Tucker Carlson claims Israel targeted his family, Netanyahu ‘believes in blood guilt’
In program including interview with Huckabee, right-wing commentator launches litany of unsubstantiated claims echoing antisemitic tropes, falsely says Herzog visited Epstein island
Tucker Carlson interviews Mike Huckabee at Ben Gurion airport on February 18.
In a program released Friday following his brief visit to Israel, right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson claimed the Israeli government targeted his family, called the Jewish state “probably the most violent country on earth” and falsely said President Isaac Herzog had visited Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous island, apparently citing a fake AI-generated image that had circulated online.
He also called Israel a police state, questioned its right to exist and the historic ties of the Jewish population to the land, accused the country of controlling US policy, and made various other unsupported claims associated with antisemitic tropes.
Carlson, a leading critic of Israel on the right, came to Israel on Wednesday to interview US Ambassador Mike Huckabee. According to some reports, he never left the airport area and departed immediately afterward. The Friday program included his interview with Huckabee as well as solo segments in which he railed against Israel.
Speaking alone, Carlson said: “There was a threat to my family. The Israeli government, and [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu himself, tried to punish two members of my family. I won’t be more specific, but actually punish two members of my family because he, as he has said in public many times, believes in blood guilt, Amalek. You know, when someone commits a crime against you, you punish not just him, but his family, his bloodline.”
Carlson did not give any more details or offer evidence to substantiate his claim. Netanyahu has never stated that he believes in “blood guilt” or in collective punishment of Israel’s enemies. His mention of the biblical Amalekites in the wake of the October 7 attack was a reference to genocidal threats to the people of Israel throughout history.
Carlson went on: “There’s no idea that’s less Western than that, more anti-Christian than that. Christians reject that. Netanyahu doesn’t. That’s why he’s talking about Amalek, and he was going after my family, literally, so I felt very threatened by that.”
During his interview with Huckabee, the right-wing pundit pressed Huckabee about Herzog’s supposed visits to Epstein’s island, although there is no evidence that Herzog had any connection to Epstein or visited his property.
“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson said. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”
Former prime minister Ehud Barak was friendly with Epstein, but there is no evidence of any criminality on Barak’s part.
Huckabee said he had not followed news about the Epstein files because it was not relevant to his job.
“I was not aware there was any connection with President Herzog. I would be surprised to hear that,” Huckabee said.
“I don’t know that I’ve heard the current president of Israel respond to it, but he is listed as a visitor to ‘pedo island,’ so that’s kind of a big deal,” Carlson said, criticizing Huckabee for not questioning Herzog about Epstein.
“This is the first I’ve heard of this, so why do you expect me to have knowledge like that?” Huckabee answered.
The ambassador later said he asked Herzog about Carlson’s claims and shared what he said was a statement from the President’s Residence refuting them.
“The allegations are entirely unfounded and are unequivocally denied. There has never been any contact or connection, directly or indirectly, between Isaac Herzog and Jeffrey Epstein. There was never any acquaintance or personal relationship of any kind between them. The president was never invited to, never visited, and was never present at the location in question,” Herzog’s office was quoted as saying.
“Any claim suggesting otherwise is false and may constitute libel and defamation.”
Herzog is mentioned in the Epstein files, but only in news reports that landed in Epstein’s emails. There is no evidence of a personal connection between Herzog and Epstein. After the files’ release late last month, a fake, AI-generated image circulated online showing Herzog and Epstein together, amid rampant disinformation about the Epstein files, including widespread conspiracy theories about Jews and Israel.
While the claims are baseless, those who viewed the interview would not had any indication of their falsity. More than a million people viewed the interview on YouTube in the hours after its release, and the footage was also shared on other platforms.
Carlson is an influential and massively popular voice on the right who has a friendly relationship with US Vice President JD Vance.
‘Somewhat of a hyperbolic statement’
Also during the interview, Huckabee at one point said “it would be fine” if Israel took over so-called Greater Israel that the God of the Bible promised to Abraham, before backtracking to some degree and saying the comment was made hyperbolically.
Carlson was pressing the US envoy, a devout Christian, on his assertion that a part of the Jewish people’s right to the land stemmed from God’s promise to Abraham, while noting that that promised land spanned a far larger territory than that of today’s Israel, encompassing much of present-day’s Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. He asked whether it did not follow then that Israel had a right to take land from neighboring Arab countries.
