{"id":305823,"date":"2026-02-23T10:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/305823\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T10:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:35:10","slug":"us-ambassador-to-israel-rebukes-tucker-carlson-after-contentious-airport-interview-middle-east-monitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/305823\/","title":{"rendered":"US ambassador to Israel rebukes Tucker Carlson after contentious airport interview \u2013 Middle East Monitor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has launched a sharp criticism of commentator Tucker Carlson following a contentious interview conducted at Ben Gurion Airport, accusing him of promoting unsubstantiated claims and damaging Israel\u2019s image.<\/p>\n<p>In a series of posts on the social media platform X, Huckabee said the interview contained what he claimed as \u201cmisleading assertions\u201d, adding that one question relating to an alleged harassment case appeared intended to \u201cset him up\u201d rather than seek clarification.<\/p>\n<p>The ambassador stated that Tom Alexandrovich, an Israeli citizen arrested in Nevada in August 2025 for child sex crimes charges, had not violated any court orders. According to Huckabee, the individual was released on bail, appeared before the court via Zoom and entered a plea of not guilty.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20260219-presenter-tucker-carlson-claims-israel-detained-him-after-interview-with-us-ambassador\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Presenter Tucker Carlson claims Israel detained him after interview with US ambassador<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Huckabee also rejected Carlson\u2019s allegation that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had visited the location commonly referred to as \u201cEpstein Island\u201d, describing the claim as defamatory. \u201cTucker might need to consult his lawyers. Defaming a good and honourable man is reckless,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Carlson later published a video on X retracting his statements about Herzog, saying he had received a letter from the president\u2019s office denying any connection to Jeffrey Epstein. He issued a formal apology, acknowledging that his earlier remarks were made without verified information.<\/p>\n<p>Huckabee further criticised Carlson\u2019s interpretation of Zionism, calling their exchange \u201cconvoluted and confusing\u201d. He said Zionism meant recognising Israel\u2019s right to exist in security and peace, accusing Carlson of avoiding a clear answer when asked whether he recognised that right.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20260221-palestine-denounces-us-envoys-remarks-on-israeli-rule-over-middle-east\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Palestine denounces US envoy\u2019s remarks on Israeli rule over Middle East<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has launched a sharp criticism of commentator Tucker Carlson following a contentious&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-305823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}