U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee sits for an interview with NPR on Wednesday.
Benny Doutsh for NPR
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Benny Doutsh for NPR
TEL AVIV, Israel — The brand new U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, advised NPR he’s “outraged” on the leaders of Britain, France and Canada for condemning Israel’s new army offensive in Gaza.
“ The prolonged suffering for everybody is on Hamas, and I’m outraged that the U.K., Canada, France, they’re blaming the wrong perpetrator,” Huckabee, the previous Republican governor of Arkansas, stated in an interview Wednesday at a U.S. Embassy workplace in Tel Aviv.
Israel launched an intensified offensive in Gaza on Sunday, ordering mass evacuations, stepping up airstrikes all through the territory and killing lots of of Palestinians, based on Gaza well being officers. Below intense worldwide stress, Israel has begun to permit a small quantity of assist into the enclave this week after imposing a complete blockade on the entry of meals, medication and different items for practically three months — however the brand new assist has not but been distributed to civilians in Gaza.
The leaders of United Kingdom, France and Canada say they strongly oppose the growth of the battle, issuing a joint assertion this week that known as Israel’s actions in Gaza “wholly disproportionate” and “egregious” and stated the fundamental quantity of meals Israel has allowed in “wholly inadequate.”
British International Secretary David Lammy stated the federal government is suspending commerce talks with Israel. The European Union is reviewing all political and financial agreements with the nation, its international coverage chief Kaja Kallas introduced, saying, “The situation in Gaza is catastrophic.”
Huckabee stated, “ I’m not in the position to tell the Israelis how to conduct their war. … My family members weren’t murdered and massacred, mutilated,” referring to the Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed round 1,200 individuals in Israel.
Citing the Allied bombings on the finish of World Battle II, Huckabee stated, “What a hypocrisy to say that those bombings that ultimately ended World War II and stopped the threat of the Nazis into all of Europe was somehow OK. But if the Israelis, you know, 70 years later, try to defend themselves from an existential threat, that we ought to be mad at them.”
He additional stated, “I just find that so disgustingly hypocritical on the part of some of these European nations that forget their own history and it wasn’t that long ago, and they ought to just go back and maybe take 10th grade civics and refresh themselves.”
Greater than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, based on well being authorities within the territory.
Huckabee additionally denied media stories that President Trump was rising pissed off with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for renewing the Gaza offensive in March, after a two-month ceasefire that Trump himself had known as for within the run-up to his inauguration this 12 months.
“I think he’s more frustrated with Hamas. I don’t see the frustration with the prime minister, and I’ve talked to the president, I’ve talked to the vice president, talked to the secretary of state,” Huckabee stated.
As European leaders urged Israel to permit extra assist into Gaza, Pope Leo XIV additionally lent his voice to the enchantment, calling the state of affairs there “worrying and painful.”
“I renew my fervent appeal to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the devastating price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick,” the newly appointed U.S.-born pontiff stated.
