Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee once said at a campaign stop during his 2008 run for president that the Palestinian people did not exist. Huckabee, who is currently running for president and has been a vocal critical of President Obama's policies on Israel said speaking of the Palestinian people was really "a political tool to try and force land away from Israel."
"Basically, there really is no such thing as — I need to be careful about saying this, because people will really get upset — there's really no such thing as a Palestinian," Huckabee said at the 2008 campaign stop while speaking to two Orthodox men. "There's not."
Huckabee was responding to a question from one of the men about if a Palestinian state said should exist outside Israel. Huckabee affirmed he believe it should.
Huckabee made similar comments earlier this year when argued a two-state solution is "irrational and unworkable" and that "here's plenty of land in the world" outside Israel for a Palestinian state.
"You have Arabs and Persians," Huckabee continued at the 2008 appearance. "And there's such complexity in that. But there's really no such thing. That's been a political tool to try and force land away from Israel."
Huckabee added he thought a Palestinian state could be made out of land in Egypt, Syria, or Jordan.
"My point is, if that's the issue, if its real estate, if you look at a map, and say here is how much Israel has and here is how much the Arab states hold, there is plenty of land. Let them take it out of Egypt. Let's take it out of Syria. Let 'em take it out of Jordan."