At Republican Jewish event in Vegas, Cruz denounces Carlson after Heritage president defends him
“If you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool,” Cruz said, “and you say nothing, then you are a coward and you are complicit.”
By Jonathan D. Salant
JNS
Oct 31, 2025
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who used an appearance before the Heritage Foundation last month to attack Tucker Carlson over the former Fox News host’s anti-Israel rhetoric, blasted him again Thursday after the head of the conservative think tank refused to disavow the right-wing firebrand.
Cruz didn’t mention Carlson by name as he kicked off the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual legislative conference in Las Vegas with a call to action to stop the spread of anti-Israel talk among young Christians.
But he left no doubt to whom he was referring and bemoaned what he said was the impact of such rhetoric.
“We are seeing young Christians and young evangelicals turning against Israel,” Cruz said in a speech that drew several rounds of applause and ended with a standing ovation.
Cruz’s talk originally was planned for a private dinner with RJC supporters as the group celebrated its 40th anniversary, but was opened to the media at the senator’s request.
His comments came after Kevin Roberts, the Heritage president, came to Carlson’s defense in a video in which he said that Carlson “always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation.”
Carlson has interviewed professors on his program who claimed that Adolf Hitler was not the genocidal murderer who began World War II.
“If you sit there and nod while someone says there’s a very good argument America should have intervened on behalf of Nazi Germany in World War II, if you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool, and that their mission is to combat and defeat global Jewry and you say nothing, then you are a coward and you are complicit,” Cruz said at the Vegas conference.
Kevin Roberts, president in the Heritage Foundation, came to Tucker Carlson's defense in a video, saying “We will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who
serve someone else’s agenda. That includes Tucker Carlson. Their
attempt to cancel him will fail.” In the video, Roberts said that Heritage
will “always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who
serve someone else’s agenda.”
“The Heritage Foundation didn’t become the
intellectual backbone of the conservative movement by canceling our own
people or policing the consciences of Christians, and we won’t start
doing that now,” Roberts said. “We will always defend our friends
against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda. That
includes Tucker Carlson. Their attempt to cancel him will fail.”
Roberts acknowledged disagreements with
Nick Fuentes, the Holocaust denier and white supremacist whom Carlson
had on his show recently, “but canceling him is not the answer either,”
he said.
Cruz did not address Roberts’s comments,
but Matt Brooks, the RJC CEO, stated that he was “appalled, offended and
disgusted” in a statement to Jewish Insider and that the Jewish group would reconsider its relationship with Heritage.
The senator said he is concerned that
rhetoric from Carlson and other anti-Israel figures on the right is
diminishing support for Israel among young conservatives, just like some
far-left Democrats sided with Palestinians in the recent war with
Hamas.
“I am very proud to be a Christian
Zionist,” Cruz said. “There are some people, who are embraced at the
highest level of government, who said there is no one they hate more
than Christian Zionists. Well, I’ll tell you what. There’s no one I hate
more than communists and jihadists who want to murder us.”
Carlson made the remark about hating
Christian Zionists on his program with Fuentes and mentioned Cruz and
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, by name. Huckabee, a
Baptist minister, stated that he “wasn’t aware that Tucker despises me. I
do get that a lot from people not familiar with the Bible or history.
Somehow, I will survive the animosity.”
Cruz added that “Mike Huckabee is a pastor and a patriot who loves America, loves Israel and loves Jesus. I’m proud to be in his company.”
In the video, Roberts said that Heritage will “always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda.”
“The Heritage Foundation didn’t become the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement by canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians, and we won’t start doing that now,” Roberts said. “We will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda. That includes Tucker Carlson. Their attempt to cancel him will fail.”
Roberts acknowledged disagreements with Nick Fuentes, the Holocaust denier and white supremacist whom Carlson had on his show recently, “but canceling him is not the answer either,” he said.
Cruz did not address Roberts’s comments, but Matt Brooks, the RJC CEO, stated that he was “appalled, offended and disgusted” in a statement to Jewish Insider and that the Jewish group would reconsider its relationship with Heritage.
The senator said he is concerned that rhetoric from Carlson and other anti-Israel figures on the right is diminishing support for Israel among young conservatives, just like some far-left Democrats sided with Palestinians in the recent war with Hamas.
“I am very proud to be a Christian Zionist,” Cruz said. “There are some people, who are embraced at the highest level of government, who said there is no one they hate more than Christian Zionists. Well, I’ll tell you what. There’s no one I hate more than communists and jihadists who want to murder us.”
Carlson made the remark about hating Christian Zionists on his program with Fuentes and mentioned Cruz and Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, by name. Huckabee, a Baptist minister, stated that he “wasn’t aware that Tucker despises me. I do get that a lot from people not familiar with the Bible or history. Somehow, I will survive the animosity.”
Cruz added that “Mike Huckabee is a pastor and a patriot who loves America, loves Israel and loves Jesus. I’m proud to be in his company.”
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