Trump, Tucker, Netanyahu: How the president’s bid to end Carlson’s Israel feud failed

 Israeli-American conservative philosopher reveals details of President Trump’s effort to broker a rapprochement between Tucker Carlson and pro-Israel Republicans – and how the far right podcaster ended up worsening the feud.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Under pressure from the White House, controversial podcaster Tucker Carlson sought to address accusations of antisemitism and improve ties with the Jewish community and with pro-Israel Republicans, an Israeli-American philosopher revealed this week, hoping to interview Israel’s prime minister and to address an Israeli political conference.

Last Friday, the right-wing pundit and Trump ally published his two-hour interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

The interview, which was filmed last Wednesday in the VIP lounge of Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, was planned to help end the feud on the American conservative right that has threatened to upend the MAGA coalition which twice secured the election of President Donald Trump.

Last week, Fox News personality turned pro-Israel advocate Melissa Francis revealed to the Jerusalem Post that Wednesday’s interview was part of a larger effort by the White House to mend fraying ties between the America First wing of the Republican Party and pro-Israel conservatives, including Zionist evangelical Christians.

“President Trump is telling everyone, including Tucker, that let’s take this down,” Francis said.

After Francis floated to Carlson the idea of visiting Israel to help facilitate the rapprochement, Huckabee offered to be interviewed on Carlson’s show.

On paper, the plan seemed plausible.

Huckabee, a former Arkansas Governor and pro-Israel stalwart, commands near-universal respect among evangelical Christian Zionists, and is popular among conservative, pro-Israel Jews.

As Carlson noted at the opening of his interview last week, the two have known each other for over 30 years, beginning with Carlson’s work in the 1990s at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The two later worked for years as hosts at Fox News, deepening their ties.

In the end, however, the attempt to bury the hatchet only served to worsen the split, with Carlson alienating former friends and drawing sharp criticism from large segments of the American right, while Carlson’s supporters on the far right lambasted Huckabee and evangelical Zionism.

The plan began to unravel even before the interview aired.

Carlson remained in the airport for the duration of his brief stay in Israel, which he later attributed to a tight filming schedule.

Pro-Israel advocates panned Carlson’s failure to visit the country he has regularly criticized, often vociferously, since 2024, and mocked a photograph uploaded to Carlson’s X account that appeared to show him and his business partner, Neil Patel, visiting Israel, after it was revealed that the picture was taken at an outdoor airport logistics area.

When Carlson’s producer was allegedly questioned by Israeli airport security officials shortly before the entourage’s return flight, Britain’s The Daily Mail published a trumped-up version of the incident, falsely claiming Carlson and his team were “dragged” into a security room and had their passports “confiscated.”

Israel’s airport authority and the US Embassy in Israel quickly disputed the story, which was written by a former Carlson employee.

The interview itself did little to improve ties between Carlson and either the Jewish community or pro-Israel evangelical Christians, as Carlson pressed Huckabee over the scriptural basis for the biblical covenant between God and the Jewish people, at one point suggesting Jews be compelled en masse to be tested genetically to prove their ties to the patriarch Abraham.

Days later, political philosopher Yoram Hazony, whom Carlson has previously praised, revealed details regarding Carlson’s efforts to enlist his help in improving his image among Jews.

Hazony, who has until recently faced criticism for his rejection of conservative criticism of Carlson, was angered after Carlson divulged details from their private conversations and accused the 56-year-old media figure of misrepresenting what was said.

In a lengthy post to his X account published on Sunday, Hazony recalled in detail his telephone conversations and email correspondence with Carlson this month.

Carlson’s January 11 visit to the White House was part of an effort by President Trump to convince Carlson of the need to reconcile with Jews and Zionist Christians.

“Tucker explained that he was calling because he had come under pressure from President Trump at his famous meeting at the White House on January 11,” Hazony wrote.

“He told me the administration wants him to find a way to stop his high-profile fights with Jews and Zionist Christians. Tucker told me he wanted my advice on ‘practical steps’ he could take to change the impression that he is an antisemite.”

When Hazony told Carlson on February 1 that there was little he could do to help him improve his image, noting the widespread perception of Carlson as being strongly antisemitic, Carlson expressed disbelief.

“Tucker wanted me to explain to him why anyone would think he was an antisemite. I answered that question for more than an hour, giving him a series of examples of statements he and his guests had made on his show that seemed completely unhinged and motivated by a desire to slander Jews, Judaism, Israel, and Zionist Christians in order to do as much harm as possible,” Hazony said.

“He kept expressing amazement that anyone would think he was an antisemite, and I kept giving him more examples of why I thought any fair observer would reach that conclusion if they were familiar with the relevant conversations he had hosted on his program.”

Two days later, Carlson reached out to Hazony again, requesting that he be included as a speaker at the Israeli National Conservatism Conference slated for June in Jerusalem. Hazony declined, saying that Carlson’s participation would blow up the conference.

On February 9, Carlson again reached out to Hazony, this time asking him to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Carlson has characterized as the “main enemy” of Western civilization. Hazony responded that Netanyahu would never agree to such a meeting.

In his monologue opening for Friday’s show, Carlson referenced Hazony’s refusal to arrange the meeting and then accused Israel of trying to kill him and some of his family members.

AntisemitismDonald TrumpTucker Carlson