Conservative Jewish group threatens to bolt Heritage Foundation over Tucker Carlson ties

Rabbi quits Heritage Foundation’s antisemitism task force as Zionist Organization of America warns it will sever ties over conservative thinktank’s support for Tucker Carlson.

By World Israel News Staff

A conservative American Jewish group said Monday it is planning to cut ties with the Heritage Foundation unless the right-wing think tank distances itself from podcaster Tucker Carlson.

In a pair of statements issued by the Zionist Organization of America, the Republican-leaning group condemned Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ recent comments on his organization’s relationship with Carlson and defense of Carlson from accusations of antisemitism.

The ZOA called Roberts’ comments a “disgraceful defense, whitewashing of and alliance with Tucker Carlson, following Carlson’s string of libels…and fawning interviews with notorious neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers, Israel defamers and Jew-haters whom he did not push back on.”

Last Thursday, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts released a video statement in support of Carlson and to reject criticism of the popular podcaster over his decision to host white supremacist online influencer Nick Fuentes last week.

During the interview, Carlson denounced Christian supporters of Israel as heretics suffering from a “mind virus,” while Fuentes lamented the “challenge” Christians face in the US from “organized Jewry.”

While Roberts condemned Fuentes, he failed to criticize Carlson and condemned what he called a “venomous” coalition of opposition to Carlson seeking to “sow division” on the right.

Carlson’s comments, and Roberts’ defense of the right-wing podcaster, drew criticism from Republican lawmakers and prominent figures within the conservative movement, including senior members of the Heritage Foundation.

This week, Rabbi Mark Goldfeder quit Heritage’s antisemitism task force, dubbed the Esther Project, in protest of Roberts’ remarks.

On Monday, the ZOA threatened to follow suit, demanding Roberts condemn Carlson, apologize for his remarks last Thursday and formally end Heritage’s relationship with Carlson.

“Tucker Carlson has just interviewed and mainstreamed Nick Fuentes and nodded along while Fuentes spouted his disgusting, Jew-hating, mindless, racist and misogynist views,” ZOA President Morton A. Klein said.

“Fuentes has called for the death of Jews; praises mass-murderer Hitler as ‘awesome’ and ‘f—ing cool’; is a ‘fan’ and ‘always admirer’ of mass-murderer Stalin; attacked Charlie Kirk for Kirk’s pro-Israel views; calls for expelling pro-Israel ‘types’ such as Lindsey Graham and Jews such as Randy Fine from the Republican Party; calls American Jewish conservatives such as Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and Josh Hammer ‘filth’ and ‘foreign operatives.”

Fuentes, Klein continued, “called for a ‘holy war’ against Jews; denies the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust ‘as not adding up’ and belittles it as Cookie Monster ‘cookies baking in the oven.’”