Peloni: Carlson’s antisemitic alignment has been growing for some time now. It was troubling to see him given a position speaking at the Republican Convention, and is still being treated with significant deference and support from key Republicans, even among those going into the new Trump administration.
US media personality Tucker Carlson is currently providing the “leading platform” for Jew-hatred, according to Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, Amichai Chikli.
“Congratulations to Tucker Carlson for becoming the leading platform for fringe Holocaust deniers, conspiracy theorists, and blood libel enthusiasts who oppose the State of Israel,” Chikli posted on social media on Tuesday.
Chikli’s comment came one day after Carlson, a right-wing commentator and former Fox News host, hosted economist Jeffrey Sachs for a lengthy interview in which both men gave credence to the antisemitic idea that Israel “controls” US foreign policy, among other controversial comments.
During the interview, Sachs floated the notion that former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s recently toppled regime was largely harmless and that the US opposed the authoritarian ruler “on behalf of Israel.” Sachs argued that American foreign policy hawks and the Israeli government have embarked on a joint mission to “remake the Middle East.”
“And so what happened last week in Syria was the culmination of a long-term effort by Israel to reshape the Middle East in its image,” Sachs said, claiming that Assad’s fall was largely orchestrated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) because “Israel has run American foreign policy in the Middle East for 30 years.”
Sachs continued rattling off a series of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories regarding Israel. He suggested that Israel also encouraged America to start the Iraq War in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and asserted that the Jewish state has abandoned the concept of “land for peace,” which Sachs claimed would yield the establishment of a Palestinian state. He also said that Israel has masterminded a plan to push the US into a military confrontation with Iran
Sachs, an economist with an extensive track-record of anti-Israel rhetoric, criticized the former Obama administration’s antagonism toward the Syrian government, claiming that the country was not a “threat” to US interests. He stated that America only implemented anti-Assad policies to benefit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal to “control the Palestinian people” and prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
“Syria was a normal, functioning country at the time, despite whatever you read, whatever propaganda,” Sachs said.
Assad, who was closely allied with Iran and Russia, was widely considered to be one of the world’s most brutal and ruthless dictators. He has been accused of killing civilians in chemical attacks, forcing Syrians into notoriously brutal prisons on specious charges, and dropping indiscriminate bombs on the county’s population.
On Monday, the head of a US-based Syrian advocacy organization said that a mass grave outside of Damascus contained the bodies of at least 100,000 people killed by Assad’s former government.
Assad fled the capital of Damascus earlier this month as a coalition of rebel groups stormed the capital, ending his family’s five-decade rule.
During Monday’s interview on Carlson’s eponymous show on social media, Sachs claimed that Israel provokes wars against any neighboring government that supports the Palestinian people, suggesting that Jerusalem has attempted to thwart pro-Palestinian governments because they hinder the Jewish state’s alleged goal of territorial expansion.
Sachs stated that “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s crazy ambition” is to complete the establishment of “greater Israel,” which he described as at the bare minimum controlling or annexing the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan Heights and in a more extreme version seizing all the territory from the Nile to the Euphrates River.
“This greater Israel idea says ‘we can’t make peace with the Palestinians. So anyone that supports the Palestinians is by definition a mortal threat to us.’ And when you have a mortal threat, you must destroy it.”
Sachs has previously claimed that US lawmakers are influenced by a so-called “Israel lobby” and repeatedly blamed Israel and the United States for implementing “crushing sanctions” on the Assad regime and attempting to “seize” Syrian oil.
Beyond Israel, Sachs has rationalized Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, claiming that the prospect of NATO expansion into Ukraine threatened Russia’s safety. To resolve the conflict, Sachs has suggested that Ukraine surrender wide swaths of its territory to Russia in exchange for peace.
Since his 2023 ouster from Fox News, Carlson has adopted a pattern of platforming guests on his podcast deeply hostile to Israel who have also pushed antisemitic conspiracy theories. Carlson drew outrage in September when he hosted a so-called “historian” who downplayed the horrors of the Holocaust and pushed Nazi talking points about World War II.
Carlson also sparked backlash last year after he compared Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky, who is Jewish, to a “rat” and asserted that he “persecutes Christians.”
I have seen this antisemitic set of ideas coming out of both the left and the right about “the Israel lobby” and about Israelis being an ancient cult wanting to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. When I have seen this latter theory written about I suggest to the author[s] that they visit Israel to find out to what extent their ideas about Israel and Israelis are true.
Sachs has been outspoken about the war in Ukraine as being the fault of the US government under Biden.
But his statements about Israel and the “Israel lobby” are simply antisemitic and not a whole lot different from when Representative Ilhan Omar said, “It’s all about the Benjamins.”
I don’t see any evidence backing Sach’s claim. If Israel was so powerful, why did the October 7th massacre happen? If Israel was so powerful, how could Biden delay or prevent shipping arms to Israel that Israel paid for in the midst of an existential war for the survival of Israel? If Israel was so powerful how is it that the rockets and bombs of Hezbollah caused thousands of Israelis to have to leave their homes in the north?
What Sachs appears not to understand is that the US Intelligence community has been actively engaged in regime change operations to various degrees in countries such as Libya, and Syria, but also the countries of Ukraine, Georgia, Romania, and Slovakia. The latter three countries do not want to participate in the EU project of mass uncontrolled immigration and the war against Russia. They want to put their country’s needs first. The President of Slovakia wanted to get to the bottom of the efforts to force COVID vaccination on their people, and was shot a day after he made these statements. Fortunately he is still alive.
These regime change operations have not been engaged in because Israel wanted these countries’ leaders to be undermined. The US has been actively involved in funding al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria since Obama was President. Obama did not do this to please Netanyahu or to empower Israel, or to give Israel more territory.
The Sachs argument falls apart when looking at the facts.
What motivates Tucker Carlson in offering his platform for antisemitic propaganda is difficult to ascertain. Perhaps he isn’t able to distinguish propaganda from facts when it comes to Jews and Israel.
Why do I get the impression that there’s some kind of relationship between the thinking of Candace Owens and the thinking of Tucker Carlson?
The two seem to correlate well in both attitude and timing.