MASTERCLASS: Huckabee calmly, brilliantly confronts Tucker Carlson’s barrage of anti-Israel, anti-Christian lies during 2-hour interview
Let’s consider just three examples of Tucker’s attacks
NASHVILLE — The contrast could not have been more stark.
For more than two hours on his podcast, Tucker Carlson was both hostile and flustered — contentious yet often illogical — as he tried to prosecute rather than interview U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee, on the other hand, could not have been more impressive — relaxed, well-prepared, factual, logical, and astonishingly unflappable.
Tucker threw lie after vicious lie at Israel, at the Jewish people, at the Trump administration, at Christians, and at Huckabee himself.
Yet Huckabee gave a brilliant masterclass in public diplomacy and Christian kindness.
He calmly, clearly, and convincingly confronted — and debunked — each of Tucker’s provably false assertions.
It’s no wonder that Huckabee is receiving a torrent of high praise all across social media this weekend.
I’m not going to try to catalog all of Tucker’s lies here.
That would take way too long.
Let me simply highlight three to help you understand who Tucker is and how hateful and dishonest he has sadly become.
TUCKER LIES ABOUT ISRAELI PRESIDENT HERZOG BEING ON JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S ISLAND
One of the sickest and most sinister moments in the interview came when Tucker accused Israeli President Isaac 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 notorious “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 this 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.”
Huckabee is absolutely correct, and Tucker is dead wrong.
Tucker made his allegation based on reporting and social media posts from Gabrielle Sivia Weiniger, a reporter for The Times of London.
Yet weeks ago, Weiniger admitted that the photo she posted was completely fake and that she was completely mistaken.
“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. “I can only apologize for the grave error in judgment for reposting the photo, and to the president for any harm this has caused.”
Clearly, what Weiniger did was not professional journalism.
Rather, it was a vicious 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 just did is worse.
Tucker is making the same sleazy and sinister allegations to his 17 million X followers against Herzog — but he is doing so more than two weeks after this reporter admitted the photo is fake and the allegations are untrue.
“The current President of Israel — President Herzog, who you know well — was apparently at ׳Pedo Island,’” Tucker told Huckabee, referring to the Epstein files held by the U.S. Justice Department. “That’s what it says in the disclosures.”
“So, high level, still-living, Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not crimes.”
President Herzog’s office issued the following statement to Amb. Huckabee on Saturday morning, February 21.
“The allegations are entirely unfounded and are unequivocally denied,” the statement begins.
“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.”
That last line is interesting.
I’d love to see Herzog sue Tucker and win a huge judgment.
TUCKER LIES ABOUT CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Another vicious lie that Tucker is making is that Israel treats Christians terribly, that Qatar treats Christians wonderfully, and that Christianity is thriving in the Islamist Gulf nation that harbors Hamas terrorists — but not thriving in the Holy Land.
Fortunately, Huckabee refused to let him get away with such nonsense.
“Tucker, Christianity is growing in Israel,” noted the ambassador, while Tucker continually tried to interrupt him.
“And there is a big lie that goes out there that — no, let me finish — because I keep hearing that Christians are really not treated well in Israel. That’s simply a lie. That’s a lie. There were 34,000 Christians in Israel in 1948. There are 184,000 Christians here today.”
“Now, I’ll tell you where Christians are not doing well,” Huckabee continued. “They’re not doing well in the Muslim-controlled countries. There are almost no Christians in Qatar, for example, except those who live in the Christian ghetto — who are the service workers.”
“I’m sorry,” Tucker interrupted. “I don’t want to argue with you, but there are many more Christians in Qatar than in Israel.”
“That’s not true,” Huckabee calmly pushed back.
“It is true,” Tucker insisted. “And I refer you to Wikipedia, Mr. Ambassador. I refer you to the government of Qatar, the government of Israel — these are knowable facts.”
But Huckabee knew the facts and laid them out — not just about Qatar, but other Muslim nations in the Arab world.
“In Jordan, the numbers are down,” the ambassador noted. “In Syria, the numbers are down. In Lebanon, the numbers are down.”
“In Qatar, there are twice as many Christians as in Israel,” Tucker argued.
But “they are not native Qataris,” Huckabee rightly noted.
