Speaking from an Israeli settlement, Mike Huckabee says ‘there is not a teenage boy in America who is safe’ from radical Islamists

On Monday former Republican Governor of Arkansas and potential GOP presidential nominee Mike Huckabee visited the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, stating that radical Islamists are coming after American boys. “If those could be your three teenage boys,” he said to Likud’s Danny Danon of Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Sha’er, and Eyal Yifrah—the three Israeli youths abducted on June 12, 2014 from a bus stop near where Huckabee was speaking—“I assure you there is not a teenage boy in America who is safe if these radicals continue their local purge of everything that does not bow to their radicalism.”

In Huckabee’s logic, Hamas is responsible for killing the three Israeli teens, despite no evidence that the group called for the kidnapping based on Israeli intelligence reports and the confession of one of the abductors. Still Huckabee maintained, “They were murdered savagely at the hands of Hamas.”

The former Governor went on to parrot Netanyahu who has made innumerable comparisons between Hamas and ISIS following the beheading of American journalist James Foley. Here’s Netanyahu on August 24, 2014 when he first employed the “bad tree” analogy:

“Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas. They act in the same way. They are branches of the same poisonous tree.”

And here’s Huckabee:

“It wasn’t enough for Hamas to the kill three Israeli teenagers, then from the Gaza Strip they launched thousands, over 4,000 rockets towards the civilian population one thing we hope Americans understand, the enemies of Israel are the enemies of the united states. Whether its the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, ISIS—all are branches from the same evil tree that believes that everyone should be murdered, killed, annihilated if they don’t bow to the wishes and to the beliefs of radical Islam.”

Huckabee was visiting the West Bank to issue an endorsement on the site of Israel’s largest land grab over the Green Line in 30 years (over 1,000 acres), ordered last week. The Israeli change in territorial status caught ire from the State Department; spokesperson Jen Psaki called it a “very troubling message” and was “contrary to Israel’s stated goal of a two-state solution,” as Israel is in the process of negotiating a long-term ceasefire and augmentation to the siege in Gaza. Israel National News posted a video of the exchange.

Yet when Huckabee asked Danon “why is it important to annex this land at this time?” the former foreign minister responded, “It belongs to us. You cannot annex something that belongs to you.” Huckabee then corrected himself, “the land belongs to Israel.” Since the 1970s Israeli law has applied antiquated Ottoman land codes to legalize the acquisition of lands to the state beyond its territorial boundaries. In this reading of the law, Israel can stake ownership of any agricultural territory where Ottoman code still applies, that has not been cultivated for five years or more, irrespective if the property has a valid deed from a Palestinian (or Jewish) owner.