Mike Huckabee Archives - Page 2 of 3

Why Did Israel Detain Media Guru Tucker Carlson?

CrossFireArabia
February 19, 2026

Conservative US podcaster Tucker Carlson and his staff were briefly detained by Israeli security officials Wednesday shortly after he conducted an interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, the Daily Mail reported.

Carlson had traveled to Tel Aviv for a sit-down with Huckabee, who had challenged him to an in-person conversation following an online dispute over Israel’s treatment of Christians.

Shortly after the interview, Israeli airport security confiscated the group’s passports and took Carlson’s executive producer into a separate room for questioning, the Daily Mail reported.

“Men who identified themselves as airport security…demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about,” Carlson told the outlet. “It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country.”

A US Embassy spokesperson in Israel pushed back on the account, saying Carlson had not been detained and had instead gone through routine passport control, the same process applied to “countless visitors to Israel, including Ambassador Huckabee and other diplomats.”

The Daily Mail said it reached out to both the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office for comment but received no immediate response.

Opinion

Who is The ‘True’ Terrorist Here?!

CrossFireArabia
September 16, 2025

By Mohammad Abu Rumman

“This is not a geopolitical battle; it is a spiritual battle. A battle of the ages. It is not horizontal. It is not left or right, liberal or conservative. It is a vertical battle… a battle of heaven against hell, good against evil. People must see it in this context, or they will completely fail to understand it.”

With these words, Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, described the ongoing war of extermination in Gaza during an interview with NBC. He criticized the move by several European states to recognize Palestine at the United Nations this month, adding: “You do not stand with Israel merely because you agree with its government… but because it defends the traditions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

This rhetoric aligns seamlessly with statements made by members of Netanyahu’s government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for example, openly called for the “complete destruction of Gaza” and the forced displacement of its residents to other countries, invoking biblical injunctions about “erasing the memory of Israel’s enemies.” What is striking is that such discourse is no longer viewed as fringe or shocking in Western and global media and political circles. It has become commonplace—voiced by ministers, politicians, and even Netanyahu himself—steeped in extremism and religious absolutism toward “the other.” In this case, the “other” is the Palestinians as a whole, along with anyone who dares oppose the Israeli far right.

Here, the urgent question arises: how should terrorism and extremism be redefined today? Who is the true terrorist? And what form of terrorism most threatens regional security and societal peace?

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the United States declared its “war on terror,” rallying dozens of states against al-Qaeda and later ISIS. ISIS was undeniably a brutal extremist group that committed massacres, established a so-called caliphate, and tore down borders between Syria and Iraq. Yet it remained an isolated, besieged organization—globally reviled, stripped of legitimacy, and unsupported by institutions or states. What we witness today, by contrast, is state terrorism practiced openly, backed by major powers, and legitimized through religious rhetoric presented as divine will. The irony is palpable: Israel engages in territorial expansion, rejects recognized borders, launches cross-border military strikes, and has a prime minister who frames his mission in explicitly spiritual and historic terms—the realization of Greater Israel.

Skeptics may argue that labeling Israel a terrorist state changes nothing; it clashes with power dynamics and U.S. strategic interests. Perhaps. Yet it remains essential to reshape Arab, Islamic—and indeed universal—awareness of these realities, and to recalibrate the very language and definitions we use. These should form part of today’s Arab political, media, and diplomatic discourse. If an international coalition against terrorism is to exist, the actor most deserving of that designation is Israel’s government—not transient groups like ISIS or al-Qaeda. Huckabee’s words and the declarations of Netanyahu’s ministers are not aberrations; they are clear manifestations of this reality: state terrorism, sanctified by religion and legitimized internationally. If there is a rogue state whose leaders should stand before the International Criminal Court for genocide and mass killings, it is Israel.

This framing is of enormous significance for international, regional, and even domestic debates. Otherwise, Arab political and intellectual circles will continue to be dragged along by narratives that consistently place the blame on extremist movements emerging here or there—movements that are, in truth, the predictable outcomes of political dysfunction. Whether born of Israeli aggression or Arab authoritarianism, such groups are less causes than consequences. To blame them alone is to misread the sequence of cause and effect.

Today, amid the genocidal war on Gaza, a new political generation is coming of age. It witnesses, daily and directly, the starvation, slaughter, and devastation visited upon children, women, and civilians. It also sees the deafening global silence, alongside Arab paralysis and strategic impotence. What reactions can we reasonably expect from such a generation? This is not an attempt at justification, but rather an explanation of what is taking shape: a coming wave of anger among youth, or a wave that others may channel into particular political or religious agendas. That wave is already being born—out of the crucible of Gaza.

The writer is a columnist in The Jordan Times

News

US Envoy Lashes Out at Israeli Settlers For Church Vandalism

CrossFireArabia
July 20, 2025

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited the Palestinian town of Taybeh on Saturday, days after a historic church there was attacked and vandalized by illegal Israeli settlers.

During his visit, Huckabee toured the site of Al-Khadr Church in the town, northeast of Ramallah in the central West Bank.

“Desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God,” the diplomat said on his X account.

He also emphasized that “when American citizens – Jewish, Muslim or Christian – are terrorized or victims of crime, I will demand those responsible be held accountable with real consequences.”

According to local reports, illegal settlers stormed the area around the centuries-old church last week, set fires in its surroundings, and brought livestock into the church compound as reported in Anadolu.

The town, home to many American citizens, has faced a surge in settler violence in recent weeks.

Attacks by illegal settlers have also targeted nearby Bedouin communities, as part of a broader escalation across the West Bank.

