A recent controversial speech by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has ignited widespread anger across the Middle East, as the longtime pro-Israeli hawk called on Lebanese civilians to thank Israel for technological and agricultural innovations amid a brutal ongoing bombardment of southern Lebanon that has killed thousands.
Footage of Huckabee’s remarks delivered at the 12 May Atlas Awards ceremony in Tel Aviv began circulating widely online after being first published by Chris Menahan of independent news outlet Information Liberation. In the speech, Huckabee rattled off a list of developments he credits to Israeli innovation, ranging from universal serial bus (USB) drives to cherry tomatoes and seedless watermelons.
Huckabee went on to pose a provocative question to the Lebanese public, claiming that without the existence of Israel, Lebanon would not have modern cellular technology. “I wonder if they understand that every time they use a USB, every time they use car navigation, that every time they eat a cherry tomato or have a delicious bite of seedless watermelon, instead of saying, ‘I can’t talk to those people,’ they should step across the border, shake their hands and say, ‘Thank you’,” he said in the address.
Huckabee’s comments come at a catastrophic moment for southern Lebanon, where relentless Israeli air and ground bombardment has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and killed thousands of civilians since early March. Even residents who have braved unsafe conditions to return to their damaged homes in border regions have been deliberately targeted by Israeli forces, according to on-the-ground reports. Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health confirmed that Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 3,151 people and injured more than 9,571 since 2 March, with the death toll including 123 medical workers responding to the crisis, 210 children, and nearly 300 women.
The remarks are not an outlier for Huckabee, an outspoken Christian Zionist who has spent decades openly backing the most expansionist policies of the Israeli government. In a recent interview with conservative U.S. podcast host Tucker Carlson, Huckabee doubled down on his support for Israeli territorial expansion, claiming that the Book of Genesis in the Christian Old Testament grants the modern state of Israel divine right to all land stretching from the Nile River to the Euphrates, forming a so-called “Greater Israel”. When asked directly whether Israel was justified in claiming the entire region, Huckabee replied plainly: “It would be fine if they took it all.”
Beyond his advocacy for territorial expansion, Huckabee has also pushed aggressively for a direct U.S.-Israeli military confrontation with Iran. The escalating standoff between the U.S.-Israel bloc and Iran has reached a stalemate in recent months, with Tehran moving to block access to the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical energy chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass daily.
This report was originally produced by Middle East Eye, an independent outlet specializing in original, on-the-ground coverage of the Middle East, North Africa, and surrounding global affairs.