Vance to host pro-Israel radio host Sid Rosenberg amid Tucker Carlson tensions

“The bottom line is, if you’re close to Tucker Carlson, the real Jews, they want no part of you,” said Rosenberg.

By World Israel News Staff

Vice President JD Vance is set to host conservative radio personality Sid Rosenberg at the White House on Thursday, weeks after the outspoken Jewish Trump ally publicly criticized him for not being “strong enough on Israel” and failing to confront Tucker Carlson.

The meeting comes as Vance faces continued scrutiny from some Jewish Republicans over his close friendship with Carlson, whose increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Israel and willingness to platform figures accused of antisemitism have sparked a fierce backlash among pro-Israel conservatives.

The tensions carry added significance as Vance has emerged as an early frontrunner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination and a potential successor to President Donald Trump.

Rosenberg, host of 77 WABC’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning” and a longtime Trump supporter, confirmed ahead of the meeting that he was preparing for a one-on-one with Vance in the West Wing.

The radio host initially urged skeptical attendees at the Republican Jewish Coalition summit earlier this month to “give Vance a chance,” even as the crowd booed when Rosenberg mentioned Vance’s friendship with Carlson.

But after hearing the vice president speak, Rosenberg came away disappointed.

“My honest assessment of Vice President Vance tonight? He was not strong enough on Israel,” Rosenberg wrote afterward.

Rosenberg took particular issue with Vance referring to Israel as “one of our best allies.”

“One of?” he responded.

“He had a chance to hammer Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly but instead spent all his time defending Joe Rogan over Nick Fuentes,” Rosenberg added.

Carlson, the former Fox News host, has emerged as one of the most prominent anti-Israel voices on the American right and has repeatedly drawn condemnation from Jewish and pro-Israel Republicans over his rhetoric and his decision to provide a platform to figures accused of antisemitism and Holocaust revisionism.

RJC national chairman Norm Coleman took direct aim at Carlson during the summit, condemning “platforming Holocaust deniers, smearing Jews who stand with Israel and dressing up old hatred as ‘just asking questions.’”

Vance, however, declined to directly criticize his longtime friend when given the opportunity at the summit. One attendee told Jewish Insider that Vance had been given the chance to separate himself from Carlson but “ducked the Tucker issue altogether.”

Just three days later, Vance was confronted directly about the relationship during a White House press briefing.

Asked what he would say to Republicans uneasy with his close friendship with Carlson, particularly amid accusations that the commentator was seeking to damage U.S.-Israel relations, Vance emphatically defended the relationship.

“Everybody knows that Tucker Carlson and I are friends,” Vance said.

Vance acknowledged that Carlson had “said some things that I disagree with,” but the examples he cited were Carlson’s criticism of Trump and his preference for Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed over Republican Mike Rogers.

“So yeah, Tucker is a friend of mine,” Vance said. “Tucker is a friend despite the fact that we disagree on a number of things.”

“And I’m not going to play the game where I throw friends under the bus because I have political disagreements with them,” he added.

Vance went on to argue that people should remain friends despite political disagreements, “even over a deeply held issue.”

The response left unanswered the specific concerns raised by Rosenberg and other pro-Israel conservatives about Carlson’s rhetoric toward Israel and Jews.

The dispute has taken on broader significance as Carlson has become a leading voice of the increasingly vocal faction of the American right challenging traditional Republican support for Israel, while Vance’s status as a potential 2028 standard-bearer has placed his own views under greater scrutiny.

Those concerns resurfaced this week when Vance declared that American Middle East policy cannot be “subservient to the State of Israel.”

Speaking virtually at the All-In Summit on Tuesday, Vance described Israel as an important American partner in military technology and intelligence but emphasized that Washington and Jerusalem do not always share the same interests.

He praised Trump for being willing to “part ways” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he believes American and Israeli interests diverge.

“We cannot let our Middle Eastern foreign policy be subservient to the State of Israel,” Vance said.

“We’re gonna work with people when we work with them. We’re gonna disagree when we disagree. And we’re gonna pursue America’s interests,” he added. “That’s the only way to have a rational foreign policy.”

Rosenberg, meanwhile, has been blunt about what Vance’s continued friendship with Carlson means to many Jewish conservatives.

Ahead of the RJC summit, he contrasted Vance with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying there was “no question” about Rubio’s support for the Jewish community while there were “a lot of questions about JD.”

“The bottom line is, if you’re close to Tucker Carlson, the real Jews, they want no part of you,” Rosenberg said.

Thursday’s White House meeting will give Vance and Rosenberg an opportunity to address those differences directly, with Rosenberg preparing to sit across from a vice president he has publicly challenged over Israel and a friendship Vance has made clear he has no intention of abandoning.

JD VanceSid RosenbergTucker Carlson