Tucker Carlson claimed that he and his staff were detained at an Israeli airport — but US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said it was merely a routine customs screening.
Carlson — a vocal critic of US-Israel policy who has been accused of using antisemitic language — has traveled to Israel to interview Huckabee, but refused to leave the Ben Gurion Airport complex.
“Men who identified themselves as airport security took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about,” the podcaster and ex Fox News host said in a statement to The Post.
“It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country.”
Huckabee rejected Carlson’s claims and wrote that “EVERYONE who comes in/out of Israel (every country for that matter) has passports checked & routinely asked security questions.”
The ambassador also shared a statement from the Israel Airports Authority denying all accusations that Carlson’s “entourage” were “denied, delayed, or interrogated.”
“Mr. Carlson and his party were politely asked a few routine questions, in accordance with standard procedures applied to many travelers. The conversation took place in a separate room within the VIP lounge solely to protect their privacy and to avoid conducting such a discussion in public,” the IAA wrote.
When he arrived, Carlson posted a picture of himself and his business partner, Neil Patel, in front of the Ben Gurion Airport, captioned “Greetings from Israel.”
Carlson, 56, has veered sharply into bashing Israel since he was pushed out of Fox News in 2023.
He launched his independent stream “The Tucker Carlson Show” just one year later–where he has platformed scores of renowned antisemites, ranging from Holocaust denier Darryl Cooper to white supremacist Nick Fuentes, an unabashed admirer of Adolf Hitler.
During his chummy tête-à-tête with Fuentes, Carlson singled out Huckabee as a “Christian Zionists” he bizarrely asserted was “seized by this brain virus” of supporting Israel
“I dislike [Christian Zionists] more than anybody,” Carlson said.
At Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, which upwards of 100 million people watched online, Carlson suggested that Israel was behind the conservative pundit’s assassination while trying to paint his death with Jesus’ crucifixion.
StopAntisemitism, a grassroots watchdog organization, named Carlson the “Antisemite of the Year” in December 2025.
“He uses his platform of millions to normalize antisemitism, from downplaying white supremacy to promoting the antisemitic ‘great replacement theory,’ turning dog whistles into a megaphone for hate,” the group said.
Critics were quick to call out Carlson’s refusal to leave the airport during his visit, which lasted only a few hours.
“Too bad Tucker stayed in the airport in the face of so many invitations to see so many wonderful places. A huge and obviously intentional missed opportunity,” David Friedman, the former US ambassador to Israel during Trump’s first term, wrote on X.
“He doesn’t realize they don’t stamp passports anymore! Jk he hates Israel and he’s a coward,” a rabbi from Kansas added.
