{"id":5085,"date":"2026-02-24T18:50:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/israels-opposition-leader-voices-support-for-broad-middle-east-expansion\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T18:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:50:45","slug":"israels-opposition-leader-voices-support-for-broad-middle-east-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/israels-opposition-leader-voices-support-for-broad-middle-east-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s opposition leader voices support for \u2018broad\u2019 Middle East expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Yair Lapid says expansionist view for Israel taking over the Middle East is based on Zionist and biblical foundations.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>After controversial comments by the US ambassador to Israel suggesting it has the right to take over\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/21\/absurd-and-provocative-huckabee-faces-firestorm-for-israel-border-stance\">much of the Middle East<\/a>, the country\u2019s main opposition leader said he agrees with Israeli expansion as far as Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>Yair Lapid told a news conference on Monday that his territorial takeover views for Israel are based on Zionist and biblical foundations.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/opinions\/2026\/2\/22\/the-carlson-huckabee-interview-may-be-the-wake-up-call-americans-needed\">The Carlson-Huckabee interview may be the wake-up call Americans needed<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/20\/us-envoy-suggests-it-would-be-fine-if-israel-expands-across-middle-east\">US envoy suggests it would be \u2018fine\u2019 if Israel expands across Middle East<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/22\/us-envoy-huckabee-tries-to-deny-saying-he-would-support-israel-expansionism\">US envoy Huckabee tries to deny saying he would support Israel expansionism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/23\/what-is-christian-zionism-us-envoy-beliefs-about-israels-mena-expansion\">What is Christian Zionism, the pro-Israel ideology invoked by US ambassador<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cI support anything that will allow the Jews a large, broad, strong land and a safe haven for us \u2013 our children and our children\u2019s children. I support that,\u201d Kipa News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kipa.co.il\/%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA\/1220104-0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">quoted<\/a> Lapid as saying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZionism is based on the Bible. Our mandate over the land of Israel is biblical, [and] the biblical borders of the land of Israel are clear\u2026 Therefore, the borders are the borders of the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added, however, there are \u201cIsraeli security and policy considerations\u201d that could impede such efforts, though he did not elaborate.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/20\/us-envoy-suggests-it-would-be-fine-if-israel-expands-across-middle-east\">said in an interview<\/a> last week that he supports broad Israeli control of the region, drawing a flurry of regional condemnation and questions directed at the US Department of State to clarify the official US stance.<\/p>\n<p>Huckabee \u2013 a self-professed Christian Zionist and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/11\/13\/who-is-mike-huckabee-the-evangelical-pro-settlement-envoy-to-israel\">staunch supporter of Israel<\/a> \u2013 was asked by interviewer Tucker Carlson to clarify his stance on the Biblical promise of the land spanning between the Euphrates River in Iraq and the Nile River in Egypt to the descendants of Abraham, and if the modern Israeli state has the right to claim that lineage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be fine if they took it all,\u201d Huckabee responded. Such territory would encompass modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and parts of Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>Saudi Arabia\u2019s Foreign Ministry described Huckabee\u2019s comments as \u201cextremist rhetoric\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d, and called on the United States to provide clarification.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the US Embassy said on Sunday that Huckabee\u2019s comments were taken out of context and there is no change to US policies on Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Huckabee, whom US President Donald Trump\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/11\/12\/trump-picks-pro-settlement-mike-huckabee-as-us-ambassador-to-israel\">nominated<\/a>\u00a0as ambassador in 2024, has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/11\/13\/who-is-mike-huckabee-the-evangelical-pro-settlement-envoy-to-israel\">long opposed<\/a>\u00a0the idea of a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian people, and denied the existence of an illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yair Lapid says expansionist view for Israel taking over the Middle East is based on Zionist and biblical foundations. After controversial comments by the US ambassador to Israel suggesting it has the right to take over\u00a0much of the Middle East, the country\u2019s main opposition leader said he agrees with Israeli expansion as far as Iraq. &#8230; <a title=\"Israel\u2019s opposition leader voices support for \u2018broad\u2019 Middle East expansion\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/israels-opposition-leader-voices-support-for-broad-middle-east-expansion\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Israel\u2019s opposition leader voices support for \u2018broad\u2019 Middle East expansion\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}