Prominent Israeli Leftist Chooses Tucker Carlson as His Messenger to Americans
One of Israel’s most recognizable figures on the political left was a guest on The Tucker Carlson Show this past weekend. Avraham (Avrum) Burg, 72, built his career in the center-left Labor Party during the 1980s and 1990s, but in the early 2000s shifted to the non-Zionist left. In 2011 he announced that he identified as a post-Zionist, and in 2015 he joined Hadash, the Arab-Jewish party that evolved out of the Israeli Communist Party. He appeared on Carlson’s show wearing a shirt embroidered with the word “peace” in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and explained why he opposed Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-Israel joint military campaign against Iran that was launched on Feb. 28.
Carlson, 56, who became a household name when he had his own show at Fox News from 2016 until his contract was terminated in 2023, now hosts an independent podcast and YouTube show that has over 20 million subscribers and is widely identified as a strong influence on President Donald Trump.
In his Substack newsletter, Burg presented his decision to speak with Carlson, whose many statements reflecting antisemitic and white nationalist views have been widely reported, as an expression of his desire to break out of groupthink bubbles and engage with opposing views. “Carlson manages to touch a raw nerve of an American society whose doubts are deepening, and the temptation is to dismiss that with slogans. I chose not to do that,” wrote Burg. He embedded the YouTube video of the 90-minute episode in his post. At one point during the segment, which is notable for its friendly tone, Burg tells Carlson, “Listen, Tucker, I cannot stand you, but you’re a nice person, so I talk with you.” Carlson smiles and says he accepts that as a “half compliment.”
Elad Nehorai, a Jewish-American writer who has written about the dangers of Carlson’s antisemitism for newspapers like the Forward, posted a long comment in response to Burg’s, calling his decision to appear on the show “a massive mistake” that “played directly into his and other white nationalists’ hands.” Nehorai continued: “I think your desire for dialogue is genuine. This is not what Carlson desires. Carlson needs people to legitimize him so that he can appear mainstream and evenhanded as he spreads neo-Nazi and white nationalist ideology.” In an article for the Forward, Nehorai wrote that it was “impossible to overstate the power” of Carlson, adding that “He is, effectively, the main reason JD Vance is vice president.”
In November Carlson hosted Nick Fuentes, a 27-year-old far-right influencer, white supremacist and Holocaust denier, who espouses openly antisemitic views. The two men expressed disdain for members of the pro-Trump right who support Israel. Carlson recently claimed that Chabad, a New York-based Hasidic group with a global outreach, had orchestrated the war on Iran as a religious-messianic effort that would end with destroying Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, two of Islam’s most important holy sites. In his conversation with Burg, Carlson asked if Israel’s far right aspired to destroy the two mosques for religious reasons, and Burg confirmed that extremist members of the settler movement had indeed attempted to do so on several occasions, with minimal consequences.
In December Ben Shapiro, a prominent American far-right commentator who is Jewish, called out Carlson’s antisemitism in an hour-long speech at an event hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank. He cited Carlson’s interview of Fuentes and his criticism of Israel, saying that “conservatism that treats Tucker Carlson as a thought leader is no conservatism.” The Hudson Institute refused to disavow Carlson’s views.
Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, released a report about Carlson a few days before Burg appeared on his show. The report is titled “The Man Who Lost It: Tucker Carlson Against Trump and the War in Iran.” In the report, an Israeli media analyst describes Tucker as a smart mainstream right-wing journalist when he was on Fox, who has since moved to conspiracy and antisemitic theories.
Polls show that more than 90% of Jewish Israelis support the war with Iran, which makes Burg a notable exception to the consensus. Since most Israelis regard the American far right as uncritical supporters of Israel, and Trump as an unswerving ally, they are confused by the split within MAGA and worried by Carlson’s anti-Israel views. Burg, a member of the declining Ashkenazi liberal elite, is marginal in Israel these days; but he found an accommodating platform with one of the most powerful figures in the American far right, who also happens to espouse antisemitic views. Carlson and Burg both oppose the war with Iran, but for vastly different reasons.