Trump Reportedly Pushed Tucker Carlson To ‘Turn Down the Temperature’ on Israel Ahead of Huckabee Sit-Down

Tucker Carlson’s interview with Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is a likely product of President Trump’s behind-the-scenes work to smooth over divisions on Israel within the conservative coalition, according to former Fox News host and pro-Israel advocate Melissa Francis.Ms. Francis, who helped arrange the meeting, told the Jerusalem Post that Mr. Carlson has faced direct pressure from the president to cool his rhetoric on the America-Israel alliance. “Everybody’s looking for a way to turn down the temperature,” she said on Wednesday. “President Trump is telling everyone, including Tucker, ‘Let’s take this down.'”Ms. Francis also divulged that Mr. Carlson had expressed a willingness to visit Israel, but with a condition. She recalled that Mr. Carlson said “I would go tomorrow,” but “I need to know that the prime minister would welcome me.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffed Mr. Carlson’s attempts to secure a meeting, he told Ms. Francis. He eventually agreed to sit down with Mr. Huckabee, though notably Mr. Carlson conducted the interview from Israel’s airport and did not venture beyond the airport complex, according to reports. The interview came at the behest of Mr. Huckabee, who publicly called out Mr. Carlson for criticizing his diplomacy without ever engaging with him directly. “You seem to be generating a lot of heat about the Middle East,” Mr. Huckabee wrote. “Why be afraid of the light?”Mr. Carlson has spent recent weeks traveling through the Middle East, interviewing Christian figures about life in the Levant for his podcast, The Tucker Carlson Show. His most recent episode, titled “The Shocking Reality of the Treatment of Christians in the Holy Land by the US-Funded Israeli Government,” portrays Israel as systematically targeting and displacing the region’s Christian population — a characterization that drew swift condemnation from some Israeli Christians.The founder of the Aramaic Israeli Christian Association, Shadi Khalloul, dismissed the video as “propaganda aimed at deceiving Westerners and making Islam look appealing.” Mr. Khalloul said he had offered to personally accompany Mr. Carlson to significant sites across Israel so that he could see the “thriving Christian community” for himself. The invitation, he said, went unanswered.Mr. Carlson has not released any clips from Wednesday’s interview, but sources told the Jerusalem Post that the treatment of Christians in Israel featured prominently in the exchange. Mr. Huckabee previewed his intentions ahead of the interview, saying Monday that he hopes to “change the narrative” by “pushing back” against what he called “misinformation.”

Trump Reportedly Pushed Tucker Carlson To ‘Turn Down the Temperature’ on Israel Ahead of Huckabee Sit-Down

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