Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
The ZOA is outraged by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ video statement defending, whitewashing, and allying the Heritage Foundation and himself with Jew-hating Israel-basher Tucker Carlson. Roberts horrifyingly emphasized that Carlson “will always be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation” right after Carlson fawningly interviewed neo-Nazi, Holocaust denier, racist Nick Fuentes. Dr. Roberts, the issue is not opposing criticizing Israel – of course that’s fully acceptable, just as criticizing France, Ireland, or the U.S. is acceptable. What’s not acceptable is lying about Israel committing genocide, etc., or rejecting Israel’s right to exist. Sickeningly, Roberts also proclaimed that neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes should not be “canceled.” Refusing to give platforms to neo-Nazis is not “cancel” culture; it is basic morality. Roberts also outrageously called those who rightly oppose Carlson a “venomous coalition” and a “globalist class” of “bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda” (the “double loyalty” libel); falsely accused all who oppose Carlson of “slander”; and attempted to sow division between America and Israel.
In a follow-up tweet under mounting pressure, Heritage President Roberts condemned neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes’ antisemitism, Holocaust denial, misogyny, admiration for Stalin and Hitler, call for the death of Jews, fomentation of Jew-hatred, and goal of “total Aryan victory.” However, Roberts still failed to retract Roberts’ support of Carlson despite Carlson’s long list of antisemitic and anti-Israel pronouncements and Carlson’s platforming of Jew-haters such as Fuentes.
Unless Kevin Roberts retracts and apologizes for his praise for Jew-hating Israel-basher Tucker Carlson, who legitimizes and mainstreams antisemites like Nick Fuentes, and publicly condemns and ends Heritage Foundation’s relationship with Tucker Carlson, Roberts is not fit to continue as Heritage Foundation’s president.
Tucker Carlson’s abominable record:
Carlson targets pro-Israel conservatives such as Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro, falsely claiming that they are Israel-Firsters who don’t care about the U.S., want to start wars to protect Israel, and are willing to endanger American soldiers.
Carlson also called destroying Islamic, terrorist-supporting Iran’s nuclear weapons program “an utterly pointless bombing of Iran. . . . Iran is not even in the top 25 threats to us.” Carlson likewise tweeted that those calling for stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons program (including Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson) were “warmongers” and “people who casually encourage violence.” In the same tweet, Carlson also absurdly referred to people who support the Iranian and Palestinian regimes as “those who seek to prevent violence” and “peacemakers.” Are these beliefs held by Kevin Roberts and the Heritage Foundation?
Carlson also stated that Christian Zionists are infected with a “brain virus” (apparently Abe Lincoln, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump all had that virus); outrageously called Christian Zionism “heresy,” stated that he dislikes Christian Zionists “more than anybody”; blamed “American weapons” for a murder at the Church of the Nativity twenty years ago (when in fact, Palestinian Arab gunmen took over the church and held its occupants hostage); and gave and broadcasted fawning interviews with the most hateful, Jew-bashing, Israel-haters, including Nick Fuentes, Darryl Cooper, Munther Isaac, and Dave Collum.
Incredibly, Carlson also praised and platformed Hitler-apologist Darryl Cooper as “the best and most honest popular historian in the United States.” Cooper had claimed that the Nazis didn’t intend to kill Jews and blamed Winston Churchill (not Hitler) as the “chief villain” responsible for WWII.
Tucker Carlson also did a fawning interview with Pastor Munther Isaac, an antisemitic Christian Palestinian and Hamas supporter, during which Carlson helped the pastor trot out every imaginable false anti-Israel blood libel – genocide; starving Gazans; land theft; oppressing Palestinians; “occupation”; lack of medical care; breaking international law; committing human rights abuses against Palestinians, etc.
Carlson also helped the pastor falsely portray Israel as targeting Christians and totally ignored that Hamas, Islamists and the Palestinian Authority are the real persecutors of Christians. For instance, after the pastor falsely blamed Israel for Christians leaving Bethlehem, Tucker Carlson libelously added, “So you have people in the United States, self-professed Christians, who are sending money to oppress Christians in the Middle East.” (In fact, after the Palestinian Authority took over Bethlehem pursuant to the Oslo accords; Christians fled from Bethlehem because of constant Islamic harassment.) Bethlehem used to be 80% Christian — now it’s less than 20% Christian and they fled because Arab Muslims have made Christian lives miserable, discriminating against them in every way possible.
