Amb. Huckabee: 2-State Solution Dead as US Policy

The long-running U.S. government position on a two-state solution in Gaza and the West Bank is likely over, according to Mike Huckabee, who serves as President Donald Trump's U.S. Ambassador to Israel.

"Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there's no room for it," Huckabee told Bloomberg in a Jerusalem interview Tuesday.

Huckabee added he sees no culture changes coming "in our lifetime" and was asked if a Palestinian state remains U.S. policy.

"I don't think so," Huckabee said.

Instead, those seeking a Palestinian state will have to go elsewhere in the Middle East, perhaps a Muslim country, according to Huckabee.

Huckabee's interview came amid Israeli government controversy that might lead to the breakdown of Israeli Prime Minister's Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Huckabee posted on X a rejection of reports that he was working to maintain stability under Netanyahu's leadership in the Israeli Knesset.

"There has been no attempt to influence Haredi Knesset members regarding a decision to dissolve the government," Huckabee wrote Tuesday. "I have repeatedly said in private conversations that it is not the role of the United States, nor of its Ambassador, to try and choose the government of Israel.

"Rather, it is my job to work with the government that the people of Israel decide. Israel needs both scholars and soldiers but how they determine the balance is not something I could or would weigh in on.

"When asked what the reaction in the U.S. would be, I said that most Americans didn't understand the parliamentary government and would likely see a collapsed government as an unstable one given an ongoing war, daily threats from Houthi missiles, and a possible nuclear threat from Iran.

"However, I emphatically stated it was our responsibility to work with the government that Israelis chose. There was no attempt to instruct or advise other than mentioning that the conflict between scholars and soldiers might best be settled by someone they were all familiar with, King Solomon, who faced difficult choices and found a way to resolve them.

"Israel is a sovereign nation with its own procedures on selecting a government. We respect that. Reports that go beyond that are either misleading or untrue."

In the Bloomberg interview, Huckabee also noted military action on Iran if it rejects diplomacy on the U.S. desire to keep it from nuclear weapons-grade Uranium enrichment is not ruled out because "nothing's off the table."

"The president has made clear that there's a limit to his patience with Iran," Huckabee told Bloomberg. "He doesn't want there to be carnage. But he also has been even more clear that Iran's not going to have a nuclear weapon, they aren't going to enrich and they're going to have total dismantlement."