Unlike most Republicans and their voters, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and friends are defending antisemites in the wake of Oct. 7. Do they have Trump’s ear?
By Jonothan S.Tobin (November 16, 2023 / JNS)
On the main stage of American politics, the lines of debate about Israel and the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 have been clear. Almost all Republicans and most Democratic officeholders support the Jewish state in its necessary war of self-defense against Islamist terrorists who seek its destruction and the genocide of the Jewish people. Much of the Democrats’ left-wing base disagrees with progressives being the loudest voices raised against Israel. They also have supplied the ideological foundation and the activist passion behind the surge in antisemitism that has been on display on the streets of America’s cities and college campuses in the past six weeks.
The political left has become the primary engine of the spike in Jew-hatred, while most of the political right has become even more closely aligned with support for Israel during this crisis. It would be untrue, however, to claim that there are no exceptions to that rule. Though they don’t reflect the overwhelming majority of American conservatives, there is a small but highly influential group on the right that is not only unsympathetic to the Jewish state but providing intellectual cover to those openly engaged in antisemitic invective and demonization of Israel and its supporters.
Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson and Daily Wire personality Candace Owens are the two most prominent names on the right whose reactions to Oct. 7 have highlighted their opposition to the idea that America should be supporting Israel against Hamas and their Iranian sponsors.
Where right and left meet
That is manifested not only in a “both sides are wrong” attitude about the war against Hamas that puts them in the same camp as former President Barack Obama. They are also clearly implying that those who back Israel and believe that the fight against Islamist terror is one that America cannot shirk are guilty of dual loyalty and are manipulating American foreign policy against the nation’s best interests. Just as important, they believe that campus antisemites who support the mass murder of Jews are merely engaging in free speech and should be defended, rather than held accountable for their actions.
Carlson, Owens and their allies like Glenn Greenwald, Jason Whitlock and Douglas Macgregor don’t hold political office and lack the warm support that anti-Israel progressives can count on from the mainstream media and pop-culture outlets that make members of the congressional “Squad” so dangerous. And unlike left-wing Israel-haters who reflect the views of a considerable portion of the Democratic base, these right-wing opponents of Israel and the Jews are very much in the minority among Republicans on such issues.
But it would be foolish to dismiss them as insignificant. They have key media perches and huge followings on social media. More importantly, they appear to have the ear of former President Donald Trump, who considers Carlson a friend and has even recently been seen socializing with him in public. Like Trump’s willingness to publicly dine with vicious antisemite Kanye West last year, his close association with these figures is troubling.
Trump is currently leading the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination over his nearest competitor by a staggering 44.2% in the Real Clear Politics average of polls and is also leading in head-to-head matchups with President Joe Biden. So, although Democrats seem determined to jail him on one flimsy pretext or another, he must be considered to have at least an even chance of returning to the White House in 2025. That’s why the question of Carlson’s influence and that of other neo-isolationist populist right-wing pundits over him matters. Though the former president consistently ignored Carlson’s advice when it came to his historic support for Israel, as well as his tough attitude towards Iran when he was president, it’s not unreasonable to ask whether it might be different in a putative second Trump administration.
The intricate dance that Carlson and Owens are performing on Israel after Oct. 7 is a function of a political landscape in which—their “America first” protestations notwithstanding—they are largely isolated on the right on Middle East issues.
Though they are a minority among Democrats in Congress, progressives have turned on Israel. Polls already showed that most Democrats now favor the Palestinians over the Israelis, while Republicans and Independents stand behind the Jewish state. But rather than the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 resulting in a swing towards more support for Israel, the partisan divide on the issue remains in place.
An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll taken since Oct. 7 and published this week showed that while the overwhelming majority of Americans back Israel by a 61% to 30% margin, that outcome is driven primarily by the 79% of Republicans and 67% of Independents who support the Jewish state. Democrats are split 45% to 45% on the issue.
