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House speaker defends U.S.-Israel alliance, denounces rising antisemitism

It is “objectively important” to have Israel on America’s side in the Middle East, says Mike Johnson.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson forcefully defended the U.S.-Israel alliance and condemned American antisemitism Wednesday in an interview on a conservative podcast.

In a wide-ranging interview on The Katie Miller Podcast, Miller asked Johnson at one point whether the “schism” in the Republican Party over who is and who is not antisemitic is “overblown.”

Johnson implicitly equated antisemitism with anti-Zionism in his answer, immediately saying that he wished that “everybody would acknowledge the importance” of the American relationship with Israel.

“There are a lot of scripturally based, biblical reasons” to do so, he noted, “but even if you don’t accept that, you have to look at this objectively and say it’s really important to have that ally and partner in that corner of the world.”

“It’s the only stable democracy in the Middle East,” the outspoken Israel supporter from Louisiana continued, in a region he described as “a tinderbox.”

“You can make all sorts of arguments of why this is a really important friendship and alliance,” he added.

As for antisemitism, he said it “ought to be universally rejected and called out, and I’m very insistent about that. We gotta love everybody, and certainly the Jewish people.”

While the vast majority of the Republicans in Congress support Israel, two have stood out in their opposition.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has a long record of voting against condemnations of antisemitism and the BDS movement, sanctioning terrorist organizations and Iran, and even symbolic resolutions such as one supporting Israel a few weeks after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion, in which the terrorists massacred nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including American citizens.

The next month, he was the only member of Congress to vote against reaffirming Israel’s right to exist, saying he disagreed with the resolution’s equation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

He also bases his consistent opposition to military aid to Israel on his disapproval of foreign aid in general.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has espoused several antisemitic conspiracy theories, criticized the American airstrike on Iran’s nuclear facilities “for the secular government of Israel,” charged Israel with genocidal actions in Gaza, and in July supported a vote to cut U.S. funding for Israel’s missile defense systems.

Two prominent conservative commentators who have previously identified as Republican Party supporters and have large followings on social media – Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson – have evolved over recent years into strong anti-Israel voices with clear antisemitic overtones.