Republican presidential frontrunner Mike Huckabee visited the Knesset today, and renewed US commitment to Israel in light of developments in Egypt.

Republican presidential frontrunner Mike Huckabee visited the Knesset today, and warned that Islamic fundamentalism could threaten not only Israel, but also the entire world.

MK Nissim Zeev (Shas) hosted Huckabee at a festive luncheon in the Knesset dining hall. Zeev spoke about the 2007 UN declaration on "indigenous peoples'" rights to the land they were originally in, stating that the Jews are indigenous to Israel and the only people who called Israel their national home throughout history.

Prior to the luncheon, Huckabee took part in a special session of the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, centering on the challenges of anti-Semitism that face Israel and the Diaspora.

Regarding the situation in Egypt, Huckabee said, “a threat upon Israel is a threat upon all those in the world who love peace and freedom... Radical Islamic jihadism is an anti-freedom threat.“

"Good Israeli-U.S. relations are not just an option,” Huckabee told the MKs. “They are rather a necessity for both sides, and an obligation upon all of us in the American government.” He said he would continue to work to preserve the Nation of Israel’s historic right to live in the Land of Israel.

"I don’t see why bedrooms for their children built by Jews on a hilltop in Samaria pose a threat to world peace," Huckabee said. "It's the lack of construction that is irrational, not the opposite... Those who aim their rifles at Jewish babies are irrational; the danger is not the weapons, but the hatred behind the weapons."

Against Giving Land

"Why should Israel give any territory to people who don’t recognize its right to exist?" the American candidate asked.

Committee chairman MK Danny Danon (Likud) attacked U.S. President Barack Obama’s Middle East vision, outlined in his famous Cairo University speech in June ’09. “Obama’s vision has failed,” Danon said. “It led to the toppling of the Hariri regime in Lebanon, and the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria has led the Palestinians to believe that if they received a finger, they’ll be able to receive the whole hand. Bringing democracy to Arab countries has led to anarchy in Egypt. Obama must understand that in the Middle East, you have to speak the language of the Middle East.”

MK Yulia Shamalov-Berkovitz (Israel Our Home) praised Huckabee for having spoken "very Zionistically," adding that there are some Israelis who could learn from him.

MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) added that the developments in Egypt show that "the conflict in this region is not a matter of territory [as Israel has already given Egypt all the territory it won from Egypt in various wars - ed.], but simply Islam against Judaism... The issue now is not the 1967 borders, but the very formation of the state in 1948."

Voight: Torah Has All the Answers

Former Gov. Huckabee is being accompanied on this, his 15th visit to Israel, by known Zionist figures Dr. Joseph Frager, Dr. Paul Brody and Ms. Odeleya Jacobs, as well as by actor Jon Voight, who told the MKs, "The Jews have given the world the Torah, which includes every possible answer to your life’s needs... I witnessed the victims of barbaric Palestinian attacks, and it is outrageous that the world accepts this barbarism as a means of attaining political goals such as a state."