This shift in which the two parties have largely swapped identities with respect to their attitudes towards Israel over the course of the last 60 years is almost entirely due to the influence of toxic intersectional and critical race theory myths about Jews and Israel being white oppressors. That has created not just opposition to the war on Hamas but fueled the recent surge of antisemitism.
The return of the paleo-cons
That isn’t what motivates Carlson and company.
Carlson was an instant hit once he became a Fox star in 2016 as a leading conservative voice on issues like immigration and eventually opposition to draconian government COVID-19 policies. He became even bigger during the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020, when he was the leading media tribune of resistance against the intersectional left, earning him the affection of most conservatives.
Carlson is the spiritual heir of Patrick Buchanan and, like him, combines paleo-conservative isolationism with the sort of coolness towards Israel that is unusual on the political right, where the love for the Jewish state among the conservative base dominated by evangelical Christians has shifted the GOP on the issue. Republican officeholders and most conservative pundits rarely miss an opportunity to highlight their love for Israel, so it is all the more telling that it was the one topic that was almost never mentioned on the “Tucker Carlson Show” during its successful run on Fox News before he was booted off the air earlier this year. He has since resurfaced on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter. Though his current show lacks the impact of his old daily prime-time spot on the leading cable-news network, his weekly half-hour programs have audiences in the millions that would be the envy of any of his former colleagues.
Carlson has always harped on the failed neo-conservative effort to export democracy to the Middle East as an example of how establishment Republicans are part of a war lobby that favors foreign adventures while neglecting America’s domestic problems. On the Carlson show, the barbarous Bashar Assad regime in Syria was justified for its supposed defense of Syrian Christians. Worries about Iran or even criticism of former President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Tehran—as much of a Republican mantra as opposition to Obamacare—were never heard.
Nor, for that matter, was any direct criticism of Israel. Much like the Sherlock Holmes story in which the dog that doesn’t bark is the main clue, Israel was a term rarely, if ever, heard on Fox from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. during his run there. Even when he hosted figures from the left who are notorious for their hate for Israel, such as Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, a notorious antisemite, it never gets mentioned. The same is true for frequent guest journalist Glenn Greenwald, who is another supporter of the Palestinians. Greenwald discussed his disdain for Big Tech censorship when on Carlson’s show but not the Middle East.
While Carlson never bashed Trump for his support for Israel, he seized any chance to single out administration figures who were most closely associated with the Jewish state for attention. Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner was a particular object of Carlson’s vitriol. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, currently running third in the 20024 GOP race, is another Carlson punching bag.
On his new show, the post-Oct. 7 coverage is telling. While he was careful not to express support for Hamas or terrorism, his initial reaction to the atrocities largely centered on arguing against U.S. efforts to deter Iran from directly entering the conflict. He then gave a platform to GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to inveigh against American efforts to deter Iran while opposing Israel eliminating Hamas. Ramaswamy ignorantly asserted that it could re-establish “deterrence” of the terrorists by killing a few of their leaders while leaving it in control of Gaza. He also defended leftist antisemites at major universities whom he claimed were being persecuted by pro-Israel advocates.
On another Carlson show, Macgregor, a former Army officer who is also in the Trump orbit and who has floated mendacious anti-Israel talking points about “collective punishment” in the “open-air prison” in Gaza and about the need to save Israel from itself by stopping it from eliminating Hamas. He told Carlson that Israel supporters could be starting World War III and/or destroying the U.S. economy by pushing for a strong stance against Iran.
Disdaining emotion about mass slaughter
But it was on his most recent show that featured fellow right-wing talker Owens that he was most open about his disdain for supporters of Israel.
The two joined forces last year to defend Kanye West while that unstable rap star/fashion mogul was venting hatred for Jews prior to his dinner with Trump. Carlson devoted a full episode of his show to an interview with West, though he edited out his guest’s antisemitic smears. Owens weighed in on West’s behalf by saying that she knew better than the Jews what is or isn’t antisemitic.
