It’s Time to Talk About Tucker Carlson

I used to appear on Tucker Carlson’s show. We debated, argued, and, at times, agreed. While I never found him particularly subtle, he once struck me as intellectually curious and engaged. That person is gone. The Carlson I see now is unrecognizable—a man who cloaks ignorance in faux patriotism and traffics in rhetoric that is unmistakably antisemitic.

His latest outrage? Declaring that American citizens who serve in the Israel Defense Forces—like my own children—should be stripped of their U.S. citizenship. Carlson has apparently convinced himself that American Jews who feel a sense of duty to Israel are traitors, or at least less American than their neighbors. The ugliness of this accusation is matched only by its historical illiteracy.

Does Carlson understand, for example, that some of America’s most revered World War II heroes voluntarily joined foreign militaries—well before the United States entered the war? That far from being condemned, they were celebrated?

Let’s start with the Eagle Squadrons—units of volunteer American pilots who joined Britain’s Royal Air Force to fight Nazi Germany in 1940 and 1941, while America remained officially neutral. These brave men, often in their twenties, believed the threat of fascism was too dire to wait for official policy to catch up with moral clarity. They put their lives on the line, not for personal gain, but to defend democracy and decency abroad.

Carlson may also want to familiarize himself with Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., older brother of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy trained as a naval aviator and volunteered for a high-risk mission in 1944, during which he was tragically killed. He was part of a generation that understood moral duty does not end at a nation’s border.

Were these Americans traitors, Tucker? Should they have been stripped of their citizenship?

Of course not. And the notion that they should have been was never even entertained. Because Americans—at our best—understand that fighting tyranny and standing for one’s values transcends passports.

So why does Carlson reserve this particular fury for Jews who serve in the IDF?

Because this isn’t really about foreign military service. It’s about delegitimizing Jews as full participants in American life. Carlson didn’t launch into a broadside against Americans who join the French Foreign Legion. He’s not railing against those who volunteer with Kurdish fighters, or Americans currently embedded in the Ukrainian military effort against Russia.

No. He singled out Israel. He singled out Jews. And that’s not just a double standard—it’s antisemitism.

Carlson is reviving the toxic accusation of dual loyalty, a charge that has haunted Jews for centuries. From the Dreyfus affair in France to Soviet purges to McCarthy-era smears in the U.S., this idea—that Jews cannot be trusted, that they are somehow foreign, suspect, or beholden to another country—has fueled some of the darkest chapters in modern history. Now, incredibly, Carlson is breathing new life into it.

And the implications are chilling. In a time of rising antisemitism globally, in a moment when Jews are still mourning the October 7th massacre and facing a wave of hostility in its aftermath, to accuse American Jews of divided loyalties isn’t just inflammatory—it’s dangerous.

To be clear, my children who serve in the IDF are American citizens. They are not dual nationals. They are not secret agents of a foreign power. They are idealistic young men and women who have chosen to stand up against terrorism and defend innocent lives in a democratic ally of the United States. Their choice is morally consistent with the best traditions of American heroism.

There is a long legal precedent to back this up. The U.S. State Department has affirmed repeatedly that Americans can serve in foreign militaries without jeopardizing their citizenship—so long as those militaries are not hostile to the United States. Israel is not only a close American ally; it is the single most reliable partner in the Middle East on issues ranging from counterterrorism to technology. American citizens serving in the IDF are not breaking any laws. They are not betraying their country. Carlson knows this—or should.

So why is he doing this? Why this sudden, almost obsessive hostility toward Israel? Why the relentless effort to paint American Jews as foreign interlopers rather than full participants in the American experiment?

The question must be asked: Does Tucker Carlson have financial ties to Qatar? It’s an uncomfortable topic, but Carlson’s views have recently become almost indistinguishable from those promoted by Qatar’s state-funded outlets—outlets that openly defend Hamas and vilify Israel. If he is being compensated, directly or indirectly, to adopt these views, the American public deserves transparency.

More importantly, American Jews deserve safety. We deserve the dignity of knowing that when our children risk their lives fighting Hamas—a genocidal organization whose founding charter calls for the murder of Jews—they won’t be smeared as traitors by influential voices back home.

I have always believed that Carlson was at his best when standing against groupthink and political orthodoxy. But now, ironically, he parrots the same antisemitic tropes long hurled by the far-left: that Jews are too powerful, too foreign, too disloyal. That to support Israel is to betray America. It is a tragic fall from grace, and one that cannot go unchallenged.

To be an American is to believe in freedom, justice, and moral responsibility. Sometimes that means serving at home. Sometimes that means serving abroad. And sometimes it means standing up to powerful voices who forget our history and peddle dangerous lies.

My children who serve in the IDF embody that American spirit. Tucker Carlson no longer does. 

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is an American author, broadcaster, and public speaker. He is the founder of The World Values Network and the author of over 30 books on ethics, Judaism, and politics, including Kosher Sex and Judaism for Everyone. He has been called “America’s Rabbi” by The Washington Post.