Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli issued a sharp rebuke of parts of the US conservative movement on Friday, after Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts publicly defended Tucker Carlson for hosting white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his podcast.
In a long post on X/Twitter, Chikli outlined what he called conservatism’s “three foundations” (faith, truth, and freedom), “all rooted in one source: the Bible.”
Quoting Alexis de Tocqueville, he wrote that “liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”
He added that “if faith gives the world its meaning, truth gives it its structure. Conservatism affirms the existence of an absolute moral reality,” citing Russell Kirk’s line that “the conservative believes in an enduring moral order.”
Chikli wrote that the idea of human freedom and the sanctity of life stands at the heart of the biblical tradition and at the foundation of conservative philosophy. He invoked the Tower of Babel, Abraham’s break with idolatry, and the Exodus as a narrative of resisting tyranny, arguing that from this legacy emerged the small and ancient Nation of Israel and, in Thomas Jefferson’s words, the modern “Empire of Liberty.”
He cautioned, in Ronald Reagan’s words, that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
Warning of things to come
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Chikli said that “it is astonishing to see people claiming the banner of conservatism, kneeling in admiration before totalitarian idols, and openly platforming admirers of Hitler and Stalin. It is painful to watch leaders of important institutions swept along like a small branch in the current, driven by fear of public opinion. Something is deeply fractured in parts of the conservative movement across the Atlantic. As it says in Isaiah: ‘Truth has stumbled in the public square.’”
Later Friday, Chikli posted again, writing that it is time to rescreen the film The Wave in theaters, a cautionary tale about how authoritarian movements take hold.