Owens has been blasted by most conservatives for her equivocal response to Oct. 7 during the course of which she raised the issue of “genocide” of the Palestinians without mentioning Israel, though no one could be in any doubt about what she was alleging or her support for a ceasefire that would benefit Hamas. On Carlson’s show, they blasted the Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro for denouncing Owen’s anti-Israel positions though he should have pushed her out of that platform after her embrace of West and his antisemitism.
Carlson and Owens spoke about how they were both amazed about what they considered the overly “emotional” response of many Americans to the Hamas atrocities about which, they think, too many people care too much. Owens boasted of her more “even-handed” and “moderate” response to the largest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust that avoided such emotions. They think the anger among Jews about the mainstreaming of antisemitism on the left is wrong. Indeed, as far as they are concerned, those who want to see the only Jewish state on the planet destroyed and its people slaughtered are not only not antisemites, they’re being persecuted by the Jews and their allies.
Rather than own up to their anti-Israel stands, they claim that they are, “just asking questions” about the establishment’s pro-Israel orthodoxies and not actually aligning themselves with antisemitic leftists that they oppose on other issues. Yet they echo the left’s anti-Israel conspiracy theories by asserting that those who support Israel are putting the Jewish state’s interests over that of America. Indeed, they blame the Jews for the same left-wing ideologies that are targeting them on college campuses—a classic tactic of Jew-haters down through the ages.
They’re not alone in this regard. Greenwald is a former hard-core leftist who founded the anti-Israel publication The Intercept but was pushed out because of his opposition to left-wing Internet censorship and COVID policies. He found new friends on the right in recent years and became a regular on Carlson’s program. But he has reverted to form by defending campus Jew-hatred and hosting Waters on his podcast, in which the hateful aging rocker engaged in denial about the Oct. 7 atrocities while claiming that Hamas has the right to engage in “resistance” in order to destroy Israel and kill its people.
Jason Whitlock, a radio talker who is another Carlson show regular, also weighed in to defend Carlson’s “genocide” lies. He said the smart reaction to Oct. 7 is to “wait and see” about the details, accused Jews of having “multiple loyalties” and dismissed concerns about West’s antisemitism as him having merely “ruffled the feathers” of Jewish elites.
These right-wing Israel-haters and rationalizers of antisemitism may not have the cultural power and influence of leftist ideologues who have driven the post-Oct. 7 antisemitic surge. But it would be a mistake to dismiss or ignore them.
Jewish conservatives and others on the right may share common ground on some political issues with Carlson, Owens and their allies. In recent weeks, however, they have become more open about their opposition to the U.S.-Israel alliance, their cool indifference about the slaughter of Jews and antisemitism, as well as their desire to hamstring efforts to fight the Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran alliance that threatens the West and America as much as it does Israel.
As long as they are still treated as important voices on the right and seen to have influence with the GOP’s likely presidential candidate, their influence and ability to spread their own toxic attitudes towards Jews and Israel will grow. These loathsome figures need to be opposed and condemned with the same vigor that is directed at Jew-haters on the left.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him: @jonathans_tobin.
” CONSTANTIN KENTINOV:
Long Live the Revolution! There’s a train to Tomsk in an hour. You’ll have to stand in the tracks and flag it down.
(CONSTABLE KENTINOV turns happily, comes back to the table, seizes the chunk of bread he had been chewing on and chews on it again, humming merrily as he does. Behind him, Jugashvili, who has retrieved his greatcoat from the floor, where it has served as a blanket, is now buttoning it. He surveys CONSTANTIN KENTINOV from behind.
JUGASHVILI
(Picking up the bread knife)
Well, Kentinov, you were a good fellow as policemen go.
(He stabs the policeman in the back. CONSTABLE KENTINOV pitches onto the floor dead. JUGASHVILI pulls off the first of the dead man”s boots, pauses to look at the audience.)
JUGASHVILI
The moral of this episode is: When a barefoot fellow tells you he is revolting against tyranny, watch out, he’s only after your boots. (He pinches the second boot, stands) There you have the class struggle in a nutshell.
