US envoy Huckabee says French announcement on Palestine dinged Israeli talks with PA

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris will recognize a Palestinian state in September set back talks that had been making progress between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on “some very touchy issues.”

Huckabee doesn’t specify what issues were being discussed during an interview on a Christian broadcaster, but appears to be referring to efforts to coax Israel into releasing over $2 billion in tax revenues that it has been withholding from the PA, which has severely hampered Ramallah’s ability to operate.

“We were not there yet. We were moving in the direction [of resolving these issues], and what [Macron] did [last] week blew it all off the table. We’re back to ground zero, and it’s a real setback,” Huckabee says.

The US envoy also claims that the French announcement was “one of the reasons” Hamas “became unreasonable” in the hostage talks.

Macron’s announcement came hours after the US and Israel decided to pull their negotiators from Doha amid frustration with Hamas’s latest response in the talks that was submitted earlier in the week.

“When Europe and other areas of the world decide they’re going to start telling Israel that it’s got to let Hamas stay in Gaza, or that it’s going to declare unilaterally a Palestinian state, the reaction in Israel is not to surrender,” Huckabee says. “We’ll just get stronger, tougher, and we’ll dig in.”

In a subsequent interview with Fox News, Huckabee says France would be of better assistance if it agreed to take in Palestinians from Gaza who want to leave the war-torn Strip.

Countries have largely refused to take in Gazans, since the start of the war, with some arguing that Israel has not committed to allowing those who leave the ability to return on a later date, while a majority of coalition members have expressed their support for building settlements in the Strip on top of the ruins of Palestinian towns.

In the Fox interview, Huckabee forcefully denies that there’s a rift between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.

He says claims of a rift between the two leaders are “about as realistic as saying that I was personally responsible for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby.”

The US envoy insists that ties between the two have never been stronger, particularly since the war with Iran.

“The disconnect is with the media [that] wants there to be an anti-Israel message that they keep getting across; but it’s a false message,” Huckabee says.

On Monday, Trump was asked if he was convinced by Netanyahu’s assurance that there is no starvation in Gaza. The US president responded, “not particularly,” adding that there is “real starvation” in the Strip and that “You can’t fake that.”

Huckabee acknowledges that there is suffering in Gaza but asserts that it’s not “as bad as some of the Europeans say.”