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Ted Cruz Blasts Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes While Declaring a ‘Time for Choosing’ on Right-Wing Antisemitism
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at a press conference about the United States restricting weapons for Israel, at the US Capitol, Washington, DC. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) repudiated controversial pundit Tucker Carlson, antisemitic commentator Nick Fuentes, and Heritage Foundation leader Kevin Roberts while calling out a rise in right-wing antisemitism during remarks at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit on Thursday night.
“Now is a time for choosing. Now is a time for courage,” Cruz said to the audience in Las Vegas, Nevada. “If you sit there and nod adoringly as someone tells you that Winston Churchill was the villain of World War II, if you sit there and nod as someone tells you there’s a very good argument that America should’ve intervened on behalf of Nazi Germany in World War II, if you sit there with someone that says that Adolph Hitler was very, very cool, and that their mission is to combat and defeat global Jewry, then you are a coward.”
Cruz was referring to a series of recent podcast interviews in which Carlson hosted controversial guests who made such arguments but did not challenge their views, seemingly endorsing them as legitimate.
Most recently, Carlson conducted a friendly interview with Fuentes, an avowed antisemite and Holocaust denier, that was released earlier this week. During the conversation, both men rebuked Israel and Zionism, with Carlson lambasting Christian Zionism as an affront to the values of Christianity.
“I dislike them more than anybody. Because it’s Christian heresy, and I’m offended by that as a Christian,” Carlson said of Christian Zionists.
Fuentes further declared “organized Jewry in America” as the obstacle preventing Americans from experiencing true unity. He also stated that ‘these Zionist Jews’ need to be removed from the broader conservative movement.
Following the controversial interview, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts issued a statement reaffirming the prominent conservative think tank’s relationship with Carlson. Roberts argued that his loyalties rest with Christianity and the US, and that Christians are not obligated to lend support to Israel. He then repudiated critics of Carlson as “globalists” — a term that many people believe serves as an antisemitic dog whistle — and as a “venomous coalition.” He stated that he does not agree with Fuentes’s antisemitism, but “canceling him is not the answer.”
Roberts’s comments whipped up a firestorm of criticism online, with many Jewish conservatives expressing outrage and feelings of betrayal. Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks wrote that Roberts’s statement “is a total abrogation of their mission and what it means to be a conservative today.”
Carlson has sparked backlash among conservatives over his consistent pattern of condemning Israel and platforming individuals who peddle antisemitic narratives. He has falsely suggested that Israel, the world’s lone Jewish state, oppresses and persecutes Christians.
During an interview with controversial podcaster Darryl Cooper, Carlson did not push back after Cooper argued that the US was on the “wrong side” of World War II and that former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, not Adolph Hitler, “was the chief villain of World War II.” Cooper also suggested that the slaughter of six million Jews in concentration camps was “humane” because the Nazis did not have food to feed the “prisoners of war.”
Over the past decade, Fuentes has established himself as one the most high-profile openly antisemitic commentators in the US. Despite facing near-ubiquitous bans by most social platforms, Fuentes has amassed a significant audience for his “America First” web show on Rumble, in which he has spewed a seemingly relentless torrent of anti-Jewish commentary. Fuentes once called for the extermination of Jewish people from American civilization, arguing that Jews persecute and oppress Christians. He has urged Christians to start a “Holy War” against Jewish people and said of Jews: “To cheat, to lie, act in bad faith as though it’s second nature.” The commentator Fuentes has further claimed that “Jews run the news” and defended Hitler, saying that the Nazi leader’s reputation was “crafted by Jews.”
“Everybody, in every nation, in all times, for thousands of years, eventually comes to the conclusion that Jews always act in bad faith,” Fuentes said during an episode of his show.
In recent months, Fuentes has embarked on an extensive media tour, becoming a guest for popular podcasters such as Dave Smith and Patrick Bet David. In these interviews, some observers noted that Fuentes has struck a more moderate tone, potentially as a calculated effort to soften and mainstream his image. Fuentes’s popularity among right-leaning Gen Z men — his audience has quintupled to around 500,000 over the past year, according to the New York Times — may have decreased the stigma of featuring the antisemitic podcaster.