(With the boots in one hand, his carpetbag in the other, he heads for the door.
Blackout”
“The Passion of Joseph D.” by Paddy Chayefsky. (1964) Act one, Scene Two.
Her voting record https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/65092/amy-klobuchar?categoryId=22&type=V,S,R,E,F,P
Royce White, right-wing podcaster who has criticized ‘the Jewish elite,’ wins Minnesota GOP’s Senate endorsement
BY ANDREW LAPIN MAY 20, 2024 2:36 PM
“Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct 7, Royce has also opposed his own party’s “unwavering support for Israel,” calling Israel “the lynchpin of the New World Order.” ‘
He’s a BLM leader, pro-Farakhan, pro-Neturi Karta which means Iran and Hamas, received 67 percent of the vote on the first ballot.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/minnesota-republican-party-issues-surprising-endorsement-blm-protest-leader-seeking-oust-dem-senator
https://www.jta.org/2024/05/20/politics/royce-white-right-wing-podcaster-who-has-criticized-the-jewish-elite-wins-minnesota-gops-senate-endorsement
His dem opponent, Amy Klobuchar who has supported a demilitarized pal state, which is like saying everything is up in Washington, said on Oct. 7
“October 7, 2023
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) released the following statement on the attacks against Israel.
“The violence being perpetrated against Israeli citizens is horrific and gut wrenching. I unequivocally condemn these Hamas terrorist attacks. The United States stands with Israel.”
https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2023/10/klobuchar-statement-on-the-attacks-against-israel
Found no statement by him. I see no reason to assume that he will support any pro-Israel legislation President Trump puts forward simply out of party discipline. I think he is a Trojan horse even on that account and will vote with the squad. Do we want a Republican squad? This guy has to lose. He’s a rabid antisemite.
“On the other hand Klobuchar voted to table HR 6126 – Israeli Security Supplemental appropriations Act of 1924 idf I am reading this correctly but that’s just being a Dem apparatchik observing democratic centralism (a bolshevik principle in which the minority must actively support the decision of the majority) probably.
He comes across as a Jew and Israel hating psychopath. The anti-globalist rhetoric of this athlete with no political background but BLM doesn’t sway me. Even that is probably up for sale, remember the BLM leader who embezzled and bought lots of mansions in all white areas?
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/03/candace-owens-apologizes-to-muslims-for-post-9-11-treatment-claims-she-was-taught-all-muslims-were-terrorists
@Michael S.
Aber du sprichst eine wunderschöne Nazi-Sprache (Nazisch?)
Jonathan Tobein does an excellant explaining to yobs like myself why conservative podcsters like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens pose a threat to Israel and American Jews.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/why-the-candace-owens-ben-shapiro-feud-matters/
Sebastian Zorn I think Tucker’s description of Zelensky is right on the money. He is a rat-like monster. This is what one would expect to happen when a Russian-speaking vulgar comedian are given unchecked powers. Calling it an antisemitic trope is a self-serving political trick, like pulling a race card to shut down a conversation. Tucker dislikes a number of Jews – for example, all the lovely people like George Soros, Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, Steve Cohen – but he does describe them all in the same terms, because they do not necessarily apply. The article mentions Larry Fink of Black Rock, another reprehensible character, who owns pretty much everything and who is responsible for the mass adoption of the dreaded ESG. It is not surprising that he is Zelensky’s friend. (He is probably salivating at the prospect of Zelensky winning the war.) Yes, Jewish donors did not threaten to stop finding the elite universities when when they taught concepts such “white privilege”, “white guilt” and calls to “abolish whiteness”. Just like anti-semitism, these ideas can potentially turn genocidal. Jewish donors did not threaten to stop funding when the elite universities started to discriminate against whites and Asians. Jewish donors did not threaten to stop funding when the elite universities supported BLM, as our cities were being burned and looted. Unlike my fellow former Soviet Jews, who are mostly pro-Trump, pretty much all American Jews I know are either woke or hopelessly devoted to the Democratic party. And now, with the resurgence of antisemitism, the famous quote comes to mind, “First, they came for the Socialists…” In the end, MAGA conservatives will support Israel, just as Trump did, because they have no choice.
