Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be the US ambassador to Israel, previously argued there was “no such thing as a Palestinian.”
Huckabee, who has been a strong defender of Israel throughout his career, made the statement during his 2008 presidential campaign, asserting that Palestinian identity was “a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”
In a video obtained by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski during Huckabee’s 2015 run for president, Huckabee suggested that if a Palestinian state were to be created, it should be in neighboring countries like Egypt, Syria, or Jordan, rather than within Israel’s borders.
In response to a question from one of the men about the possibility of a Palestinian state existing outside of Israel, Huckabee said he believed this was the preferable option.
“You have Arabs and Persians,” Huckabee continued at the 2008 appearance. “And there’s such complexity in that. But there’s really no such thing. That’s been a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”
In the video, which was previously published by BuzzFeed, Huckabee added that he thought a Palestinian state could be made out of land in Egypt, Syria, or Jordan.
“My point is, if that’s the issue, if it’s real estate, if you look at a map, and say here is how much Israel has and here is how much the Arab states hold, there is plenty of land.”
CNN reached out to Huckabee and the Trump transition team for comment on whether Huckabee stands by his comments.
