U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Thursday that a Palestinian state is not a priority for the Trump administration, and called on European leaders to “reassess” their Palestinian statehood push.
“I certainly haven’t heard the president say that this is one of the most important things we’ve got to look for,” the envoy told Al Arabiya English in reference to a two-state solution. While supporting peace in the region is important to U.S. President Donald Trump, a Palestinian state is not on his agenda, he added.
The 69-year-old former Republican governor of Arkansas, who took his post in Jerusalem in April, criticized European governments and the Palestinian Authority for undermining peace efforts.
“Every time we think we’re working toward them and getting there, we see actions by the Europeans or the Palestinian Authority that completely disrupt it,” he said.
Huckabee criticized Ramallah for “pushing for unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state and for its pay-to-slay policy of financially rewarding the families of terrorists who attack Israelis, calling it “counterproductive.”
He called for European leaders to “reassess their actions” regarding the recognition of Palestinian statehood. France, the United Kingdom and Malta, as well as non-European countries Canada and Australia announced recently they intend to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations meeting next month. London will recognize if Jerusalem meets certain demands.
Huckabee said that Gaza “was a 100 percent Palestinian state. People see how that turned out. That did not exactly endear folks looking at it to say, yeah, that ought to work out really, really well.”
“For the present moment, I would say, by [Palestinians] going around the Oslo agreement... it’s not going to be something that is going to be on the table,” said Huckabee. “But it’s not the U.S. decision to make. The U.S. is going to be supportive of our allies. We’re going to be supportive of peace.”
The envoy urged Western leaders to put more pressure on Hamas rather than Israel.
“Stop putting so much pressure on how Israel is defending itself against Hamas and start putting the pressure on radical military actions that were intended to kill Jewish people.”
Huckabee addressed the ongoing Israeli military action against Hamas in Gaza, saying that Jerusalem will decide, not Washington.
“The president’s made it very clear that this is a decision the Israelis have to make. It’s their future on the line. Hamas can’t stay, they have no role in the future of Gaza, and they need to let all of the hostages go,” he said.
“We’re not going to tell them how to not only defend themselves, but how to avenge the massacre of their people,” said Huckabee, referring to the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that started the war.
Huckabee said Hamas is to blame for civilian casualties in Gaza: “Of course there’s always concern about that and that’s all the more reason that Hamas needs to give up.” He also accused Hamas of insincerity in ceasefire talks: “They start demanding more things, and it blows up the deal.” He said that this frustration was shared with Egypt, Jordan and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
The terrorist group is “going to have to recognize their future is over in Gaza. They don’t have one there.”
He addressed concerns about the remaining hostages, of whom 50 are believed to be in Gaza, 20 of them still alive according to Israeli estimates.
“The unanimity is that everybody wants the hostages home, they want all of them, living and deceased,” he said. “How to get there? It’s not something that everybody is on the same page with.” He said that concerns by some hostage families about the expanded ground operation in Gaza were “legitimate.”
“One thing I think everyone can agree on, the hostage families and those who believe in a very aggressive military action, that the hostages can’t continue to survive under the treatment that we have witnessed by the videos that Hamas themselves have released,” he said.
Huckabee touched on the Israeli plans to build thousands of housing units in the so-called E1 area of Ma’ale Adumim, located between Jerusalem and the currently built-up part of Ma’ale Adumim, which was given final approval on Wednesday.
“One of the reasons we’re seeing the more aggressive decision to move into some of these areas is because it’s in reaction to what the Europeans have done in concert with the Palestinian Authority, pushing for a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” Huckabee asserted.
“So I don’t know what the Europeans thought they were going to accomplish [by recognizing Palestinian statehood], but by their actions, they’re accomplishing something that I don’t think they wanted to do and that is to essentially give a green light or encourage the Israelis to go ahead and take more pieces of Judea and Samaria, either by declaring sovereignty or annexation,” he said.
Huckabee said that the Trump administration still sees Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria as not in violation of international law.