Sebastian Zorn I think Tucker’s description of Zelensky is right on the money. He is a rat-like monster. This is what one would expect to happen when a Russian-speaking vulgar comedian are given unchecked powers. Calling it an antisemitic trope is a self-serving political trick, like pulling a race card to shut down a conversation. Tucker dislikes a number of Jews – for example, all the lovely people like George Soros, Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, Steve Cohen – but he does describe them all in the same terms, because they do not necessarily apply. The article mentions Larry Fink of Black Rock, another reprehensible character, who owns pretty much everything and who is responsible for the mass adoption of the dreaded ESG. It is not surprising that he is Zelensky’s friend. (He is probably salivating at the prospect of Zelensky winning the war.) Yes, Jewish donors did not threaten to stop finding the elite universities when when they taught concepts such “white privilege”, “white guilt” and calls to “abolish whiteness”. Just like anti-semitism, these ideas can potentially turn genocidal. Jewish donors did not threaten to stop funding when the elite universities started to discriminate against whites and Asians. Jewish donors did not threaten to stop funding when the elite universities supported BLM, as our cities were being burned and looted. Unlike my fellow former Soviet Jews, who are mostly pro-Trump, pretty much all American Jews I know are either woke or hopelessly devoted to the Democratic party. And now, with the resurgence of antisemitism, the famous quote comes to mind, “First, they came for the Socialists…” In the end, MAGA conservatives will support Israel, because they have no choice.
He’s right to call out Owens and I might add fucker Carlson for their latent antisemitism which has become more openly expressed, whether or not Trump supporters are offended. If they turn against Jews and Israel because Shapiro has a spat with Owens, then they were never really our friends in the first place. I’m not going to walk on eggshells nor should I have to in order to not offend Fairweather friends. Solid supporters of Israel like the Evangelicals and traditional conservatives like Hannity et al are not going to turn against Israel over Candace Owens.
Thank you Peloni.
@Laura
You always express yourself with a pluck renowned of conviction and decision. You have been missed during your absence. It is good to see you posting here with us once again.
Hello, Laura, sweetheart.
The little jackass is trying to stir up a division between Trump supporters and Israel. Does that somehow make him Israel’s friend?
Michael, how the hell is Ben Shapiro Israel’s enemy? You’re nuts. The rabble rousers are Owens and her ilk who are also enemies of Israel.
Peloni,
You have a knack for taking up the side of Israel’s enemies — first Putin, and now Ben Shapiro and his rabble-rousers. What good do you expect to come, out of villifying MAGA, Israel’s strongest supporters in the world. I see no profit in it for you, other than raw, stinking self-conceit.
Der Hund spricht. Was kann ich antworten? Ich spreche kein Huntlisch!
Laura, you’re every bit the bitch your mouith declares you to be — and, by the way, a disgrace to Judaism.
Thanks, Hund.
@Michael
Candace Owens is an antisemite with a large following, and her ignorant, ill conceived, well manipulated claims which denigrate the Jewish people at a time in which Jews are being routinely targeted around the world, should be addressed quite firmly, quite publicly, and quite loudly. I am not a great fan of Ben Shapiro on many occasions, but in this moment he holds my full and complete support for calling a spade a spade. Your support of Candace based on her gender would likewise lead you to support arguably half the world’s antisemites just because they are women. This would seem a fickle manner for addressing a topic of such import while also demeaning Candace as being less responsible for her hate filled words simply because she is a woman. As an important spokeswoman of the Right, she bears full responsibility for her words and she should be chastised, humiliated and excoriated for the role of expounding on her stupid, hateful and hurtful world view as it relates to Jews. Playing the big brother to such a wretch does not place her in a better light, and if we were to cravenly do as you suggest rather than addressing her commentary openly and honestly, it would simply make us complicit in her outrages. Of course, you may find this to be an acceptable outcome, but I would hope that you would agree that it is not.