Huckabee, after initially avoiding the matter, eventually said, “It would be fine if they took it all,” while swiftly adding that this was not on the table as “They’re not asking to take it over.”
Carlson then asked the US ambassador to confirm he was fine with Israel taking over “all of Syria, all of Lebanon.” Huckabee responded, “That’s really not exactly what I’m trying to say,” adding that “It was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement.”
In a subsequent back-and-forth, Carlson demanded to know whether Huckabee believes Israel “has a moral right to take over what are now other people’s countries,” as the envoy insisted he had not said that. Eventually, Huckabee said: “If they end up getting attacked by all these places and they win that war and they take that land, then, okay, that’s a whole other discussion.”
During the interview, Carlson also said it was “very clear” Epstein was affiliated with Mossad, another unsubstantiated allegation. A primary source in the Epstein files who alleged that Epstein worked for Mossad was a discredited fraudster and Holocaust denier.
After the interview aired, and Huckabee found out the allegations against Herzog were false, he wrote on X, “His allegations against Israeli officials could be the stuff of libel lawsuits. It was hard to follow Tucker’s line of questioning.”
Carlson’s visit also caused controversy due to his claims that his team was targeted for “interrogation” by Israeli security.
Carlson did not leave the airport during the visit, but alleged that two of his producers were subject to hostile questioning. Huckabee and the Israel Airports Authority firmly rejected the claim.
‘Given the third degree’
In the introduction to his interview with Huckabee, before the envoy was present, Carlson said Israeli officials held his team’s passports and that his two producers were “called into rooms and given the third degree.” Carlson said security asked questions, including, “What did you say to the US ambassador?”
“They’re doing like an intel op and humiliation exercise on my producer. This isn’t security,” he said.
“The interrogator is holding his passport in his hand as he’s asking these questions,” he said. “Some thug is demanding details of that conversation.”
“It’s a police state, it’s a surveillance state. You go to Israel, and they put software on your phone. Everybody knows this. They’re constantly spying on you,” he said. There is no evidence that Israel installs spy software on visitors’ phones.
It is standard for Israeli airport staff to ask visitors questions while viewing their passports.
Carlson said footage leaked to the media with the goal of discrediting his claim of mistreatment was merely him agreeing to a driver’s request to take a photo with him.
He also claimed that Israel knowingly bombed the USS Liberty in 1967, a common conspiracy theory on the US far right.
Little common ground
During the introduction and Carlson’s interview with Huckabee, Carlson portrayed Israel as controlling the US and dragging the US into wars, echoing antisemitic tropes about hidden Jewish power and warmongering.
“Americans in the United States, can you be sure that your government will take your side over the Israeli government? No, of course not. They will always take the Israeli government’s side over yours and that’s the core problem,” he said.
“If you criticize Israel in your country, your government will censor you,” he said. Carlson and other prominent figures regularly criticize Israel without being censored.
Huckabee and Carlson remained relatively cordial but found little common ground and were often unable to agree on basic facts.
For example, as Carlson warned that Israel was endangering US troops, Huckabee attempted to point out that American troops have never fought for Israel. Carlson, however, repeatedly responded with the baseless claim that the Iraq War was fought at Israel’s behest, and alleged that Israel was prodding the US into war with Iran.
“I don’t think that it’s at all accurate to even intimate that tiny, little Israel is pushing the US into something it does not want to do,” Huckabee said.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has way more influence over American foreign policy than Americans do,” Carlson said.
Carlson also questioned Israel’s right to exist and the ties of Jewish Israelis to the land, engaging in a byzantine discussion about indigeneity that included questions about whether Jews are an ethnicity or a religion, ancient history like the building of Stonehenge and genetics in Scandinavia. Huckabee said several times he was unable to follow Carlson’s train of reasoning.
Some of Carlson’s arguments echoed points made on the far left. He repeatedly accused Israel of murdering journalists, cast Jewish Israelis as foreign implants in Israel, accused Israel of genocide and attacked US financial aid to Israel. While anti-Zionist activists often accuse Israel of persecuting Muslims at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Carlson accused Israel of blocking Christian Palestinians from accessing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
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