Even when the pastor insanely revised history by grotesquely lying about “the catastrophe of thousands of Palestinians killed on October 7 and all of that,” Tucker failed to correct the pastor that it was Jews who were killed on October 7. And after the pastor falsely accused Israel of “targeting” Christians, Tucker Carlson libelously chimed in: “If you wake up in the morning and decide that your Christian faith requires you to support a foreign government [Israel] blowing up churches and killing Christians, I think you’ve lost the thread.”
Another horrendous Carlson interviewee, chemistry professor Dave Collum, shockingly argued that “one could make the case we should have sided with Hitler and fought Stalin.”
Carlson’s string of antisemitic libels and interviews are a blatant attempt to turn conservatives into antisemites and Israel-haters. Allying with Tucker Carlson will destroy the Heritage Foundation’s reputation as a bastion of honest, moral, intelligent, pro-Israel conservatism. Excellent Heritage initiatives, such as the Esther Project to combat antisemitism (which ZOA has been a key participant in), will be irreparably harmed if Roberts continues his deleterious alliance with Carlson. ZOA accordingly urges that Kevin Roberts must publicly and immediately condemn Carlson’s actions and statements; apologize for Roberts’ video statements; and end Roberts’ and Heritage’s relationship with Tucker Carlson. Kevin Roberts has shown himself to be unfit for leading the Heritage Foundation.
ZOA President Morton A. Klein said:
“As the President of the Zionist Organization of America, and as a child of Holocaust survivors who lost most of my family during that horror, I have vowed to combat Jew-hatred everywhere it emerges.
“Tucker Carlson has just interviewed and mainstreamed Nick Fuentes, and nodded along while Fuentes spouted his disgusting, Jew-hating, mindless, racist and misogynist views. Fuentes has called for the death of Jews; praises mass-murderer Hitler as ‘awesome’ and ‘f—ing cool’; is a ‘fan’ and ‘always admirer’ of mass-murderer Stalin; attacked Charlie Kirk for Kirk’s pro-Israel views; calls for expelling pro-Israel ‘types’ such as Lindsey Graham, and Jews such as Randy Fine from the Republican party; calls American Jewish conservatives such as Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and Josh Hammer ‘filth’ and ‘foreign operatives . . . who will say ANYTHING to keep us under the heel of the Israel Lobby’; called for Josh Hammer to be deported, and accused Hammer, a white person, of ‘clearly hating white people’ and having ‘zero loyalty to America’; called for a ‘holy war’ against Jews; denies the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust ‘as not adding up’ and belittles it as Cookie Monster ‘cookies baking in the oven.’”
ZOA Director of Government Relations Dan Pollak said:
“I was personally deeply offended by Roberts’ comments implying that pro-Israel conservatives place Israel’s needs over those of the USA. I served my country as an officer in the U.S. Navy and have every right to promote policies I believe in without being accused of inappropriate loyalty to another country. It is obvious that supporting the American-Israeli relationship is in the national interest of both countries.
“Roberts’ claim that a ‘globalist class’ is pushing pro-Israel policies on the U.S. ignores that the real ‘globalist’ is Qatar. Qatar is buying influence in Washington and runs the anti-American Al-Jazeera. Qatar seems to have extraordinary influence with Tucker Carlson. Heritage Foundation’s president is simply wrong to malign the pro-Israel community. It is also bizarre that Roberts defended Tucker Carlson in the name of Christianity, when Carlson has called all Christian Zionists ‘heretics.’ Thank G-d we have courageous Christians in office, including Senator Ted Cruz, who has robustly criticized Roberts’ remarks.
“Tucker Carlson’s conduct is especially egregious because Carlson is methodically doing exactly what Carlson decried antisemite Pat Buchanan for doing in the 1990s. Carlson stated then: ‘It’s this … relentless bringing up topics related to, Judaism… Pat [Buchanan] always beats up on Goldman Sachs but never Morgan Stanley… I’m not throwing the term antisemite around, but you reach a point when you say, ‘Well, gee, you know, here’s a guy who has gone out of his way to, to defend… accused Nazi war criminals, who’s constantly attacked Israel, who’s attacked American Jews for supporting Israel unduly, who’s implied that American Jews push America into wars in which non-Jews die.’ There really is… a pattern with Pat Buchanan of needling the Jews. Is that antisemitic? Yeah!’
“Pat Buchanan was eventually pushed out of the conservative movement for his rank antisemitism by respected conservative Catholic intellectual and leader William F. Buckley. It’s time for the conservative movement to likewise push out Tucker Carlson.”