ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated:

Israeli has "definitely lost its morality," Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson told Channel 13 in his first interview in recent years with Israeli media, broadcast on Tuesday night.

Carlson pointed at the civilian casualties Israel has inflicted during recent wars against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran as examples of its lost moral compass.

When it was pointed out that Israel acts in self-defense, Carlson pivoted to describing how his qualm is with the fact that the United States funds Israel's military.

"The reason that I have cause to comment on this and to say that it's wrong is that I'm paying for it," he said. "There's no reason the United States should be sending any money at all to Israel, and particularly not to its military."

"If Hamas does something bad, it's bad. It doesn't justify Israel doing the same bad thing, nor does it justify the US," added Carlson. "You can't kill people who haven't done anything wrong."

‘Attempts by the likes of former US vice president Kamala Harris and polarizing commentator Tucker Carlson to convince the American public that the US was dragged into the war by Israel are but a cheap endeavor to gain favor in an arena where Israel-bashing is trendy,’ the writer says.
‘Attempts by the likes of former US vice president Kamala Harris and polarizing commentator Tucker Carlson to convince the American public that the US was dragged into the war by Israel are but a cheap endeavor to gain favor in an arena where Israel-bashing is trendy,’ the writer says. (credit: CHENEY ORR/REUTERS)

Carlson implied that Israel is "unenlightened" for responding to the October 7 Hamas attacks with the Gaza war due to the collateral damage caused.

"We had the September 11 attacks, where many were killed, and in response, the US killed some of those responsible for that, and also many innocent people," said Carlson. "We did it. It is never permissible to kill an innocent person. You cannot kill a child who has done nothing wrong. That is what enlightened people are; that is the definition of an enlightened country."

Tucker Carlson claims Israel is not a democracy

Carlson also claimed that Israel is not a democracy "in any sense" because of the millions of Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza who do not have the right to vote.

When confronted with past occasions of him referring to Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide," Carlson rebutted.

"Israel has murdered all these children, thousands of children in Gaza. But the real criminal is me because I describe that as genocide. Ok, it's not genocide. It's killing innocents. It's wrong. You can call it genocide or ethnic cleansing. You can call it a crime, a sin, an atrocity. I don't really care."

Carlson further accused US President Donald Trump of "giving in to pressure from Netanyahu."

"On February 28, the US followed Israel into this war, and the US Secretary of State said that there was no choice and that Israel chose the timing," Carlson said. "This is the definition of control. So my question is, why did Trump let a nation of 9 million people drag a nation of 350 million people into a war that would change its future, and that is bad for the United States?"