Tucker Carlson Spreads False Claims About Israeli President During Interview with Mike Huckabee

Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson has drawn criticism for spreading unfounded allegations about Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a recent interview with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

During the conversation, which has garnered over 600,000 views on YouTube within hours of its release, Carlson claimed without evidence that Herzog had visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island.

“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson asserted during the interview. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”

Huckabee appeared taken aback by the allegation, responding: “I was not aware there was any connection with President Herzog. I would be surprised to hear that.”

When pressed further by Carlson about why he hadn’t questioned Herzog on the matter, Huckabee replied, “This is the first I’ve heard of this, so why do you expect me to have knowledge like that?”

Fact-checkers have found no evidence connecting Herzog to Epstein or his properties. Herzog’s name appears in the Epstein files only in reference to news articles included in Epstein’s email correspondence, with no indication of any personal relationship between the two men.

While former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak did have social ties with Epstein, investigators have not found evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Barak.

The false allegation comes amid a wave of disinformation following the release of the Epstein files last month. An AI-generated image falsely depicting Herzog with Epstein circulated widely online, fueling antisemitic conspiracy theories involving Jews and Israel.

After learning the allegations against Herzog were baseless, Huckabee wrote on X: “His allegations against Israeli officials could be the stuff of libel lawsuits. It was hard to follow Tucker’s line of questioning.”

During the same interview, Carlson made additional unsubstantiated claims, including asserting without evidence that Epstein was “very clear[ly]” affiliated with Mossad. Experts note that a key source cited in the Epstein files who alleged such ties has been described as a discredited fraudster and Holocaust denier.

Carlson’s visit to Israel, during which the interview took place, generated additional controversy after he claimed Israeli security officials subjected members of his team to hostile questioning at Ben Gurion Airport.

“They’re doing like an intel op and humiliation exercise on my producer. This isn’t security,” Carlson said, alleging that officials held his team’s passports and interrogated his producers. “Some thug is demanding details of that conversation.”

The Israel Airports Authority and Huckabee both rejected these characterizations. Security experts note that questioning travelers while reviewing passports is standard procedure at Israeli airports and international borders worldwide.

Throughout the interview, Carlson made numerous other controversial statements, including claiming that Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty in 1967 – a conspiracy theory popular on the far right – and describing Israel as “probably the most violent country on earth.”

Carlson also suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened his family “because he believes in blood guilt,” and portrayed Israel as exerting outsized influence over U.S. policy, echoing longstanding antisemitic tropes about hidden Jewish power.

“Americans in the United States, can you be sure that your government will take your side over the Israeli government? No, of course not. They will always take the Israeli government’s side over yours and that’s the core problem,” Carlson stated.

He further claimed, “If you criticize Israel in your country, your government will censor you,” despite the fact that he and other public figures routinely criticize Israel publicly without facing government censorship.

The interview highlighted significant differences between Huckabee and Carlson on basic facts about Israel. When Carlson warned that Israel was endangering U.S. troops, Huckabee noted that American forces have never fought on Israel’s behalf.

Carlson responded by claiming the Iraq War was fought at Israel’s urging and that Israel is pushing the U.S. toward conflict with Iran – assertions that lack substantial evidence.

“I don’t think that it’s at all accurate to even intimate that tiny, little Israel is pushing the U.S. into something it does not want to do,” Huckabee countered.

Political analysts note that some of Carlson’s rhetoric mirrors arguments more commonly associated with the far left, including accusations that Israel murders journalists, commits genocide, and blocks Christian Palestinians from accessing holy sites – demonstrating what some describe as the “horseshoe theory” of politics, where extremes on both ends adopt similar positions regarding Israel and Jews.