Critics have noted that Carlson, in contrast to his friendly conversations with Cooper, Fuentes, and others, conducted an aggressive and hostile interview with Cruz, one of the most conservative members of the US Congress, during the summer. The interview quickly deteriorated into a shouting match, as Carlson interrogated Cruz over his staunch support of Israel. Cruz pushed back, accusing Carlson of fomenting antisemitic conspiracy theories under the guise of criticism of Israel.
On Thursday, Cruz warned of a surge in right-wing antisemitism that must be thwarted.
“In the last six months, I’ve seen more antisemitism on the right than I had in my entire life,” Cruz said.
“This is a poison,” he continued. “And I believe we are facing an existential crisis in our party and our country.”
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Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’
Rep Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, on Sunday likened the Trump administration’s immigration rhetoric to Nazi depictions of Jews.
“It reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany,” Omar said in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, commenting on a social media post by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, in which he suggested that “migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands.” Miller, who is Jewish, is the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Omar called Miller’s comments “white supremist rhetoric” and also drew parallels between his characterization of migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. to how Jews were demonized and treated when they fled Nazi-era Germany. “As we know, there have been many immigrants who have tried to come to the United States who have turned back, you know, one of them being Jewish immigrants,” she said.
Now serving as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Miller is central to the White House’s plans for mass deportations and expanded barriers to asylum. During Trump’s first term, Miller led the implementation of the so-called Muslim travel ban in 2017, which barred entry to the U.S. for individuals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and pushed to further reduce a longtime refugee program.
Rep. Ilhan Omar: “When I think about Stephen Miller and his white supremacist rhetoric, it reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany.” pic.twitter.com/GAjIMqFq26
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 7, 2025
Miller’s comments echoed similar rhetoric by Trump after an Afghan refugee was accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House last month, killing one.
Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting last week that Somali immigrants are “garbage” and that he wanted them to be sent “back to where they came from.” The president also singled out Omar, a Somali native who represents Minnesota’s large Somali-American community. “She should be thrown the hell out of our country,” Trump said.
In the Sunday interview, Omar called Trump’s remarks “completely disgusting” and accused him of having “an unhealthy obsession” with her and the Somali community. “This kind of hateful rhetoric and this level of dehumanizing can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president,” she said.
The post Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Nigeria Seeks French Help to Combat Insecurity, Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has sought more help from France to fight widespread violence in the north of the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, weeks after the United States threatened to intervene to protect Nigeria’s Christians.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has witnessed an upsurge in attacks in volatile northern areas in the past month, including mass kidnappings from schools and a church.
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of possible military action in Nigeria, accusing it of mistreating Christians. The government says the allegations misrepresent a complex security situation in which armed groups target both faith groups.
Macron said he had a phone call with Tinubu on Sunday, where he conveyed France’s support to Nigeria as it grapples with several security challenges, “particularly the terrorist threat in the North.”
“At his request, we will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations. We call on all our partners to step up their engagement,” Macron said in a post on X.
Macron did not say what help would be offered by France, which has withdrawn its troops from West and Central Africa and plans to focus on training, intelligence sharing and responding to requests from countries for assistance.
Nigeria is grappling with a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast, armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest and deadly clashes between largely Muslim cattle herders and mostly Christian farmers in the central parts of the country, stretching its security forces.
Washington said last month that it was considering actions such as sanctions and Pentagon engagement on counterterrorism as part of a plan to compel Nigeria to better protect its Christian communities.
The Nigerian government has said it welcomes help to fight insecurity as long as its sovereignty is respected. France has previously supported efforts to curtail the actions of armed groups, the US has shared intelligence and sold arms, including fighter jets, and Britain has trained Nigerian troops.
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Netanyahu Says He Will Not Quit Politics if He Receives a Pardon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem on Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would not retire from politics if he receives a pardon from the country’s president in his years-long corruption trial.
Asked by a reporter if planned on retiring from political life if he receives a pardon, Netanyahu replied: “no”.
Netanyahu last month asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon, with lawyers for the prime minister arguing that frequent court appearances were hindering Netanyahu’s ability to govern and that a pardon would be good for the country.
Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted. There is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in response to the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and his lawyers have said that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings, if concluded, would result in a complete acquittal.
US President Donald Trump wrote to Herzog, before Netanyahu made his request, urging the Israeli president to consider granting the prime minister a pardon.
Some Israeli opposition politicians have argued that any pardon should be conditional on Netanyahu retiring from politics and admitting guilt. Others have said the prime minister must first call national elections, which are due by October 2026.