US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee cautioned that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by Western nations would violate the Oslo Accords, derail hostage talks, and push Israel toward applying sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee issued a stark warning Sunday, saying that the push by several Western nations to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations later this month could have “disastrous consequences.”
Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Huckabee stressed that unilateral recognition undermines the Oslo Accords, risks derailing negotiations, and may prompt Israel to extend sovereignty across Judea and Samaria.
“I wish they’d have thought about the implications,” Huckabee said. “When France announced it would recognize Palestine, Hamas walked away from the negotiations to let the hostages go.”
He added:
“Declaring a Palestinian state unilaterally is a violation of the Oslo Accords. Now Israel is talking about sovereignty over more parts of Judea and Samaria. Whatever the thought was—no matter how noble—it has proven to do the exact opposite of what European countries intended.”
“A Battle of the Ages”
In a separate interview with CNB News last week, Huckabee described the conflict between Israel and Hamas as a “spiritual conflict, a battle of the ages.”
“It’s heaven versus hell, good versus evil,” he said, invoking the barbarity of the October 7 massacre.
He emphasized that support for Israel transcends politics:
“You stand with Israel not for its government, but for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Law, the Light, the foundation of Western civilization.”
Calling Hamas’s atrocities “a level of evil rarely seen in history,” Huckabee said the international community must resist false equivalences that equate terrorism with legitimate statehood aspirations.
Diplomatic Crossroads
With France and other European nations preparing to press the UN on Palestinian recognition, Huckabee’s remarks highlight a deepening transatlantic rift—one that may push Israel toward decisive sovereignty moves while leaving hostage families fearing stalled negotiations.
