US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee argued that "the region stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates belongs to Israel." Why? Because according to the Torah, God promised those lands to the Jews!

This, in short, is the answer to the question, 'What is Zionism?' Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, has therefore declared himself a Zionist. 

But Zionism is more than a religious concept; it is a political one. That is why, for example, former US President Joe Biden said, 'You don't have to be Jewish to be a Zionist. I am a Zionist." Because Zionism, from Nathan Birnbaum to Theodor Herzl, and from there to the present day, has been politicised and updated, serving as a tool for "imperialist interests" in every era. Today, it means defending the "forward outpost" for the US. Biden's statement that "if Israel did not exist, the US would have to create an Israel to protect its own interests in the region" is the most refined explanation of the issue.

The meaning of the reference to Greater Israel

Is the US defending the idea that "the region stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates belongs to Israel" because it is based on the Torah, or is it using religion because it suits its goal of establishing a Middle Eastern order under Israeli hegemony? That is the question.

Undoubtedly, there are religious American leaders at least as much as there are Israeli leaders, but as is often the case, religion has been the "justification" for the political goal. Therefore, more important than US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee's Zionist remarks is US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's proposal of a "Crusader Western alliance" to Europe. Huckabee's reference to a "Greater Israel" also falls within Rubio's aim of "saving Western civilisation".

Crusader Western alliance

In response to observations that the order is collapsing, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio proposed "saving Western civilisation together" to Europe at the Munich Security Conference: "Many people have begun to believe that the era of Western dominance is over. (…) We will reclaim our place in the world and thus deter the 'civilisation-destroying forces' that threaten both America and Europe today. (…) My purpose in being here today is to make it clear that the United States is charting a course toward a new century of prosperity, and that we want to do this once again together with you, our valued allies and oldest friends." (state.gov. 14.2.2026)

So how will the US maintain "Western supremacy"? Rubio, who says "our story began with an explorer who brought Christianity to the American continent" and describes "the Christian faith as a sacred legacy to this day," proposes a "Crusader Western alliance" to Europe: "We are part of a single civilisation, Western civilisation. We are bound together by the deepest ties that nations can share: centuries of shared history, the Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, our ancestors, and the sacrifices they made together for the sake of our common civilisation."

Rubio repeatedly emphasises Christianity throughout his speech.

The end of the West's locomotive role

The reason why Huckabee or Rubio try to define their political goals with religious references is clear. The Trump administration is trying to build a model of cooperation by formulating the Western world as the "Christian + Jewish world" based on a "clash of civilisations" approach in order to secure the interests of imperialist America.

Is this possible? There are no civilisations called the West, Christianity, the East, Islam, or China; there are cultures. Civilisation is a continuously expanding trend; societies that leap forward by renewing their modes of production and relations become the locomotive of this long train, directing its course. This is the history of societies; they rise and fall... 

Solutions of the kind proposed by Huckabee and Rubio have never been solutions; at best, they have prolonged the pain. Birth is inevitable.