JD Vance has praised Tucker Carlson‘s interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. The conservative commentator sat down with Huckabee last week for a two-and-a-half-hour-long conversation. The interview sparked some backlash over the ambassador’s controversial comments.
Carlson asked him what area Israel would be justified in taking, to which Huckabee said, “essentially the entire Middle East.” Then, he added that “it would be fine if it took it all,” suggesting Israel has a right to a vast stretch of the region on Biblical grounds.
He then explained that Israel was not seeking to do so, instead “asking to at least take the land that they now occupy,” to protect its people. However, his earlier remarks have already sparked headlines, with Arab and Muslim countries condemning Huckabee.
VP JD Vance praised Tucker Carlson’s interview of Ambassador Mike Huckabee as a “really good conversation that’s going to be necessary for the right.”
The interview led to international and political backlash against Huckabee, whose comments jeopardized US relations with Arab… pic.twitter.com/Wr2e1K07uR
— AF Post (@AFpost) February 27, 2026
Amid the backlash, JD Vance told The Washington Post that he’s really glad about the interview. “I guess my takeaway is it’s a really good conversation that’s going to be necessary for the right, not just for the next couple years but for long into the future,” he said.
Vance admitted that he had not watched the full interview, but rather had “seen a couple of clips here and there.”
The two-and-a-half-hour-long interview was anything but calm, as Tucker Carlson and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee have very different views toward Israel despite being associated with the same Republican Party. While the ambassador is a strict Christian Zionist, the conservative commentator represents many younger Republicans who are growing impatient with U.S. support for Israel.
Huckabee, who has been hailed as the “true friend of Israel” by Zionist groups, suggested that Israel has the right to the land between the Nile River in Egypt and the Euphrates in Syria and Iraq.
Shortly after, he explained, “They’re not asking to go back to take all of that, but they are asking to at least take the land that they now occupy, they now live in, they now own legitimately, and it is a safe haven for them.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates has expressed “strong condemnation and profound concern” about the ambassador’s comments. An official statement on behalf of various Muslim governments read, “The ministries reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty whatsoever over the Occupied Palestinian Territory or any other occupied Arab lands.” It also said that Huckabee’s remarks directly contradict Donald Trump‘s plan to end the war in Gaza, including his Board of Peace.
BREAKING: US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee tells Tucker Carlson that Israel has the Biblical right to take over all of the Middle East.
“It would be fine if they took it all.” pic.twitter.com/BN4fXh03ga
— Tucker Carlson Network (@TCNetwork) February 20, 2026
During the interview, Tucker Carlson pressed the ambassador about Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza. Mike Huckabee even took a jab at the U.S. Army to defend the Israeli military, saying that the Israeli military is more careful about civilian casualties than the U.S. military.
He further added fuel to the fire, claiming that Gaza produced a “lower number of civilians killed” than any modern war, referring to those in Iraq and Afghanistan.
JD Vance, who is reportedly more acquainted with Carlson, said of the interview that “there is a real exchange of ideas.” He added that he has always liked the political right in the U.S., even if he finds some people in his camp “annoying.”
“And if you think of the Trump coalition in 2024 — and the way that I put it is, you had Joe Rogan, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and JD Vance and a coalition of people … but to do that, you have to be willing to tolerate debate and disagreement. And I just think that’s a good thing,” said Vance.