Laura, you’re absolutely right. You’re doing a great job and I’m (mostly) on your side.
We are pro Israel and pro USA. That’s what matters. And as far as the details, that’s debatable.
Michael S., what is your problem?
You are mostly being very aggressive.
You attack Laura, Peloni and Mr Belman and tell them what to think and how to behave.
I repeat, you are very aggressive: “but if Candace were my sister, and some potty-mouth [“big-mouth Jew-“] boy like Ben Shapiro publicly humiliated her like that, I would treat him like the piece of sh-t that he is.”
Oh, that’s not very nice, Michael…
Ben Shapiro should fear you because you must be a well-trained Marine elite soldier or even a blonde, blue-eyed Wehmachtssoldat. And not that fat, overweight, diabetic, embittered old armchair fart, that you actually are.
LOL.
However, very interesting, Michael S.!
So, tell me, would you shoot or rather gas him, this [big mouth Jew-boy] “piece of sh-t that he is”?
How would you actually treat him?
I’m just asking for a friend.
“Candace Owens is a woman, who should be treated like a woman” – maybe you start with treating Laura like a woman…?
You say to Laura: “I don’t know how Jews handle situations like this”.
Don’t worry, I’ll help you and tell you how we Jews do it:
Shut up, or better, get lost, you clown!
Your comments are almost all stupid and not helpful.
I think you’re just here because you want to lecture the Jews – but why don’t you educate yourself first?
I think you’re a German who has a problem with his parents’ Holocaust past. And that’s why you want to educate the Jews. Typical German behaviour. I know you Germans very well.
Go and see a psychiatrist, Herr Michael. Because you urgently need one.
But best if you just leave.
We “big-mouth Jews” don’t need your preachy, pretentious opinions, about Putin, Ukraine, Israel and whatever, Herr Michael.
We Untermenschen can manage very well without your German instructions.
Guten Tag und Heil H…, Herr Michael!
You would think that Fucker carlson’s attitude would be sympathetic given his own bitch of a wife had to hide in the pantry when a mob of leftists came to his house a few years ago. He and his bitch are lucky they were just a mob of unruly thugs and not hamas terrorists. I have no use for anyone who still defends fucker carlson. Carlson is a nazi, prove me wrong. FOX received much criticism for firing fucker, but they were aware that he was turning into an alex jones type crackpot that they wanted nothing to do with. He was a total embarrassment. If anything they should have fired him years ago, seeing where he was headed. But kudos to FOX for dumping that mutt.
Fucker Carlson is an evil degenerate lowlife and his wife is a pig. His kids are mutts.
Candace Owens should be treated like the bitch that she is.
She doesn’t get a free pass for her antisemitism because she’s a woman. If anything Shapiro is too easy on her. He should fire her.
@Don Miguel Quixote Did you defend Hillary Clinton on grounds of Chivalry and tell women to support her out of identity politics in 2020? 😀
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tucker-carlson-israel-college-donors-funded-white-genocide-1234880901/
https://www.bnaibrith.org/jewish-groups-condemn-tucker-carlsons-description-of-ukrainian-president-zelensky/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12252361/Fired-Tucker-Carlson-producer-Abby-Grossberg-gets-12-MILLION-payday-suing-Fox.html
All of the Republican candidates except Viveswami back Israel’s war effort unconditionally. Trump, De Santis and Haley have solid pro-Israel records of achievement. Haley wants to allow Gazan refugees into the U.S. which Trump and De Santis oppose. De Santis came out in favor of Jewish settlement in April. It’s kind of a moot point, though. Trump voters are locked in, unlike the others, and he is polling light years ahead of them both in New Hampshire and even more nationally. Trump will be the candidate if the primary determines it.
Laura,
Laura, you’re a woman, so I think you should understand this. Candace Owens is a woman, who should be treated like a woman. I don’t know how Jews handle situations like this; but if Candace were my sister, and some potty-mouth boy like Ben Shapiro publicly humiliated her like that, I would treat him like the piece of sh-t that he is.
