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson.

The core point in the two-and-a-half-hour interview came when Huckabee, a Donald Trump appointee, espoused the Christian Zionist view that Israel was entitled to all the land from the Nile to the Euphrates, saying: “It would be fine if they took it all.” This is the classic religious extremist view that God made the Jews the chosen people and promised them, uniquely, the land.

Huckabee tried to excuse the view by claiming that the situation was not grave because, even though he believed that God did give the Jews, through Abraham, all that land in Genesis, chapter 15, Israel was not trying to take it. “They’re not trying to take over Jordan, they’re not trying to take over Syria, they’re not trying to take over Iraq or anywhere else,” he said.

This may not be very reassuring. Israel is currently occupying five hilltops in Lebanon and large swathes of Syria, even beyond the Golan Heights. Israel has never declared its final borders. And Huckabee’s comments come at a time when the Israeli government has just further narrowed the gap between de facto and de jure annexation of the West Bank.

Does this matter? Huckabee is the representative of the US and a friend of President Trump. He does not speak solely as a pastor but a diplomat from Israel’s most vital backer. There are many within Israel who endorse these views: that Israel should have all the territory between the two great rivers. He will embolden them.

Huckabee will also embolden the 80 million Christian evangelicals back in the US, many of whom share his messianic views. This includes, for example, Secretary of State for War Pete Hegseth. Many hold the view that it is necessary to expel all the Palestinians from the Holy Land in order to bring back Jesus Christ for the Rapture and end of days. Is this much different to the hard-line views of religious clerics in Iran?

This undermines international law, previous agreements and the efforts being made through the Trump plan for Gaza. How do you argue with a position that essentially says Gaza is for the Jews, so is the West Bank and, in fact, most neighboring countries too because God said so?

Appointing Huckabee was foolhardy in the first instance. He is not a diplomat or even close. He holds views that do not belong in the diplomatic arena, not least in a zone of protracted conflict. He has a history of gaffes. In 2015, when running for president, he referred to Russia as the Soviet Union.

Huckabee’s positions are far closer to that of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government than the Trump administration. Huckabee would feel scarily comfortable embedded in the Likud ranks of the Knesset. As Carlson highlighted, Huckabee was representing an Israeli view on the region, not an American one. It is some accusation that an ambassador subordinates the interests of his nation for another.

But Huckabee has a range of other problematic viewpoints. He calls the West Bank Judea and Samaria. He has stated “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.” He considers the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to be “rogue organizations.” Last year, Huckabee met the convicted traitor Jonathan Pollard at the US Embassy in Jerusalem. Pollard was found guilty of passing secrets to Israel about American defense plans regarding the Soviet Union. Israel passed them on to Moscow.

But Huckabee is also a compulsive warmonger. At a time when his boss, Trump, is pushing for a deal with Iran, Huckabee clearly wants war. In that, he is side by side with Netanyahu.

If you want any sense of the fallout, check out Huckabee’s dozens of post-interview damage limitation posts. He knows he has sparked fury.

Alarmingly, Trump and Secretary of State Rubio did not immediately distance themselves from Huckabee’s comments, let alone repudiate them. Will they do so and in a clear, robust fashion? Many other administrations would likely consider replacing Huckabee, given that his views are so completely incompatible with his role. The ambassador will be dealing with people who will know his view is that they should not be there and that their people do not even exist.

Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in London. X: @Doylech

© Eurasia Review