Saudi Arabia led a group of Arab and Muslim states and multinational organizations in condemning U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, claiming that he approved of Israeli expansion throughout much of the Middle East, based on partial and misconstrued remarks from his interview with Tucker Carlson released on Saturday.

Among those who signed onto the condemnation were Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian Authority, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council.

They “express[ed] their strong condemnation and profound concern regarding the statements made by the United States Ambassador to Israel, in which he indicated that it would be acceptable for Israel to exercise control over territories belonging to Arab states, including the occupied West Bank.”

The statement also says that Huckabee’s remarks “directly contradict the vision put forward by U.S. President Donald J. Trump and the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict … grounded in promoting tolerance and peaceful coexistence.” 

Huckabee, however, repeatedly denied in the interview with Carlson that he was advocating Israeli expansion across the region, as Tucker repeatedly asked him about it and accused him of it.

The Tucker Carlson Network posted a clip of the video in which Carlson expostulated at length about Genesis 15:18, in which God tells Abraham, “to your descendants I will give this land, from the River of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.” The Biblical kingdoms of Israel and Judea never included all of the land promised in Genesis, even at its historically largest size. 

Carlson asks if Huckabee believes that Israel was promised to the Jewish people and they therefore have the right to take all of the land promised, which covers modern-day Jordan and parts of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

In the clip, which cuts Huckabee off mid-sentence, he says in a facetious tone of voice, “It would be fine if they took it all.”

The second half of the ambassador’s sentence, as heard in the interview, is: “but I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here today.”

Pressed further by Carlson about Israel, Huckabee added that “they don’t want to take it over; they’re not asking to take it over.” 

Carlson asked the question a third time, and Huckabee again said: “They’re not asking to go back to take all of that, but they are now asking to at least take the land that they now live in, they now occupy, they now own legitimately, and it is a safe haven for them.”

Carlson replied, “You’re saying it’s fine with you if they took all of Syria, all of Jordan and all of Lebanon,” and Huckabee interjected: “That’s really not exactly what I’m trying to say.” 

“It was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement if that’s what you feel like we’re talking about, but it isn’t,” the ambassador added. “We’re talking about this land that Israel, the State of Israel, now lives in and wants to have peace in. They’re not trying to take over Jordan … Syria, Iraq or anywhere else, but they do want to protect their people.” 

“I’m simply saying that the people who live in Israel, I think, have the right to have security, have safety. I think they have a right to live in this land that they have a connection to for 3,800 years,” Huckabee added.

Carlson then asked again if Huckabee thought it would be legitimate for Israel to conquer Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, and Huckabee responded, “I don’t think in this particular day and time they’re asking for it … I’m not sure that it would be … If they end up getting attacked by all of these places and they win that war and they take that land, then okay, that’s a whole other discussion. But you and I started out talking about something simple, Christian Zionism.” 

Regarding the West Bank, Huckabee twice referred to the roughly 60% of the territory controlled by Israel, where all Israeli settlements are located, as part of Israeli territory, saying, “Area C is Israel.” Israel has not annexed Area C and refers to it as disputed territory.