Jonathan S. Tobin
JNS, Nov. 16, 2024
“Though the former president consistently ignored Carlson’s advice when it came to his historic support for Israel, as well as his tough attitude towards Iran when he was president, it’s not unreasonable to ask whether it might be different in a putative second Trump administration.”
On the main stage of American politics, the lines of debate about Israel and the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 have been clear. Almost all Republicans and most Democratic officeholders support the Jewish state in its necessary war of self-defence against Islamist terrorists who seek its destruction and the genocide of the Jewish people. Much of the Democrats’ left-wing base disagrees with progressives being the loudest voices raised against Israel. They also have supplied the ideological foundation and the activist passion behind the surge in antisemitism that has been on display on the streets of America’s cities and college campuses in the past six weeks.
The political left has become the primary engine of the spike in Jew-hatred, while most of the political right has become even more closely aligned with support for Israel during this crisis. It would be untrue, however, to claim that there are no exceptions to that rule. Though they don’t reflect the overwhelming majority of American conservatives, there is a small but highly influential group on the right that is not only unsympathetic to the Jewish state but providing intellectual cover to those openly engaged in antisemitic invective and demonization of Israel and its supporters.
Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson and Daily Wire personality Candace Owens are the two most prominent names on the right whose reactions to Oct. 7 have highlighted their opposition to the idea that America should be supporting Israel against Hamas and their Iranian sponsors.
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