An internal attack at the top of the conservative media, in the context of Israel with an anti-Semitic flavor.
Tucker Carlson, a former Fox executive who now operates as an independent figure, accuses prominent Jewish journalist Ben Shapiro of "[not] caring about the country at all."
"I'm from here, my family has been here for hundreds of years, I plan to stay here — I'm shocked at how little they care about the country, including [Shapiro]," he said.
He accused him and other pro-Israel voices of "focusing on the conflict in a foreign country (Israel) because their country (the United States) is becoming dangerously unstable."
He argues that Shapiro and his ilk ignore a number of fundamental U.S. problems, such as immigration at the borders and the financial situation. "They haven't said anything about it, and they show zero interest in (other) international issues."
Ben Shapiro, in 2021, Photo by Getty Images
Carlson made the remarks in a conversation with popular right-wing broadcaster Sa'ager Anjeti.
His remarks play on the well-known historical anti-Semitic accusation against Jews of "disloyalty." There has always been an anti-Semitic current in the Republican Party, which is historically one of the reasons why most Jews support the Democratic Party.
In recent decades, this hostile current has weakened considerably, but Carlson's remarks and other developments, including problematic statements by Trump, could bring it back to the center of Republican discourse.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman attacked Carlson and demanded that he apologize.
"Ben is an American patriot who cares deeply about our country. Anyone who has listened to him over the past 22 years knows this. He wakes up every morning thinking about how he can advance American security and prosperity. Among other things, Ben has been a strong advocate for closing our southern border and ending the massive flow of fentanyl that is killing our youth. I agree with Ben on these and other issues. Ben also cares, as I do, about Hamas's brutal attack on Israeli civilians. He supports U.S. financial aid to Israel and has been a frequent critic of the Biden administration's appeasement of Iran.
"You can be an American patriot and support both a closed border and American aid to Israel. In fact, I suspect a lot of Americans feel that way. Tucker says that because Ben supports Israel, he doesn't care about America. I hope he doesn't really mean it. It's a shameful thing to say and he needs to apologize," Friedman said.
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