Sukamta Responds to Huckabee's Claim That Israel Has Rights Over the Middle East
Deputy Chairman of House of Representatives Commission I Sukamta has scrutinised remarks by the United States Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who claimed Israel holds rights over a vast area of the Middle East based on historical and theological narratives.
Sukamta argued that Huckabee’s statement effectively wraps expansionist rhetoric in the guise of historical or religious legitimacy. In such a sensitive geopolitical climate, he warned, such remarks could trigger global tensions.
“Statements of this nature have the potential to create a dangerous normative precedent,” Sukamta said in a written statement on Tuesday, 24 February 2026.
He added that Huckabee’s remarks also carry a significant risk of weakening diplomacy and regional normalisation processes, emboldening extremist groups, and eroding the credibility of the international legal system.
Sukamta reminded that the modern world order is built upon the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, equality among nations, and the prohibition of territorial acquisition through force, as frequently affirmed by the United Nations.
For this reason, he said, it is important for Indonesia, as part of the Board of Peace, to maintain consistency with these principles — not only in the context of Middle Eastern conflicts but for the future of an equitable, rules-based global order.
As a nation that adheres to a free and active foreign policy, he stated that Indonesia must commit to and consistently resolve conflicts through the foundations of international law and respect for international integrity.
“The world must not return to patterns of unilateral claims that could potentially drag other regions into instability,” said the PKS faction politician.
In an episode of a podcast released last Friday, American journalist and Israel critic Tucker Carlson pressed Huckabee on the meaning of a Biblical verse. Huckabee implied that Israel holds Biblical rights over much of the Middle East.
The territory referred to by the former Baptist pastor and Israel supporter spans the land between the River Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates River in Syria and Iraq.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently issued a strong condemnation of Huckabee’s remarks. The Ministry’s statement was delivered jointly with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) secretariat, the League of Arab States (LAS), and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Sunday, 22 February 2026.
“[We] convey strong condemnation and deep concern over the statement by the United States Ambassador to Israel, which indicated that Israel’s actions to seize territories belonging to Arab nations, including the occupied West Bank, could be deemed acceptable,” the joint statement read.