Tucker Carlson is facing a wave of criticism after alleging that he and his staff were briefly detained and interrogated by Israeli security at Ben Gurion Airport, a claim firmly rejected by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee as nothing more than standard customs and security procedures
As reported by The Post Millennial, Carlson, a prominent critic of Israel in recent years, asserted that men who identified themselves as airport security took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about. He characterized the encounter as bizarre, and said that his team had already left the country following the incident.
Huckabee publicly disputed Carlsons account, insisting that the episode was being distorted for dramatic effect. EVERYONE who comes in/out of Israel (every country for that matter) has passports checked & routinely asked security questions, he wrote on X, emphasizing that Carlson had not been singled out for unusual treatment.
The former Arkansas governor also posted a statement attributed to the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) that flatly contradicted the notion of harassment or detention. The IAA maintained that Carlsons entourage was not denied, delayed, or interrogated, pushing back on the narrative that Israeli authorities had targeted the conservative commentator.
According to the IAA, Carlson and his associates were politely asked a few routine questions, in line with the security measures applied to countless travelers entering and leaving the country. Officials added that the brief conversation occurred in a separate room within the VIP lounge solely to protect their privacy and to avoid conducting security screening in public view.
A U.S. Embassy spokesperson, speaking to The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, rejected the suggestion that Israel had only permitted Carlson into the country for the sake of his interview with Huckabee. The spokesperson explained that the embassys role was limited to coordinating the landing of Carlsons private aircraft as part of facilitating a seamless visit, not orchestrating any special restrictions on his movements.
The embassy representative further noted that Carlson opted to stay only a few hours before departing, while receiving the same positive treatment of any visitors to Israel. The interview with Huckabee took place in the VIP lounge at Ben Gurion, where Carlson was subjected to the same passport control questions that countless visitors to Israel, including Ambassador Huckabee and other diplomats, receive as part of normal entrance and exit.
Carlson had flown to Israel specifically to interview Huckabee yet chose not to leave the airport complex at any point during his brief stay. Upon arrival, he posted a photograph of himself and business partner Neil Patel outside Ben Gurion Airport with the caption, Greetings from Israel.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sharply rebuked Carlson on X, labeling him a chickensh*t and accusing him of staging the trip for optics while fabricating the story of mistreatment. Bennett charged that Carlson didnt even step foot in the country and then made up a story that hes being supposedly harassed by our security, before boarding his private jet and flying out.
David Friedman, who served as US ambassador to Israel under President Donald Trump, criticized Carlsons decision to remain confined to the airport as an obviously intentional missed opportunity. Friedman indicated that Carlson had been invited to visit key locations across Israel, implying that the broadcaster passed up a genuine chance to see the country firsthand.
Since his departure from Fox News in 2023, Carlson has built an independent platform, The Tucker Carlson Show, where he has hosted figures who have advanced openly antisemitic rhetoric, including Darryl Cooper and Nick Fuentes, the latter having described himself as an admirer of Adolf Hitler. In his conversation with Fuentes, Carlson claimed that Huckabee was seized by this brain virus of support for Israel and declared, I dislike [Christian Zionists] more than anybody.
Carlson has also ventured into inflammatory speculation about Israels role in domestic U.S. events, suggesting at Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirks memorial service that Israel was responsible for the conservative activists assassination.
Advocacy organization StopAntisemitism later named Carlson its Antisemite of the Year in December 2025, underscoring how his increasingly hostile rhetoric toward the Jewish state and its supporters has alienated many on the right who remain firmly pro-Israel and view such accusations as both reckless and corrosive to the conservative movement.
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