“It Would Be Fine If Israel Took It All”

On February 19, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson interviewed U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Carlson asked him what he thought about the verses in Genesis 15 in which God promises Abraham all the land “between the Nile and the Euphrates.” Huckabee’s response: “It would be fine if Israel took it all.” He said it calmly and straightforwardly. It was all so matter-of-fact. By now, we are accustomed to ridiculous assertions from Ambassador Huckabee. But this one caused quite a stir.

• First, Huckabee is a fundamentalist Baptist minister, a White Christian Nationalist, and an avowed Christian Zionist. Now we know that he is also a shameless advocate of Jewish supremacy. He holds these erroneous opinions because he adheres to an unsophisticated literal interpretations of the Bible. No biblical scholar worth his or her salt believes it is legitimate to interpret ancient oral traditions literally. Nor is it acceptable to present 3000-yr-old religious texts as a template for thorny contemporary political issues. Swiss theologian Karl Barth once said, “I take the Bible too seriously to take it literally,” but Ambassador Huckabee blunders on. He is the wrong sort of Christian. Huckabee’s wild and erroneous interpretations are vintage Christian Zionism. He is not alone. Ask most evangelical Christians in the U.S. what they think about Huckabee’s words, and they will wholeheartedly agree with them. It’s crazy, but this is a widespread viewpoint. The wrong sort of Christians.

• The Book of Genesis is not a real estate manual. It is a collection of stories and spiritual insights preserved from centuries of oral tradition. It contains cosmological tales about the creation of the universe and humankind that reflect Hebraic spirituality as well as the influence of the cultures of the Mesopotamian world. They were written down and edited over many years and put into its final written form during the period of the Babylonian Exile (6th century BCE). Theologically, it’s important to remember that God’s “gift” of this huge expanse of land – from the Nile to the Euphrates – came to Abraham in the form of a religious covenant. In other words, God’s promises were never unconditional. They always came with “strings attached.” It carried with it responsibilities to do justice, to care for the poor and the oppressed, to tend to the needs of the orphan and the stranger. In fact, embedded in the promise was the understanding that the failure of humanity to hold up its end of the bargain would lead to the revocation of the promise. Since Israel has committed such egregious crimes against humanity – ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide – what grounds can they possibly have to claim the divine promise? Especially one that would dispossess and subjugate 200 million human beings. Surely, whatever promise there once was has long since been revoked by the God of love and justice. The message of Christianity is love, not domination.

• In any case, the questions surrounding lands and nations in the modern Middle East certainly should never be resolved by biblical passages and events 4,000 years ago. That’s an utterly absurd proposition! But, let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that these religious texts are nonetheless important and should be consulted. Do they really say what Ambassador Huckabee says they say? Do these texts actually grant the Jewish people “the right” to possess the entire Middle East? Of course not! The actual language of the divine promise in Genesis 15 itself destroys this false, supremacist claim. It says this land will be given to Abraham’s “descendants.” But all three Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – claim Abraham as father of their faith. Abraham’s “descendants” are not only the Jews, but also the Christians, and the Muslims. Stories about Abraham, and Sarah, are found in the Torah, in the New Testament, and in the Quran. So, there is absolutely no justification in Genesis 15 for the claim that the modern state of Israel is entitled to possess the lands and peoples from “the Nile to the Euphrates.” We’re talking about the states of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, parts of Iraq, Turkiye, Saudia Arabia, and Egypt, over 200 million people.

• The heretical, destabilizing idea that the modern state of Israel is somehow entitled to take over the entire Middle East is what’s known as “the Greater Israel” project. Zionism on steroids. Astonishingly, it is alive and well in Israel. The messianic fanatics in the Israeli government – Smotrich and Ben G’vir and the most extreme factions of the settlers – have always fantasized about this expansive vision of the Land of Israel. Lately, it’s gone beyond fantasy. It’s being planned and put into place. Smotrich has administrative control over the illegally occupied West Bank. With the blessing of the Knesset, he has recently instituted new laws that invalidate Palestinian land claims going back to the Ottoman Empire, making it easier for Israelis to steal Palestinian property and possess it. “De jure” (legal) annexation of the West Bank is now being added to “de facto” (facts on the ground) annexation of the West Bank. Israel has bases in southern Lebanon south of the Litani River. They have illegally possessed the Syrian Golan Heights. They have recently attacked Syria and occupied land in western Syria bordering Israel and vowed to keep it. Gaza has been illegally destroyed, and is now being illegally stolen from the Palestinian people. Israeli settlers are itching to establish new settlements on Palestinian land in northern Gaza. Regime change in Iran is a clearly stated policy goal of the Netanyahu administration. All of this points to Israeli expansionism. No wonder the Foreign Ministries of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkiye, Syria, Palestine, Kuwait, and Lebanon joined together in a statement condemning Ambassador Huckabee’s statement that “it would be fine if Israel took it all.” Huckabee tried to walk it back by saying it was “somewhat hyperbolic,” but Israel’s neighbors are right to take it deadly seriously. And so should we.