US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke on Tuesday to Channel 12 News anchor Yonit Levi and commented on the possibility of another war with Iran, now that the 60-day ceasefire between the US and Iran has expired.
“I hope not. I think we all hope not. All of us who have been through two wars with Iran over the last year and a half would say ‘been there done that’, have t-shirts to prove it, don't need another one," he said, adding, “Let's hope that, somewhere along the way, the Iranian regime can wake up to the fact that they're not going to get a nuclear weapon and they can either determine they won't have it by result of diplomacy or the result of activity that they really don't benefit from."
Huckabee downplayed the fact that Iran continues to refuse to back down despite being dramatically weakened both economically and militarily, saying, “Deep down they know that their economy is not doing well. Their people are suffering. Now whether that changes their behavior, that's what we don't know. Let's hope it does. But if it doesn't, there could come at some point a time in which another combat operation could take place."
Levi asked the Ambassador about the mixed messages coming from Trump, ranging from threatening that “a whole civilization will die tonight" to saying he would rather make a deal with Iran.
“I think it's because he wants to keep his opponents always off guard, always guessing, but when it comes down to it, he doesn't leave them wondering," Huckabee explained, giving as an example the joint work between the US and Israel when Iran believed that United States was not going to get involved in the war.
“Where I come from, down in the deep south of the US, we have a statement. We say ‘there is no education in the second kick of a mule’. I would say that the Iranian regime would be well to learn there's no education in the third kick of a mule. They might want to take that into consideration," he added.
Levi asked Huckabee about his comments last week, condemning the acts of a small group of Israelis in a recent incident near the Palestinian Arab village of Qusra as “terrorism", and sought to know whether the US expects an official condemnation of the incident from the Israeli government.
The Ambassador replied, “What we're looking for is responsible action. We feel that it's very important that people who carry out these acts of crime, and I'll use the word terror, because I've been rebuked by people who said ‘Well, that's not terrorism.’ But from the US definition of terror, when acts are conducted that cause people to change their behavior and put them in fear for their lives, when things are done to people for the express purpose - whether they're done to a nation whether they're done to a specific individual or to a family - but it causes them to be afraid to live their lives - that's terror."
Huckabee also once again made a clear distinction between the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria and the Israelis who carried out the acts in Qusra. “A very small minority. I don't call them settlers because I think many of them don't even live in Judea and Samaria. They live elsewhere and they come in and create trouble, but they're not settlers. They're ‘unsettlers’ - they're there to stir up trouble. And the damage that they are doing to Israel, the damage they are doing to the Jewish people - I have no idea why they think that they're accomplishing anything other than hurting the very people they claim to be fighting for or standing for. They're not."
On the issue of President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza and in the wake of the meeting this week between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner, Huckabee rejected reports of a tense meeting between the two.
“I think people need to understand that Israel signed on to the 20-point peace plan by the President. They've never backed away from that. You know, Israel has always maintained, and the US has respected that Israel has a right to defend itself and if they have an imminent threat. They're not expected to stand back and take it in the teeth. Nobody expects that of them," said the Ambassador.
He continued, “I read some press reports about a confrontation that Jared Kushner made to the Prime Minister or that the Prime Minister pushed back against Jared Kushner. I'm thinking ‘where do the people get this?’ I was in the room. I was a part of every conversation. That simply did not happen like that. There was an agreement and it was a good agreement that we all want to see this move forward but we also recognize that what the President has made clear is that Hamas must disarm, demilitarize, and they have no future in the governing of Gaza."
Huckabee reiterated that it has “been clearly understood that Israel is not expected to move their boundaries as long as Hamas has still got arms and RPGs and grenades. That's the whole point of the disarmament."
Turning to the election in Israel, Huckabee was asked whether Trump is stopping short of endorsing Netanyahu and replied, “Only the President could answer that and I can't answer that for him. I think he's sensitive. He doesn't want to engage. You know his engagement might be helpful. It might be hurtful. He would not probably engage if he thought it would be hurtful, he wouldn't engage if he thought it would tip the scale unfairly. But at the same time our President - I don't think I have to tell you this - he's a man that when he wants to say something he does."