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When did Tucker Carlson publicly criticize U.S. support for Israel for the first time?
Executive summary
Tucker Carlson’s public, sustained criticism of U.S. support for Israel appears in reporting as early as October 2023 when outlets noted he questioned GOP backing for Israel after the Hamas attacks (Haaretz) and is repeatedly documented in 2024–2025 episodes and interviews where he called U.S. policy toward Israel problematic — notably his June 2025 exchanges with Sen. Ted Cruz and his later podcast interviews that denounced “Christian Zionism” and called parts of the GOP “seized by this brain virus” [1] [2] [3]. Available sources do not mention a single, definitive “first time” moment; instead they trace a pattern of increasingly public criticism across 2023–2025 [1] [2] [3].
1. Early public signs: October 2023 coverage that Carlson questioned GOP support for Israel
News analysis in October 2023 reported Tucker Carlson questioning Republican support for Israel after Hamas’s October attacks, describing him as an outlier for opposing GOP backing of Israel’s response; that article frames his skepticism of U.S.-Israel policy as already public by late 2023 [1]. This suggests Carlson’s public criticism did not suddenly appear in 2025 but had visible echoes at least as early as fall 2023 [1].
2. A sustained thread: 2024–mid‑2025 as a period of consistent public critiques
Commentary and reporting from mid‑2024 through 2025 show Carlson shifting into a more populist, anti‑intervention posture that targeted U.S. foreign policy and American support for Israel as part of an “America First” narrative; opinion pieces note he “bludgeon[ed] U.S. foreign policy as overly interventionist” and that his remarks attracted both praise and alarm [4] [5]. Coverage of a June 18, 2025 conversation with Sen. Ted Cruz highlighted an explicit critique of the U.S.–Israeli alliance, marking a notable high‑profile moment in which reporters flagged his skepticism as surprising and consequential [2].
3. June 2025: A documented turning point in mainstream coverage
Multiple outlets cite Carlson’s June 2025 interview with Ted Cruz as a particularly clear and public instance of him criticizing the U.S.–Israeli relationship; Mondoweiss framed the exchange as a “strong critique of the U.S.-Israeli alliance,” and other analyses from that period pick up the theme that Carlson had moved from intermittent questions to a sustained critique that resonated across conservative media [2]. The New York Times likewise notes that in June Carlson openly criticized the president for actions tied to Israel’s interests, calling out the administration for being “complicit in the act of war” after strikes on Iranian nuclear sites tied to Israel [6].
4. Late‑2025 escalation and the “Israel First” debate
By late 2025, Carlson’s rhetoric had escalated into a broad intra‑conservative feud over what some called the “Israel First” vs. “America First” divide. His podcast interviews — including a high‑profile episode in which he hosted Nick Fuentes and where he denounced “Christian Zionism” — amplified his criticisms and provoked sharp pushback from conservative figures and Jewish organizations, generating a flurry of reporting that framed Carlson as a central figure in a right‑wing realignment on Israel policy [3] [7] [8].
5. Competing perspectives and how outlets frame “firsts”
Different outlets emphasize different moments. Haaretz highlighted October 2023 commentary that Carlson opposed GOP support for Israel [1]. Mondoweiss and Haaretz/NYT coverage make June 2025 a clear inflection point when his critiques became prominent in national debate [2] [6]. Conservative‑leaning outlets and Carlson allies portray his critiques as long‑standing and principled objections to foreign entanglement, while mainstream and Jewish outlets portray the same comments as part of a dangerous shift toward antisemitic tropes or as a fracturing of Republican consensus [9] [5] [8].
6. Why there’s no single “first time” in available reporting
None of the provided sources claim a single definitive date as Carlson’s “first” public criticism of U.S. support for Israel; instead they document a continuum from 2023 through 2025 in which his critiques surface, recur and intensify across interviews, pundit pieces and his podcast [1] [2] [3]. Therefore, asking for a singular first public criticism is misleading given the sources’ emphasis on a pattern rather than one discrete inaugural event [1] [2].
7. What to watch next and the stakes in coverage
Reporting highlights two stakes: [10] Carlson’s critiques have helped open an intra‑right debate over America’s relationship with Israel, shifting some conservative discourse away from automatic bipartisanship [3] [7]; and [11] opponents warn his rhetoric blurs into antisemitic framings, a charge Carlson and supporters deny, saying they target policies and elites, not Jewish people [5] [9]. Follow‑up coverage will likely hinge on whether his rhetoric produces concrete policy shifts among Republican leaders or remains primarily a media and cultural flashpoint [3] [12].
Limitations: available sources document multiple public criticisms spanning 2023–2025 but do not identify a single, universally agreed “first” instance; they emphasize pattern and escalation rather than a solitary opening salvo [1] [2] [3].