From the Liveblog of
Friday, September 5, 2025
Huckabee: ‘The US has never asked Israel to not apply sovereignty’ to the West Bank
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Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, appears to say the US has not come out against an Israeli decision to apply sovereignty to the West Bank.
Discussions on applying sovereignty to parts of the territory, a step tantamount to annexation, have been on the government’s agenda this week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly convened top ministers to talk about applying sovereignty. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich unveiled a plan to annex 82% of the West Bank.
On Friday, Tamir Morag, a reporter for Channel 14, posted a quote from Huckabee saying that the US has not come out against applying sovereignty.
“The US has never asked Israel to not apply sovereignty,” Huckabee said, according to the post on X. “I have repeatedly stated that the US. respects Israel as a sovereign nation and will not tell Israel what to do. This is also what Secretary Rubio has said as recently as this week.”
Huckabee confirms the quote, reposting it and writing, “I appreciate Channel 14 in Israel clarifying their story. Responsible journalism.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee:
“The U.S. has never asked Israel to not apply sovereignty. I have repeatedly stated that the U.S. respects Israel as a sovereign nation and will not tell Israel what to do. This is also what Secretary Rubio has said as recently as this…
— תמיר מורג Tamir Morag (@Tamir114) September 5, 2025
Huckabee’s statement comes five years after Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and then-senior adviser, said that American officials “do not plan to give our consent for some time,” to Israeli annexation of West Bank territory, following the announcement of a normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Kushner said at the time, in August 2020, that “right now the focus has to be on getting this new peace agreement implemented.”
That statement came after he had similarly ruled out US approval of annexation ahead of an upcoming Israeli election.
That normalization agreement turned into the Abraham Accords, a normalization deal between Israel and four Arab countries. This week, a UAE envoy told The Times of Israel that if Israel moves forward with annexation, it would constitute a “red line” that would “end regional integration.”
Earlier this week, Huckabee reportedly warned Israeli officials that the Trump administration was very concerned that the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority was nearing collapse. Smotrich has ordered the withholding of funds that are usually transferred to the PA.
“If the Palestinian economy collapses, that is nobody’s victory,” Huckabee reportedly told Channel 12, adding that “desperate people do desperate things.”
Lazar Berman contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.