Tucker Carlson Makes Brief Israel Visit for Airport Interview With Huckabee

Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson made a brief and tightly contained visit to Israel this week, conducting a filmed sit-down interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee entirely inside Ben Gurion Airport.

According to sources, Carlson did not leave the airport complex during his stay. He arrived, recorded the conversation with Huckabee, and departed around 3 p.m., wrapping up a visit that lasted only a few hours.

The unusual airport-only stop followed a public exchange between the two men earlier this month. Carlson had released an episode titled “Christian Persecution,” filmed at the Jordan River baptism site, in which he questioned Israel’s treatment of Christians and American support for the Jewish state. Huckabee responded publicly, inviting Carlson to discuss the issue face-to-face an invitation Carlson accepted.

In his earlier broadcast, Carlson interviewed Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem Hosam Naoum and a Jordanian Christian businessman, framing Israel as hostile toward its Christian population and suggesting U.S. aid indirectly supports that mistreatment.

However, official data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics tells a more complex story. While Christians represent a smaller percentage of Israel’s total population today than in 1948, their absolute numbers have grown significantly from roughly 34,000 in 1949 to about 185,000 today. That growth stands in contrast to many other parts of the Middle East, where Christian populations have sharply declined.

The proportional decrease, from around 10% of the population at Israel’s founding to under 2% today, reflects faster growth among Jewish and Muslim communities not a shrinking Christian population.

Carlson also asserted that American funding supports “the cultural and religious life of the region,” a claim that blurs distinctions between U.S. military assistance and internal religious dynamics.

Huckabee, a longtime evangelical leader and close ally of President Donald Trump, has taken a firm pro-Israel stance. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate as ambassador in 2025, he has repeatedly emphasized religious freedom protections in Israel.

Notably, during Carlson’s original episode, Archbishop Naoum himself appeared to temper the more sweeping accusations. When Carlson suggested Huckabee’s actions were “shameful,” Naoum responded that he did not wish to blame the ambassador. The archbishop also described incidents involving extremist harassment of Christian clergy in Jerusalem as the work of “fringe groups” and “radicals.”

The filmed airport meeting now places the two perspectives directly in dialogue, though the content of their sit-down has yet to be released.

The episode underscores a shifting debate within American conservative circles over Israel policy a conversation far more visible than in previous decades. Yet Israel’s record of Christian population growth and legal religious protections remains a central part of its defense against claims of systemic persecution.

As the discussion unfolds, Israel continues to present itself as a country where Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities coexist even amid the region’s broader turmoil.

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