Tucker Carlson visits Israel for sit-down with Mike Huckabee
Conservative media persona Tucker Carlson visited Israel briefly on Wednesday for a filmed sit-down with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, targeted on claims in regards to the therapy of Christians in Israel and the broader area, sources instructed The Jerusalem Post.
According to the sources, Carlson performed the dialog inside Ben Gurion Airport and didn’t journey past the airport advanced. I departed Israel at round 3 pm, ending a visit that lasted only some hours.
The uncommon in-and-out go to adopted a public back-and-forth between the 2 former Fox News hosts after Carlson revealed an episode in early February, filmed on the Jordan River baptism web site and titled “Christian Persecution.”
In the episode, Carlson interviewed Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem Hosam Naoum and a Jordanian Christian businessman, presenting a case that Israel mistreats its Christian inhabitants and that American Christians are unknowingly funding that mistreatment via US support.
Huckabee responded on X on February 5, writing: “Hey @TuckerCarlson instead of talking ABOUT me, why don’t you come talk TO me?” Carlson agreed publicly to a face-to-face dialog.
Tense second in American conservative politics
The sit-down comes at a tense second in American conservative politics, the place assist for Israel has turn into a sharper inside argument than in previous years.
Carlson has more and more positioned himself as a number one critic of US coverage towards Israel and of “Christian Zionism,” language that has drawn pushback from mainstream Republicans and pro-Israel conservatives.
In the episode, Carlson claimed that Christians in Israel are “far fewer in absolute numbers” than when the state was based in 1948.
Data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, most lately revealed on Christmas Eve 2025, exhibits the other. The Christian inhabitants in Israel has grown from roughly 34,000 in 1949 to round 185,000 right now, representing one of many few rising Christian communities within the Middle East.
Christians as a share of Israel’s complete inhabitants have declined from roughly 10% to below 2%, however that proportional drop displays sooner development amongst Jewish and Muslim populations moderately than a shrinking Christian one.
Carlson additionally described the United States as funding “the cultural and religious life of the region,” a framing that conflates US army help to Israel with a broader declare about non secular life that he didn’t substantiate.
Huckabee, a longtime evangelical chief and a detailed political ally of President Donald Trump, has taken the other method. He was confirmed by the US Senate as ambassador to Israel in 2025 and offered his credentials to President Isaac Herzog shortly afterwards.
The episode’s portrayal of Huckabee went additional than the claims made by Carlson’s personal interview topic.
After the Archbishop described difficulties accessing an Anglican hospital in Gaza, Carlson instructed viewers that “what Ambassador Huckabee is doing is shameful and he’s going to have to answer for it.” The Archbishop responded: “I don’t want to blame Huckabee for this.”
Naoum additionally described incidents of Jewish extremists spitting at Christian clergy in Jerusalem because the work of “fringe groups” and “radicals,” a characterization that sat at odds with the episode’s broader framing.
The unique episode didn’t embody any Israeli authorities response.
