Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned comments by the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, on Saturday, 21 February, in which he suggested it would be acceptable for Israel to take control of vast areas of the Middle East, including parts of Egyptian territory, based on biblical claims. In a recent interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, Huckabee was asked about a biblical verse often interpreted as granting the Jewish people land “from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates,” an area that would encompass large parts of modern-day Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and beyond. When Carlson pressed whether Israel had the right to that land, Huckabee replied: “It would be fine if they took it all.” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry described Huckabee’s statements as “a blatant violation of international law” and “a flagrant departure from the principles of the UN Charter.” In an official statement, the ministry reaffirmed Egypt’s long-standing position: “Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or any other Arab lands.” It expressed “astonishment” at the comments and rejected any attempts to justify territorial claims on religious or historical grounds that contradict established international…
