During a visit to the Mount of Olives for a cornerstone-laying ceremony in a Jewish east Jerusalem neighborhood, likely US presidential candidate Mike Huckabee asserted that Israelis should be able to live "anywhere in Israel they wished to live."
"It is inconceivable in many ways that we would have to even argue and debate whether or not Israelis could live in Israel, not just in parts of Israel but anywhere in Israel they wished to live, I cannot imagine as an American being told that I could not live in certain places in America because I was Christian, or because I was white, or because I spoke English. I would be outraged if someone told me that in my country, I would be prohibited and forbidden to live in a part of that country, for any reason."
American Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight and Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz also took part in the ceremony.
Voight said during the ceremony that he is "very proud to be here with all of you who stood for justice and the legacy of the Jewish people."
"When I see you, I think of all the great ones, for so many centuries, who had a dream to pass on the legacy to the next generation, And now you are here, this is your time, and you are doing what you should be doing, which is to prepare the next generations and to be the hope of the world that you are. I love you all."
Later Huckabee visited the site of the Shepherd Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah. The hotel was demolished to make room for another Jewish neighborhood. He told reporters the US should be more concerned about Arabs building bombs than Jews building bedrooms.