A couple of things, people need to keep in mind. All these public figures are chasing the money. They are trying to stay just ahead of the winds that are blowing. A friend was once invited to a major news channel for a sit-down interview. Flown to the big apple in the days before internet and zoom. He was schooled in how to do a short sound bite. Most of the comments that get publish need a 10 minute to an hour of background. People have a 10 – 18 second attention span.
Politicians are doing the same thing. You either chase the wind or you set your sails to just stay even or ahead of it. We as citizens must do more critical thinking when we hear and read the news. No, shade …. we all have to work with the brain cells we are given, and everything gets filtered through our knowledge and experience.
@Israel770_N0aO6, I had the same thought about MacGregor. He just hasn’t put in the time yet to learn.
I have been trying to learn about what Israel faces, about Israeli history and about the history of the Middle East for about 17 years now, and it takes time to understand just how upside down international attitudes are. I finally figured out that there is one group of people who are currently illegal occupiers in the Land of Israel, and they are not the Jews nor the Christians, but the Palestinians. The Palestinians are the colonizers but they’ve sold their upside down BS that Israel is the colonizer and they are the victims to the world.
The international community still doesn’t recognize that the Palestinians have never agreed to any amount of land under any circumstances and do not want a Palestinian state side by side with Israel. They don’t because they want all of Israel and they want it with all the Jews and Christians dead.
So all this talk of two state solution is delusional. The Palestinians won’t go for it. Now the Israelis won’t go for it either.
No one is asking me, but if it were up to me, I’d deport every single Muslim living in Israel whose goal in life is to kill Jews who hasn’t yet killed a Jew and I’d imprison every Muslim who has killed one or more Jews for life.
I don’t want people who hate Jews living in my country and I don’t think Israel should be forced to live with them in theirs.
There HAS TO BE A CONSEQUENCE FOR JEW HATRED. There HAS TO BE A CONSEQUENCE FOR KILLING JEWS. There HAS TO BE A CONSEQUENCE for teaching children to kill Jews.
If there are no consequences for terrorism you will get more of it.
How many more October 7ths can Israel afford to risk?
Shove it, Arlekino. I have no question in my mind as to which side Ron DeSantis is on. He won’t cut off aid to Israel to placate the populist/isolationists. And he is not a narcissist who will put any petty personal beef regarding a phone call the Israeli PM made ahead of the importance of standing with our Israeli ally.
Why are you defending these MAGA’s who are anti-Israel? They are the ones picking a fight and they are on the wrong side. I’m sure most Trump supporters are on Israel’s side, but why do you feel the need to have to defend those who aren’t so as not to alienate Maga. MAGA’s should be denouncing them. I couldn’t give a shit whether I offend any part of MAGA with my support for Israel. If they are on the side of hamas or neutral they are not my friend, they are my enemy. The problem with Trump is that he draws in too many of these kooks and he won’t condemn them.
1
I am a big fan of Tucker Carlson and, unlike some of the others mentioned in the article, I do not think he is anti-Israel. He is pro-America. He is intelellectually honest and his position is understandable. He is not pro-Arab and knows exactly what Hamas is all about. Ha may not be especially sympathetic to Jews but then again the overwhelming majority of Jews are not on his side. ADL is case in point. I would be willing to bet that he would be much better for Israel if he was President than Barack Obama, who obviously hates Israel and Jews and did a lot of damage to Israel by enabling Iran. The reasons Carlson went after Haley and Kushner have nothing to do with Israel. Even though they are pro-Israel they are both despicable in their own right and deserve criticism. I certainly hope that Trump does not bring Kushner into his administration again if he wins. I suspect that he may cut or eliminate aid to Israel but at least treat it as an ally, not a vassal state. I did watch the recent Carlson’s interview with Owens and I think they raised some valid points. For example, Tucker said he fully supports Jewish donors cutting funding for Ivy League colleges that espouse anti-Israel views and refuse to condemn Hamas. At the same time, Jewish donors had no problem all these years funding these schools as they indoctrinated the younger generation in neo-Marxist toxic stuff like critical race theory, white privilege, systemic racism, oppressive patriarchy and 1619 project. We Jews need to look in the mirror and do some self-reflection about where we stand here in the US.
