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It’s important to be grateful to Tucker Carlson for his positions on Israel and Jews. His animosity and intransigence on the subject of Israel is nothing less than a gift from G-d.

Considering that he imagines himself to be devoutly Christian, that might be the best way to describe what is taking place here.

After all, Carlson’s claim that the depth of his religious devotion led him to conclude last week that he believes America has adopted a new religion, one he calls “Israelism.” The fact of the matter is that his belief has been exposed for what it is: a deep-seated anathema toward Jews and Israel, and the best part of that equation is that he states it loudly and clearly for all to hear.

Thank you, Tucker.

So, what is “Israelism”?

According to Carlson, “Israelism” is a new religion subscribed to and perhaps even invented by President Trump and others in his administration. He points out that in a country of 235 million Christians and 4 million Muslims, the new religion created by Trump takes precedence over the other two religions, and is the basis for their sole tenet, which is to protect Israel at all costs.

There are several reasons why Carlson has concluded that the Trump administration has moved in the direction of total adherence to this new faith of Israelism.

Rest assured, it’s not solely Tucker who has adopted this belief that America’s foreign policy is overly-committed to protecting Israel that he so facetiously designated it as a “religion” invented by Donald Trump.

When you think back a little more than a year ago, it’s important to note that there were no two people on the public stage closer than Trump and Carlson. Tucker loved the fact that the president was committed to staying out of foreign wars, unlike his predecessors. Carlson started to get a little nervous and even jumpy when he realized that Bibi Netanyahu had visited the White House seven times to meet with Trump during the first six months of his presidency.

Tucker has always had a problem with the U.S. supporting Israel, and that was aside from his problems with Jews in general. For years during his long stint as a journalist at Fox News, he made sure to never mention Israel or Jews.

It’s important to note that Tucker is not alone in his hostility toward Israel. In his company you will find such well-known political figures like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and of course, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who hates himself more than anyone else. Then there are other political leaders who are Jewish, such as Chuck Schumer and Jerrold Nadler, who if they had any common sense, would be ashamed of themselves. Let’s assign them to Trump’s low-IQ league.

But this is about Tucker Carlson and his unintended comical insistence that Trump sees himself as a J____ figure, a miracle worker of sorts, and the first U.S. president to pick a fight with the Pope.

Pope Leo last week came out against the war in Iran, though he was silent when the Iranians killed 40,000 of their own people who were trying to resist the regime. The Pope was also silent when the Biden administration paid $350 billion to Ukraine in their war with Russia, which has already resulted in the deaths of more than a million people. There were no marches or protests and not a word from the Pope on this matter. What about the many hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of people who were murdered because they would not accept J____ as their Lord and Savior, many of them Jews? Aren’t those deaths worthy that the Pontiff should not overlook such a historic tragedy?

The Pope and Tucker were also quiet as Iranians systematically murdered Christians wherever they could find them. But going to bat not just for Israel but with Israel to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb seems to have posed a problem for Tucker and the Pope because, while they were keeping the Middle East whole, they were also protecting Jews and Israel. And that seems to be the main issue they took umbrage with.

But the war that pits the U.S. and Israel on one side, and the Iranians on the other, is a matter of Siyata Dishmaya, one that neither Carlson nor Pope Leo are capable of grasping. To understand what this is all about, I must digress for a moment and tell you about a Pesach program my family went on in Tampa, Florida about 15 years ago.

Because it was impossible to return to New York before Shabbos, we stayed in Tampa until Monday morning. That meant that on Sunday, we spent a few hours at one of the most magnificent malls I’ve ever seen, which is in Tampa. They had everything, including three floors of shops, rides for the kids, kiosks galore, and much more.

We were walking through the mall, including Esta, the children, plus all the in-laws who had spent Pesach with us down in Florida. It was a busy, noisy place, and everyone was having a great time. As we were walking, my father-in-law leaned over to me and said he had to make a bathroom stop. I looked around for just a moment before spotting a men’s room.

I accompanied him (he was about 80-years-old at the time) and inside there was a large and magnificently decorated men’s room. As I was waiting, a thought occurred to me about something the Baal Shem Tov once said about the power and strength that one small act of chesed can do in this world. The Besht said the power of one act of chesed is so great that it is worthwhile in Hashem’s cheshbonos to bring a person into this world just so he can perform a small act of chesed, such as opening the door for an elderly person or helping someone cross the street.

So, last week, when Tucker referenced his proposed newfangled religion—Israelism—it occurred to me that he might have something there. From the perspective of our great Creator, it is within the realm of possibility that He helped create the very great United States of America, a country that revolves around the concepts of kindness, freedom, and goodness plus the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, plus much more.

Yes, Tucker, I know you don’t get it. And as Mr. Trump says, you probably don’t have the brain power to grasp or understand this concept. Yes, the author of the Bible, which you are now comfortable referring to as the Torah, may have created this country where people yell and chant “USA” at every opportunity just so the U.S. can help protect the State of Israel.

That’s right: Israelism.

Carlson believes in G-d, but he doesn’t think G-d is on the side of Am Yisrael, the people of Israel. In fact, if you listen to him closely, he believes that it is we, the Jewish people, who get in the way of his brand of Christianity. The beautiful thing unraveling here before our eyes is how he gets it all so wrong.

In my estimation, Tucker would have loved to be on one of those pro-Hamas marches that littered the streets of New York last year. To Tucker, it’s just a simple-minded numbers game. As we stated above, the U.S. alone has over 200 million Christians. And there are over one billion Muslims in the world. And just maybe if you stretch it a bit, about 15 million Jews, which includes all of Israel.

On top of that, Tucker believes that Bibi Netanyahu has managed to coerce Donald Trump into going to war with Iran. The other day, Kamala Harris said the same thing in a speech she gave in LA. So, we’ve come full circle: Tucker agrees with Kamala.

Tucker wants Israel to lose this war with Iran. But they can’t lose because they have the U.S. and G-d on their side. At least Tucker claims that he believes in G-d, just not the one that authored the Bible.

Tucker has dragged Megyn Kelly, who was once a respected journalist, along with him. She was once fair-minded and straight-shooting. But, according to Tucker, she has come to her senses and they both now realize that yes, they do hate the Jews and regardless of the consequences, they want them to lose.

That’s Israelism, and Tucker hasn’t articulated it, but the president is now surrounded by Jewish negotiators like Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in-law, Jared Kushner, whose kids attend yeshiva.

One of the obstacles until now was that Buckley Carlson—Tucker’s son—served as deputy press secretary to Vice President JD Vance. Carlson junior is now out. He either left or was given the boot. Apparently, Carlson junior’s position was that the U.S. was dragged into this war by Bibi.

Do we genuinely believe that anyone can drag Trump into anything? Or is it only the Jews that have that power?

I can still vividly recall that large men’s room in that massive mall in Tampa. A man who survived the Holocaust after losing his entire family and spent years with his yeshiva in sub-freezing Siberia needed to use the bathroom, so Hashem built a large, extravagant mall. And 250 years ago, He made the United States of America just so that this otherwise unassuming elderly talmid chacham could use the restroom and the U.S. could fight alongside Israel.

That must be Israelism. 

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

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