Tucker Carlson recently platformed known antisemite Nick Fuentes on his podcast, where the former Fox News host seemed eager to match, if not outdo, his guest’s extreme rhetoric toward Israel and the Jewish people.
During their more-than-two-hour conversation, the words Jew, Jews, and Jewish were mentioned 42 times, while Israel was spoken 51 times. Though the discussion wandered across a variety of topics, it repeatedly circled back to the Jewish people and the State of Israel. And, as if to soften the edges of their hostility, both men reassured listeners that they “have Jewish friends.”
Maybe now I should say “had” Jewish friends?
Their obsession is no coincidence. Their dialogue was fixated on Israel and the Jewish people because antisemitism often disguises itself as “honest questioning” about Jewish influence or Israel’s legitimacy. When a conversation continually circles around Jews and Israel with suspicion and accusation, to the exclusion of all other peoples and nations, it’s no longer about ideas—it’s about blame. This kind of rhetoric has deep historical roots. It feeds the old, poisonous lie that the Jewish people and Israel are the source of the world’s problems.
Carlson didn’t stop there. He took aim at Christian Zionists—believers like myself—mocking our literal interpretation of Scripture as a “brain virus”:
How do you explain [Mike] Huckabee, Ted Cruz. … Who I’ve seen be seized by this brain virus, and they’re not Jewish. Most of them are self-described Christians. And then the Christian Zionists. … I dislike them more than anybody … because it’s Christian heresy, and I’m offended by that as a Christian.
I suppose Carlson would loathe my existence. I’m a Christian Zionist, and I refuse to be shamed or miscast by the notion that supporting the Jewish people and the State of Israel is some kind of virus.
Carlson’s use of the phrase brain virus was meant to ridicule Christians who believe the Jewish people have a biblical right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. But this rhetoric exposes something older and far darker: the belief that the Jewish people themselves are the problem.
I’m a Christian Zionist, and I refuse to be shamed or miscast by the notion that supporting the Jewish people and the State of Israel is some kind of virus.
Their words recycle ancient tropes: Jews as nefarious power brokers, Jews as global puppet masters, Israel as the “occupier.” What they spread isn’t a thoughtful critique—it’s the virus of suspicion, hate, and scapegoating that has harmed the Jewish people for centuries.
If you don’t believe me, just read the myriad of antisemitic YouTube comments on their discussion. They mimic the hatred the Jewish people endured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
At one point, Carlson asked Fuentes which conservatives stand in the way of winning back the country. Fuentes replied,
The Zionist Jews, like Dave Rubin, like Ben Shapiro, like Dennis Prager. It was the guys that were really controlling the media apparatus that seemed to me to be the biggest impediment.
That’s not analysis—it’s accusation dressed as enlightenment.
He’s throwing conservative Jewish commentators under the bus for their belief that Israel remains a vital ally to American interests.
In contrast, Christian Zionism says something radically different: The Jewish people are not the problem. God is not finished with Israel—not with the land, not with the people, not with the promise. To stand with Israel is not heresy; it is biblical fidelity.
When God called Abram (later Abraham), He promised a land (Israel), a people (the Jewish people), and a multifaceted blessing to make Abraham a great nation and to protect that nation throughout history, that they might fulfill their divine calling to bless all the families of the earth.
That covenant doesn’t remain trapped in the verses of Genesis. It binds the entire story of Scripture together. The prophets proclaim it; the apostles affirm it. In Romans 11, the apostle Paul—Carlson’s self-professed hero—uses the image of an olive tree: the natural branches (Israel) and the grafted-in wild branches (Gentile believers):
If some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them… do not boast against the branches (Romans 11:17–18).
Paul’s warning could not be clearer: Do not be arrogant toward Israel. And yet Carlson, Fuentes, and those who echo their views do exactly that.
Ironically, in calling Christian Zionism “heresy,” they embrace the unbiblical doctrine known as Supersessionism—the false idea that the church has replaced Israel, that God’s promises to the Jewish people have expired.
Fuentes, promoting Supersessionism, cited Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century Catholic philosopher, to claim that Jewish people are a “witnessed people” who have special legal protections but no ongoing spiritual role. Then he doubled down:
My substantive disagreement … is the idea that neoconservatism and Israel has [sic] nothing to do with Jewish identity … because, clearly, the State of Israel and the neocons are deeply motivated by that ethnic identity. … The blood and soil nationalism of Israel… stems from this ethno-religion, which is Judaism.
If only they would open their Bibles, they would see that Jesus and all His apostles believed in a coming restoration of Israel’s kingdom, just as God had promised “through His holy prophets” (Acts 3:17–21).
Their brand of Supersessionism runs headlong into Paul’s reminder that even in unbelief, Israel remains beloved “for the sake of the fathers,” because “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28–29). God’s covenant with Abraham—land, people, blessing—cannot be undone.
Carlson and Fuentes paint Christian Zionists as naïve or deceived, blindly serving the Israeli agenda. But Paul defines the heart of the Christian Zionist who calls Gentile believers to humility, not hubris: “Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear” (v. 20).
That’s my posture as a Christian Zionist: humble gratitude, not arrogance; reverence for God and His Word, not bondage to any political agenda.
Their line “Christian Zionism is Christian heresy” reveals that politics has become their religion, and America is their kingdom. They promote not the transforming work of Christ in individual hearts but a cultural crusade—a collective Christian identity defined by power, blame, and control. In that movement, Israel becomes a target, and Christian Zionists are the pawns.
I will live as a wild branch grafted in by grace—grateful, humbled, and standing in solidarity with the root, not boasting against it and blaming it for the woes of party affiliation.
As for me, I will continue to speak up for the Jewish people, to pray for Israel, and to affirm the land God has promised. I will oppose the targeting of Jewish people, I will reject the lie that a Jewish conspiracy is what’s wrong with the world, and I will encourage believers to see that the Jewish people are not the obstacle to redemption but rather are a key part of God’s redemptive plan.
I will live as a wild branch grafted in by grace—grateful, humbled, and standing in solidarity with the root, not boasting against it and blaming it for the woes of party affiliation.
So to Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, I would simply say: Read your Bible.
It’s a Jewish book—yes, even the New Testament. There you’ll find that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel, who came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel to establish the New Covenant, promised to Israel in Jeremiah 31:31, a blessing for the world. You’ll see that Paul, a faithful Jewish man himself, affirmed that God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still stands.
God’s love for the Jewish people is not a political issue; it’s a biblical truth.
Do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you (Romans 11:18).
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons
About the Author
Comments 7
Excellent response, Chris! Good job. Much needed.
Bruce, admittedly off topic, but wanted to use this forum to let you know that I just finished your book “ the feasts of Israel “ . Believe or not there are still copies available; regardless the book was a great read. Thanks
Well stated, my brother! Continue to speak out.
Great response, very helpful, let’s pray news, academic & church circles will hear you and be convinced.
Re: brain virus. Right on, Chris Katulka.
Thank you for this timely message. I love Israel and the Jewish people. It is a hard day-always has been-for them. It is heart breaking to see how one small nation is so maligned by the media and the world. We know why and one day satan will be defeated and God will show to all, the Truth.
❤️ all the above comments!