Tucker Carlson and members of his staff were detained by Israeli officials following an interview with U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Carlson, the conservative podcasting host and former Fox News anchor, traveled to Israel after Huckabee publicly challenged him to an in-person discussion following a dispute on social media platform X.
The disagreement stemmed from Carlson’s criticism of Israel’s treatment of Christians, which he raised on his YouTube show the previous week.
Huckabee, who has known Carlson for more than three decades and previously worked alongside him at Fox News, responded to the criticism directly on X, writing: “Instead of talking about me, why don’t you come talk to me?”
Carlson accepted the invitation and coordinated the interview with Huckabee, who currently serves as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel.
Before the interview took place, Carlson posted a photo on X showing himself and his business partner, Neil Patel, standing in front of Ben Gurion Airport, captioning the image: “Greetings from Israel.”
Following the interview, Israeli airport security officials approached Carlson and his team, confiscating their passports and removing his executive producer to a separate room.
“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,” Carlson told the Daily Mail.
“It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country,” Carlson added.
Two sources with knowledge of the situation told the Daily Mail that the Israeli government initially sought to block Carlson from entering the country entirely, leading to a diplomatic negotiation involving the U.S. State Department.
Israel ultimately chose not to bar Carlson’s entry in order to prevent a diplomatic incident, according to a report from Israeli outlet Channel 13.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Israel pushed back on Carlson’s account, stating that Carlson “received the same passport control questions that countless visitors to Israel, including Ambassador Huckabee and other diplomats, receive as part of normal entrance and exit from Israel.”
The embassy spokesman further stated: “It is not accurate that Israel only was going to let Tucker into the country for the interview,” adding that “the only engagement the Embassy had with Israel about his visit was to coordinate his private plane landing as part of facilitating a seamless visit.”
“It was Tucker who chose to only come into the country for a few hours and depart. And Tucker received the same positive treatment of any visitors to Israel,” the spokesman continued.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who served during Trump’s first term, mocked Carlson for not venturing beyond the airport, writing on social media: “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.”
The Carlson-Huckabee meeting was reportedly organized in part as an effort by the Trump administration to reduce tensions within the Republican Party over Israel policy ahead of the midterm elections.
Israel’s favorability has reached record lows within the GOP, particularly among younger Republican voters and Trump supporters.
Former Fox News anchor Melissa Francis told the Jerusalem Post that Trump has been actively urging members of his coalition to lower the temperature on the Israel debate.
“Everybody’s looking for a way to turn down the temperature,” Francis said. “President Trump is telling everyone, including Tucker, ‘Let’s take this down.'”
