Tucker Carlson: Israel's Defensive Reaction To Criticism Of Gaza War Is Turning Their Allies Into Enemies

 Tucker Carlson commented on how Israel's response to criticism of the war in Gaza is fueling anti-semitism.

JASON CALACANIS: Three parts to this, but short. Do you believe there is rising anti-Semitism in the West? And why do people say that you are contributing to it? Why has that become a thing?

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, I think there's rising anti-Semitism on the left and the right. There's definitely rising anti-Semitism, for sure-and I hate it.

JASON CALACANIS: You hate it, on the record, right?

TUCKER CARLSON: Of course, I hate it. Yeah. Because there's a lot of social media, a coordinated effort from large industry groups saying "Tucker Carlson is an anti-Semite."

JASON CALACANIS: Why is that the case?

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah, attacking my children over it. I'm aware. I actually called an Israeli official who I know-I know a bunch of them, including the Prime Minister-and said, "Why are you doing this to me? If you think I'm your enemy, man, you're really out to lunch."

They are totally out to lunch. I've never seen anybody mismanage anything the way the government of Israel is mismanaging the response to what's happening in Gaza and the West Bank. And it's not my country, but I'm noticing that this is really bad for everybody.

Two things. One: you have to be willing, if I stand up and say, "I'm an American, my family's been here for 300–400 years, and I love this country-but my government's done a lot of horrible things," no one says, "You hate America."

But if I say, "I love Israel, I'm a visitor to Israel, a frequent visitor to Israel-but this is not good," the response is, "Shut up." That's not helpful. You turn your allies into enemies by acting that way.

Conflating a nation-state with an ethnic group is not a long-term strategy. It's not wise, because you tie yourself to the temporal politics of the moment-like Bibi Netanyahu's political fortunes. I don't hate Bibi, but his individual political fortunes play a role in everything he does. That's true of all politicians. Do you really want to tie an entire group to that? I don't think that's smart.

You can say, "I really like Israel, I love Israel, I have family in Israel," whatever. But if you also say, "I don't think this is a good idea" or "I'm offended by it," conflating criticism of a government with hatred of a people is a huge mistake. You're going to hurt that ethnic group-and that's exactly what's happened.

It's so bad. And it freaks me out. I will say again: my views on Israel apply to the United States, to Senegal, to Malaysia. They apply to people, not to the Jewish people specifically.

And I don't even fight back against these smears because it's so low. I'm not playing that game.

My view is simple: I don't think it is ever allowable-ever moral-to punish the innocent. The U.S. government has punished the innocent a lot. During COVID, I yelled about it every night on Fox News. All governments do this because leaders get carried away with hubris. They treat people like numbers or enemies or non-human beings, and they kill them.

I'm opposed to that. You should be. We all should be. I'm opposed when it happens in Gaza. I'm opposed when it happens in Texas. I'm just opposed.

And yet we've reached this place where people are so overwrought and defensive. I once said, "I'm glad we beat Imperial Japan. But I'm kind of sad we incinerated all those people with the atom bomb." Ben Shapiro did a whole segment saying I was some kind of quisling. "You hate America." No-I love America. That's why I don't want anyone killing people who didn't do anything wrong.

That is the basis of justice. We punish the guilty. We can argue about to what degree-should it be like Norway, where prisoners get high-speed internet and massages, or like Malawi, where they rot in a cave? But we agree on this: we don't punish the innocent. That includes children-all children.

ALL-IN HOST: Tucker, why are we not allowed to say: we are absolutely saddened by the tragedy of October 7th, and also absolutely appalled at watching people starve and innocents killed in Gaza, unable to get aid? Why can't you say both things without being criticized?

TUCKER CARLSON: You should be able to. And I've decided that I'm old enough, and I know my heart. You can feel the hate coming off people.

I remember hearing Obama speak-before he was a senator, I liked him-but I could feel there was hate animating him beneath the calm "captain speaking" voice. My dogs could sense it too. And I feel confident in my views: I like people. I just do.

So I'm not going to play the game where I say, "Oh, actually, my wife is part Jewish." I'm not doing that. I'm going to stand on principle. Don't punish the innocent. I don't care who you are. No one gets a special dispensation to punish the innocent. And if you do, I'm going to call you on it.