WhatsappIn the interview-gone-viral with his former “Fox News” colleague, the U.S. ambassador to Israel was uncannily unflappable.
As expected, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee wiped the floor with Tucker Carlson—the “floor” in question being that of Ben-Gurion International Airport’s VIP lounge, since the hero of the woke right never actually ventured beyond the Tel Aviv terminal during his quick in-and-out publicity stunt.
Carlson’s method throughout the two-and-a-half-hour interview—conducted on Feb. 18 and aired on Feb. 20—was textbook “Gish Gallop”: a torrent of half-truths, selective history and outright falsehoods, frequently packing multiple allegations into a single question.
The aim of the interview from Carlson’s perspective wasn’t journalistic illumination, of course. The goal was to exhaust and push Huckabee into a defensive position.
Huckabee’s discipline lay in declining the trap. Instead of chasing every dart, he elegantly rejected the framing.
Before the sit-down was broadcast, Carlson appended a lengthy, pre-recorded prologue, complaining not only that he and his crew had been detained and interrogated by Israeli airport security, but that those who blasted him on social media for purposeful distortion were simply trying to defame him.
It was a ridiculous tantrum on his part, since anybody who enters Israel, including Huckabee, faces routine questions about the purpose of the trip. Nevertheless, Carlson made standard procedures and passport screening sound like evidence of Israeli paranoia and suppression. Typical Tucker.
Ditto for his portrayal of Israel as thuggish before Huckabee even appeared on screen, leaving the ambassador no choice but to refute the intro, post-interview, on X.
As for the content of the one-on-one itself: Since it’s impossible to list every outrageous assertion by Carlson framed disingenuously as a query, or to recap Huckabee’s fact-based replies, let’s zero in on the topic preoccupying the minds of most Israelis at the moment—a potential U.S. strike on the Islamic Republic.
In this segment, Huckabee’s composure was particularly notable. You know, considering Carlson’s warped worldview and equally egregious formulation of it.
This involved layering insinuations about Jerusalem’s manipulation of Washington, casting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a puppet master nudging America toward war with and regime change in Iran for the Jewish state’s benefit.
Huckabee refused to stoop to Carlson’s level or let himself get ruffled by being interrupted repeatedly. Instead, he pivoted to Tehran’s record: 47 years of chanting “Death to America,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ terror footprint around the globe and a documented history of targeting Americans.
By anchoring the exchange in Islamist conduct, Huckabee stripped the argument to its essentials. For instance, asked by Carlson what it cost the United States to “move the fleet off Iran into the Persian Gulf,” the ambassador replied, “A lot less than it would to bury a lot of Americans if [the ayatollahs] ever got a long-range ballistic missile. A lot less.”
He also pointed out that if Carlson cares so much about America, he should be concerned that Iran’s proxies are already “deeply embedded” in the Western Hemisphere.
This back-and-forth was among many fronts in the rhetorical battlefield of Carlson’s crazed conspiracy-theory arena, however. It might even have been the sanest section of the Q&A.
The looniest was his casting of aspersions on the authenticity of Netanyahu’s Jewish roots, since the prime minister’s family hails from Eastern Europe, and his sneering suggestion that Israelis might need DNA tests to prove their biblical connection to the land.
Other jibes were just as jaw-dropping, beginning with his impugning of a brief meeting Huckabee had with Jonathan Pollard after the death of the latter’s wife; declaring that Jeffrey Epstein was known to be connected with the Mossad (adding a lie about Israeli President Isaac Herzog having been a guest on the pedophile’s island—for which he later apologized but may still be sued); citing fabricated statistics about Israel’s persecution of Christians; and besmirching Israel Defense Forces behavior in Gaza. Oh, and insisting that Israel provide free abortions courtesy of U.S. aid.
It’s no wonder, then, that Carlson, who’s built a following among Israel-bashing antisemites, remains a groyper favorite.
It has to be said, though, that Huckabee knew what he was in for with Carlson. The pair had been sparring publicly on social media, which led to Huckabee’s challenging his former Fox News colleague to “come talk to me, instead of about me.”
Because of Huckabee’s naturally cheerful demeanor and impeccable manners, the interview concluded on a cordial note, with his extending an invitation to Carlson to return to Israel and attend his church. It was a magnanimous gesture, to be sure.
But the rest of us would prefer that Tucker Carlson never darken our doorstep—or VIP lounge—again.
