American commentator Tucker Carlson pushed back against an Israeli television anchor during an interview with Channel 13, telling him that Israelis should think twice before using the phrase “terror regime” for Iran given the killings of thousands of children in Gaza at the hands of their own country.
The exchange grew tense when the Israeli anchor accused the United States (US) of caving to Iran, describing it as a “terror regime” that controls the Hormuz pathway.
With the Israeli anchor also accusing Tehran of building a network of militant groups across the Middle East, Carlson turned his focus to the language being used. “I think as an Israeli, you should pause before using the phrase terror regime, since you live in a country that just murdered thousands of children in Gaza.”
“We should all pull back a little bit on the rhetoric like that. I’m not defending Iran, but I’m just saying the terror regime… it’s a little hard to hear that from an Israeli right now, I have to say.”
The anchor fired back, rejecting any comparison between Israel and Iran. “To make an equation between a democratic government that’s acting in self-defence to a terror regime in Iran that is terrorising its own citizens, that’s hanging gay people from cranes under extremist laws, to a democratic country that abides by international law, it’s ridiculous,” he said.
Carlson said that he did not consider Israel and Iran to be the same, but stood his ground on the substance of his criticism. “I don’t have a military, I’m a podcaster, so I don’t target people,” he told the anchor.
“What I’m saying is true, Iran’s government’s behaviour is in some cases disgusting to me and immoral. But the behaviour of the Israeli government in Gaza is disgusting and immoral.”
Carlson also challenged Israel’s claim to being a democracy. “Of course, Israel is not a democracy in any sense. There are millions of people who live under Israeli control who cannot vote,” he said, referring to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who have lived under Israeli control since 1967 without political representation.
He also pushed back on the invocation of October 7 as justification for the military campaign in Gaza. “I don’t think killing children is self-defence. It never will be. And no amount of recounting the atrocities of October 7 will ever get me to accept this behaviour from the Israeli government, from the US government, from the Iranian government or any government,” Carlson said.
“Israel has to acknowledge that principles are universal. They apply to everyone. But you won’t acknowledge that. It’s always like, oh, Iran’s bad. Yeah, Iran’s bad. But your behaviour is bad too,” he added.