These aren’t citizens; they’re expatriate workers who don’t live in high-rise luxury apartments like Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar. “They live in an enclave.”
Flustered, Tucker tried desperately to regain the initiative.
“Okay, we’re mixing so many different categories here. I’m just saying, I get things wrong all the time. You’ve just gotten something wrong. And I think it’s important to acknowledge it. There are many more Christians in Qatar than Israel. Fact.”
“How many?” Huckabee calmly pressed.
At that point, Tucker looked slightly panicked.
“Now you caught me — I don’t know,” he admitted, nervously laughing and trying to figure out what to say next.
“I can get my phone,” he said lamely. “But I was just there, and there are many more. But whatever.”
Yet the truth is that Huckabee is absolutely right, and Tucker is dead wrong.
“Qatar has about 350,000 Christians,” notes George Deek, an Israeli ambassador who is both Arab and a Christian.
Yet none of those Christians are Qatari citizens.
Deek adds that there are “about six churches in a fenced compound” with “no crosses on the exterior” and “no church bells allowed.” By contrast, Israel has about 184,000 Christians who are full Israeli citizens.
Israel has about 300 churches.
What’s more, public Easter processions are legal everywhere in Israel, and church bells ring every Sunday in Jerusalem and throughout the country.
“One [country] has religious freedom,” Deek notes — that’s Israel.
“One has tolerated guest workers” — that’s Qatar.
“Stop repeating myths,” Amb. Deek admonishes Tucker. “Real Christians live with the consequences.”
A U.S. State Department “Report on International Religious Freedom” in Qatar confirms Amb. Deek’s assertions.
Qatar’s population in 2023 was 2.5 million, of which 13.1 percent are Christians.
That’s about 327,500 Christians.
But the State Department confirms that almost none of those are citizens of Qatar.
Rather, the report notes that “most citizens are Sunni Muslims, and almost all others are Shia Muslims.”
Everyone in Qatar must abide by Sharia law.
“Conversion to another religion from Islam is defined by the law as apostasy and is illegal,” the report states.
“The law restricts public worship for non-Islamic faiths. It prohibits non-Muslim religious groups from displaying religious symbols, which includes banning Christian congregations from advertising religious services or placing crosses outdoors where they are visible to the public. The law criminalizes establishing or running an organization aimed at opposing or challenging Islam or promoting another religion and provides for punishment of up to 10 years in prison. Proselytizing on one’s own accord for any religion other than Islam may result in a sentence of up to five years’ imprisonment.”
TUCKER LIES ABOUT BEING MANHANDLED AND INTERROGATED BY ISRAELI AIRPORT SECURITY
Even before Tucker posted his interview on Friday afternoon, he was already lying.
On Wednesday, he claimed that he and his producer were manhandled and mistreated by Israeli security officials at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv — “hauled” into a security office in a “bizarre” and unprofessional manner and interrogated about his conversation with Huckabee.
“Men who identified themselves as airport security took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room, and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about,” Tucker told the New York Post. “It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country.”
Yet the truth is that Tucker wasn’t mistreated or interrogated at all.
“Contrary to the reports, Tucker Carlson and his entourage were not detained, delayed, or interrogated,” stated the Israeli Airports Authority and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Mr. Carlson and his party were politely asked a few routine questions, in accordance with standard procedures applied to many travelers.
“The conversation took place in a separate room within the VIP lounge solely to protect their privacy and to avoid conducting such a discussion in public. No unusual incident occurred, and the Israel Airports Authority firmly rejects any other claims.”
Tucker sycophants immediately rejected the Israeli statement.
But on Thursday, Oli London — a social media influencer with 595,000 followers on X — published exclusive CCTV footage showing Tucker laughing and smiling with an Israeli security official and even taking a selfie with him.
“Tucker Carlson’s lies unmasked after he is seen HUGGING Israeli airport staff member and posing for photo — despite claiming he was ‘detained’ and ‘hauled’ off by security,” London wrote on X.
“Carlson appeared in great spirits while getting the celebrity treatment in Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport VIP lounge — even posing for the photo with a staff member.”
“The new footage, obtained exclusively by @OliLondonTV… exposes his false narrative that he spread in an attempt to smear Israel.”
“Carlson also said he had to flee the country immediately afterwards — claims which have also been proven false.”
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
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