Tucker Carlson demands Jews take DNA tests to prove biblical heritage

Right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson demands Israeli Jews undergo DNA testing en masse to prove their genetic ties to the justify the existence of the State of Israel.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson called last week for Israeli Jews to undergo genetic testing in order to justify their historic claims to the Land of Israel and to prove they are the descendants of the biblical patriarch Abraham.

On Friday, Carlson published a two-hour interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, during which the two former Fox News hosts sparred over a number of issues related to the State of Israel, the war in Gaza, and the state of Christian communities across the Middle East.

During the conversation, which took place in Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport last Wednesday, Carlson pressed Huckabee to explain the basis of the Jewish right to a national homeland in the Levant.

The thumbnail of the video on Carlson’s YouTube account included the text “Who are God’s chosen people?”

Huckabee cited the biblical covenant between God and Abraham in the Book of Genesis, along with historic Jewish ties to the Land of Israel.

“Since that time [of Abraham], there have been people living in this land connected to that moment of history,” said Huckabee. “So there is a historical connection that is not even broken.”

In response, Carlson asked whether the biblical rights to Israel are based on “religious affiliation or from genetics,” before he appeared to question the origins of the Jewish people, demanding Jews undergo genetic testing to verify their ties to Abraham.

“Why don’t we do genetic testing on everybody in the land and find out who Abraham’s descendants are? It’s really simple. We’ve cracked the human genome. We can do that. Why don’t we do that? Would you be against doing that?”

“It would prove who Abraham’s descendants are and who has a right to live here and who doesn’t according to the theology that you yourself just explained.”

Huckabee fired back that Jewishness is not an exclusively ethnically defined identity, asking Carlson whether he would ban converts to Judaism from immigrating to Israel.

“What about people who convert to Judaism? Would they have a right? They can make Aliyah,” said Huckabee.