StopAntisemitism awarded the dubious title to the podcaster for his “hateful and dangerous rhetoric” that reaches millions.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Popular political commentator Tucker Carlson was awarded the dubious title of “Antisemite of the Year” on Sunday by StopAntisemitism, a prominent American watchdog organization that tracks and combats anti-Jewish hatred.
StopAntisemitism founder and executive director Liora Rez told The New York Post that the vote wasn’t even close, as the prominent podcaster who used to have a regular show on Fox News was chosen by an “overwhelming margin.”
“Carlson’s divisive, hateful, and dangerous rhetoric and his repeated glowing interviews with bigots and Hitler apologists have made him the most reviled Jew-hater over the last 12 months,” she said.
Carlson has twice hosted Holocaust deniers and white nationalists on his program without challenging their claims.
In October, for example, he interviewed Nick Fuentes, who promoted conspiracy theories about Jews and called for a “holy war” against them, without meaningful pushback.
Last month, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) urged Republicans to publicly repudiate Carlson for mainstreaming antisemitism on the political right, warning that it is “metastasizing” but that many in the party are afraid to confront him “because he has one hell of a big megaphone.”
The Tucker Carlson Show reaches millions of viewers per week, and it is the way he asks questions to provoke “the spread of falsehoods and antisemitic narratives” that makes him so dangerous, StopAntisemitism said.
Since the Hamas-led invasion in which nearly 1,200 people were massacred sparked war in Gaza, Carlson has adopted increasingly hostile positions toward Israel.
He has spoken out against sending Israel military aid, called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “main enemy of Western civilization,” and accused Israel of war crimes.
Carlson has repeatedly given a platform to harsh critics of the Jewish state, allowing them to advance unchallenged accusations without fact-checking or rebuttal.
Earlier this month, he offered a sympathetic interview to Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on human rights in the so-called “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” who was sanctioned by the U.S. government in July for persistent anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric and actions.
The podcaster has also attacked Christian Zionists, claiming they suffer from a “brain virus” for supporting Israel.
Conservative commentator and Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro criticized Carlson last week for what he described as a “peculiar obsession” with Israel and a pattern of conspiracy-mongering that is damaging the conservative movement.
“Unwilling to attack President Trump’s foreign policy on Israel directly, he has instead suggested nefarious Israeli influence in American government, up to and including posing a question this week on X as to whether America’s current operations against Venezuela are being driven by the Israelis,” Shapiro said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation.
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