It is no surprise to me that those supporting the evil putin would also be anti-Israel. Russia is part of the axis of evil with China, Iran and NK. I would not be surprised if Russia had a hand in October 7 along with China. We already know Iran was involved. I’m amused by those who are shocked that people who have been defending Russia’s war on Ukraine are also anti-Israel. Ukraine supports Israel, Russia supports hamas. That’s all I need to know about who’s good and evil in that war.
I hope you are right, Peloni.
This is why I support Ron DeSantis.
It is interesting that in an article with the subtitle of “Do [anti-Israel Conservatives] have Trump’s ear?” which is largely in response to Candace Owen’s recent antisemitic rant, the latest one, it fails to do more than throw shade at Trump without examining the full truth of Trump’s relationship with Candace. Notably, while still a supporter of Trump, Candace indicated that Trump was uninformed because of his inability to get news from sources beyond the Leftist MSM. She said he was paranoid. She said he was yesterdays choice as she, a leader among the MAGA movement, signed up to support Desantis and his anti-MAGA assault on Trump. Also, while Trump distanced himself from Kanye after the Owens ally facilitated the dinner with Fuentes last year, Owens went on to launch her full support for Kanye, while describing his antisemitic rant as not being antisemitic. Of course, the article was not written as a discourse on Trump’s relationship with Owens, but the relationship here is an important one to make and is curiously is never once mentioned in Tobin’s article.
Regarding the influence of the anti-Israel Right, Tobin correctly describes it as being a small but loud voice, one which has concerned me for some time now, but nowhere is there any support for the conclusion that it has influenced Trump, and this is made quite clear as recent as three weeks ago when Trump headlined the Republican Jewish Coalition’s rally in support of Israel, in which Trump expressed his full support for Israel, not mentioning a single line in common with any of the anti-Israel Conservatives listed in this article.
In fact, I am largely in support of the concern which is raised by Tobin and the influence which might be wielded by the influential anti-Israel conservatives, but the subtitle, the photo, and the suggestion that
present an anti-Trump image which should not be left unanswered.
Trump is not just giving speeches excoriating Israel’s enemies, threatening them with annihilation, he is the only Rep who can honestly claim to have take enormous strides to make Israel safe, recognized Israeli lands as Israeli lands, provided a peace plan which was both equitable and responsible even if it was not going to ever be implemented (specifically because it was written such that it could never be implemented), and acted unilaterally to kill Israel’s enemies who fear Trump so much that they have an execution order to remove him from the table.
Indeed, the anti-Israel conservatives present a great concern for anyone who supports Israel, yet, I would suggest that Trump has proven himself as Israel’s true ally over the years, and still stands firmly with Israel, even as the anti-Israel conservatives are currently making their big push against supporting Israel in its current time of need. If these anti-Israel forces truly had Trump’s ear, it would be having some effect to draw him to their support in calling for “conversations” rather than him standing in support of Israel to eliminate their enemies.
Ironically, the only criticism which Trump has made of Israel is that he criticized Gallant and Bibi in the early hours following the Simchat Torah massacre, but his attacks were not in step with anti-Israel cabal, but rather, he was chastising these leaders for not having done more to protect Israelis.
It’s obvious, where this is heading. Some big-mouth Jews like Ben Shapiro are dragging Israel into a slugfest with MAGA. Everyone loves a good fight, right? OK, go at it. I expect the Deplorables will be stuck with the bill for damages, as usual.
I was disappointed in McGregor after hearing what seemed like his incisive analysis of Ukraine and Russia. It’s obvious, he is not knowledgeable about Israeli history, and he’s applying European warfare models to the Mideast.