Israeli President threatens to sue Tucker Carlson after false allegations that Herzog visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island of sexual debauchery

NASHVILLE — Tucker Carlson on Sunday found himself scrambling to apologize to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, hoping to head off a possible major lawsuit over libel and defamation of character.

Statement on Israeli President Isaac Herzog pic.twitter.com/z2hIAO9ptY

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 21, 2026

Tucker also said he edited those allegations out of his podcast posted on YouTube.

But will this be enough?

The Israeli president’s office is actively considering suing Tucker and directly warned the right-wing podcaster of this in writing.

WHAT EXACTLY DID TUCKER SAY IN HIS PODCAST BEFORE IT WAS EDITED?

“The current Israeli president — the current president, whom I know that you know, President Herzog — apparently was at ‘Pedo Island,’” Tucker stated in the interview, seen by millions before it was edited, referring to the late Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious island of sexual debauchery in the Caribbean.

“That’s what it says in the disclosures,” Tucker said, referring to Epstein files that have been released by the U.S. Justice Department.

“In the Epstein files,” Tucker said again a few moments later, “he (Herzog) is listed as a visitor to Pedo Island, so that’s kind of a big deal.”

Tucker used his interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to link President Herzog to Epstein and an island that reportedly involved sick and sordid cases of child sex crimes, thus earning it the nickname among some as “Pedophilia Island” or “Pedo Island.”

“So, still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes,” Tucker said on camera.

“So, I would think that you would be following this,” Tucker told Huckabee, part of his repeated allegations throughout the 2-hour-plus podcast that Huckabee is not doing a good job as an American ambassador and cares more about defending Israelis involved in depravity than faithfully serving the American people and the American government.

Huckabee said he had never heard of such allegations but would inquire of the Israeli president.

He also said that he would be surprised if that were the case.

Huckabee did acknowledge that he was aware of public reporting that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had many dealings with Epstein but did not imagine that Herzog had any.

Epstein pled guilty to sex crimes in Florida state court in 2008 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

In 2019, Epstein was charged with federal sex trafficking crimes by the U.S. Justice Department.

He purportedly committed suicide in prison in 2019.

WHAT EXACTLY DID PRESIDENT HERZOG’S OFFICE SAY?

To his credit, Huckabee kept his word and made inquiries.

Tucker’s vicious and incendiary allegations prompted a quick and very strong response — and threat — from President Herzog’s office.

“The allegations are entirely unfounded and are unequivocally denied,” the statement on Saturday began.

“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. Any claim suggesting otherwise is false and may constitute libel and defamation.”

Later, President Herzog’s spokesman told reporters this: “We sent a letter to Tucker Carlson detailing the President’s response to the claims Tucker made in the interview with Huckabee.”

“Included in the response was that any statement suggesting a connection between the president and Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes is defamatory and libelous,” the spokesman added.

HOW EXACTLY DID TUCKER APOLOGIZE?

After Herzog’s team issued such a strong and sweeping denial, Tucker appeared to be rattled.

“We are taking it seriously,” he said in a video released on X.

“There is nothing worse than impugning the reputation of an innocent man.”

“So, I just want to say clearly I’m sorry to imply that I knew something I didn’t know — of course I didn’t know that Isaac Herzog was on that island. I was referring to an email and the protest against him. But I don’t know that, and I didn’t mean to suggest that I do know that.”

WHAT EXACTLY WAS THE FAKE PHOTO?

As ALL ISRAEL NEWS reported yesterday, one of the sickest and most sinister moments in the interview was when Tucker accused Herzog — one of the most humble, upright, and honorable leaders in modern Israeli history — of being a friend of Jeffrey Epstein and a visitor to Epstein’s “sex island.”

When Huckabee said he had never heard of such allegations in the American, Israeli, or foreign media, Tucker seemed outraged and demanded that Huckabee confront Herzog and get immediate answers.

“Tucker challenged me to ask Israeli Pres @Isaac_Herzog re: allegation he was at Epstein island,” Huckabee wrote on X on Saturday morning.

“I did ask,” Huckabee continued. “As expected, it was a lie. The reporter who spread it admits it was fake. Tucker may need to talk to his lawyers. Libel & defamation of a good & honorable man is reckless.”

Tucker’s allegations appear to stem in part, at least, from reporting and social media posts by Gabrielle Silvia Weiniger, a reporter for The Times of London.

Yet weeks ago, Weiniger admitted that a photo she posted on X of Herzog with Epstein on the island was completely fake.

“I mistakenly posted a photo of President Herzog, without checking the source, and I am sorry for that,” she admitted on X on February 9.

The next day, she went further.

“Just to clarify: the photograph was an AI fake,” she wrote on X on February 10. “I can only apologise for the grave error in judgment for reposting the photo, and to the president for any harm this has caused.”

What Weiniger did was not professional journalism.

Rather, it was a malicious attack designed to smear the honorable reputation of the President of Israel and make it seem like Israel is complicit in Epstein’s disgusting and wicked crimes, including against underage girls.

The photo was a patently obvious artificial intelligence fake image.

Weiniger now admits she never checked the facts.

She now admits she didn’t check the source.

And all that is bad enough.

But what Tucker did is worse.

Tucker is making the same sleazy and sinister allegations to his 17 million X followers against Herzog — and doing so more than two weeks after this reporter admitted the photo is fake and the allegations are untrue.