In Israel, Huckabee defends Iran deal ‘ovens’ remark

At times taking positions to the right of Israel’s government, the former governor of Arkansas at one stage described Russian Federation as the “Soviet Union” – when referring to its plans to supply Iran with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles – before correcting himself.

Huckabee arrived in Israel on Tuesday and held a campaign fundraiser in “ancient” Shilo – a spot in the West Bank where tradition holds the ancient Israelites kept the tabernacle with Moses’ tablets on its way to Jerusalem.

He told reporters “if you’re going to visit Israel you should visit all of Israel, and that would include Judea and Samaria”, the biblical names for the West Bank.

“There’s nothing in any of the comments that I’ve made that I feel to be inaccurate or inflammatory”, he said.

In a June statement, Israeli NGO B’Tselem said more than 200 illegal settlements have been constructed across the occupied West Bank since 1967 to house over 300,000 Israelis. Palestinians demand the area, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for a future state. The Falic family, which owns the Florida-based Duty Free Americas Inc. chain of airport shops, was the largest contributor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s last re-election bid as Likud party head and invests in a winery next to the settlement of Psagot.

“I think the notion of two governments operating on the same piece of real estate is unrealistic and unworkable”, he said.

President Obama’s agreement would reduce economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for greater restrictions on its nuclear capabilities. In venturing to Shilo, Huckabee could energize supporters in the Christian evangelical base who helped him emerge as the victor of the 2008 Iowa caucuses and view Jewish settlement of the West Bank as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Israel and American Jewish groups have distanced themselves from Huckabee’s analogy, calling it “inappropriate”.