Former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee visited Gush Etzion on Thursday, days after Israel’s announcement that it would declare 4,000 dunams of land in the region as state land.
During the visit, Huckabee met with MK Danny Danon (Likud), who explained why it was inappropriate to use the term “annex” when referring to Israel’s declaration that the area is state land.
Danon’s explanation was simple: “You cannot annex something that belongs to you”.
“When Palestinians build neighborhoods in Hevron, it’s legitimate. But it’s also legitimate that Jews will build neighborhoods in Gush Etzion,” he told Huckabee.
“I would invite Secretary Kerry to come here and see what we’re talking about: it’s vacant land in the heart of Israel. We want to build another Jewishneighborhood,” Danon said.
Huckabee pointed out that the land in Gush Etzion belongs to Israel and was just a few hundred yards from the place where teenagers Gilad Sha’ar, Eyal Yifrah and Naftali Frenkel were abducted and later murdered.
“It wasn’t enough for Hamas to kill three Israeli teenagers. Then from the Gaza Strip they launched over 4,000 rockets toward the civilian population,” he said.
“The enemies of Israel are the enemies of the United States, whether it’s the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas, ISIS - all are branches from the same evil tree,” declared Huckabee.