Palestinian authorities documented at least 2,153 illegal settler attacks in the occupied territory in the first half of this year alone, resulting in the killing of four Palestinians.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Uncategorized

Changing The Middle East Face Through War

CrossFireArabia
June 17, 2025

Dr Marwan Asmar

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally got what he wanted: ‘A war with Iran.” But this war – now in its fifth day, is already proving very costly for Israel because of the Iranian military firepower meted out on Jewish cities, towns and military installations.

Such a war that begun Friday, 13 June, 2025, will be remembered as one of the greatest events in the calendar of the Middle East. The start of the reaping of the Muslim pride, for up until it was always US-backed Israeli ‘superman superiority’ – versus Islamic weakness and meekness.

Netanyahu may have made a devastating calculation by attempting to go after the Iranian vast nuclear infrastructure while in reality creating mayhem in Iranian cities, people and assassinating 10 of its top military leaders in the early hours of Friday morning.

This was all to change on the evening of that day as Iranian long-range missiles began to hurl down on central Israel and more precisely the Greater Tel Aviv area that includes other cities, towns and settlements with a population of 4 million people.

The start of the strikes on Israel stands today as unprecedented, a first-time development since the creation of the Zionist entity in 1948 and struck a series of bullet sounds among the Israeli population who has been huddling up-and-down the shelters since the conflict begun and best summarized by the US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee who said one night after the bombs that:

“It was a tough night in Israel,” referring to the fact that he had to go down to the bomb shelter five times because of the incoming Iranian missiles that would not let up.

Shock, mayhem, hysteria quickly consumed Israelis as they started seeing first-hand, the destroyed buildings and quashed cars in the middle of Tel Aviv and its surrounding areas like Bat Yam, Ramat Gan, Rehovot, Petah Tikva and Herzliya.

Very quickly as well, missiles, and indiscriminately so, began to fall in these places, long seen as the pride of joy of Israeli technology, military industrialization and top business. These were crumbling in front of their eyes as reported by the Israeli newspapers and media channels.

Shocking was the fact, the incoming missiles, which made Israeli defenses like the Iron Dome and the David Sling look pitiful, were striking buildings and high-scrappers including the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science with reporters of three its top flights struck and is now in fear of complete collapse.

Despite this, Netanyahu says he is sure of a complete victory, adding that Israel is on the verge of completely changing the face of the Middle East, including his claims of bombing Iranian military facilities, but in reality striking at civilian infrastructure and people.

However, for the first time Gazans and Palestinians are jubilating at the sight of what seems to be the non-stop Iranian missiles falling on Israeli areas where sirens go off and on in all middle of the night and day whilst in glee at the ruined and destroyed buildings. “Let them see how its like to be hit by a missile,” is a frequent comment voiced not only by Palestinians but also by many others in the world.

It is true the face of the Middle East is, and for the first time, is truly changing the face of the Middle East, but not according to the wishes of Netanyahu but to the people of the area of Gazans, Palestinians Arabs and Persians where they have watched the Israeli army bomb the enclave over the past 21 months or so.

This is indeed a historic moment led by Iran and soon to be joined by members of the Muslim world including Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia. The unexpected war in the Middle East, as brought on by Netanyahu and his extremist and racist government, is upsetting the plans of the Trump plan for the Middle East who is portraying himself as a so-called “man of peace” – a fake image in the light of the fact that the US has been the top military supplier for Israel to carry out its Gaza genocide.

The conflict with Iran – that is not likely to end any time soon because of the arsenal that waits in the ready and to be unleashed – has effectively put an end to the idea of transferring Palestinians from Gaza to other lands. They are likely to stay firmly on their places despite the mass destruction of the enclave.

However, there is a clear slippery-slope to this war that is still in the initial stages with outside powers ready to take sides developing into a real possibility of World War III, if cool hands don’t take the lead and let real and effectively diplomacy take the reign of power to stop what was seen in the 1960s, 1970s and even 1980s the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction.

The world today is on a precipice….

News

US Embassy Says it Cannot Evacuate Americans in Israel

CrossFireArabia
June 16, 2025

The US Embassy in Israel says it cannot evacuate or directly assist American citizens in leaving the occupation state. The announcement comes amid a regional war sparked by US-backed Israeli attacks on Iran.

“The U.S. Embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel,” it said in a statement.

Despite US-Israeli coordination in launching the surprising attack on Iran, the Trump administration failed to issue advance warnings to American settlers in Israel reports the Quds News Network.

Citing security concerns, the US Embassy in the occupation state will remain closed on Monday. All US government employees and their families have been told to shelter in place until further notice.

The Israeli government has ordered airlines not to allow Israeli citizens inside the country to board rescue flights. These flights are only for Israelis currently abroad, reported The Marker.

Officials claim the move aims to prevent overcrowding and reduce the risk of mass casualties. But in practice, the policy means settlers and civilians still in Israel cannot leave, even as tensions with Iran escalate.

Last month, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that 700,000 American citizens live in Israeli settlements across occupied Palestine. He was referring to settlers, who hold Israeli citizenship and serve in the Israeli military.

Critics argue that these settlers are being used as human shields. Entire communities, including women and children, are placed deep inside conflict zones. Their presence serves both as a military buffer and a justification for expansion.

In contrast to its silence in Israel, the US State Department issued a clear warning to citizens in Iran, urging them to leave immediately.

“U.S. citizens should not travel to Iran for any reason and should depart Iran immediately if you are there,” said the statement.