MAGA Split Deepens After Charlie Kirk Death as Tucker Carlson Orbit Debates Israel Support

The American far-right MAGA movement is showing a deepening internal split as figures tied to Tucker Carlson’s media orbit debate the limits of speech, antisemitism, and the United States’ support for Israel, with the controversy intensifying after the death of Charlie Kirk.

“A lot of attention has been stirred by the American conservative media figure Tucker Carlson in several episodes of podcasts he hosts, as he repeatedly provokes debate about the relationship between Christianity and Israel, in a framing where religion intersects with politics, and reveals a policy of 'subordination' of the American administration to President Donald Trump, and an escalating split within the MAGA movement's camp of right-wing nationalism”

Al-Jazeera Net

El País frames 2025 as “el gran año de la expansión del universoMAGA” and says Kirk’s assassination in September opened “la caja de los truenos” around “el apoyo de Estados Unidos a Israelen su brutal guerra en Gaza” and “los límites de la libertad de expresión allá donde esta choca con el antisemitismo.”

Al-Jazeera Net

At AmericaFest in Phoenix (Arizona), El País reports that Turning Point USA (TPUSA) drew “unas 30.000 personas” to honor Kirk, but the event was “no fue del todo una fiesta” as influencers traded insults on stage.

El País says the “sombra de dos podcasters” — Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens — “sobrevoló la cita,” and it links Carlson’s October interview with Fuentes to a rupture in the right’s consensus about Israel as an “inquebrantable” ally.

The Times of Israël similarly describes AmericaFest’s opening day as Ben Shapiro attacking “Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, y Steve Bannon,” calling them “fraudsters and crooks” and warning they “pose a danger to the conservative movement.”

In the same El País account, Shapiro attacked Carlson as an “acto de imbecilidad moral,” and it says Shapiro also targeted Steve Bannon as “relaciones públicas Jeffrey Epstein,” while Megyn Kelly was attacked for refusing to criticize Owens and Fuentes.

The AmericaFest confrontation described across outlets centered on Ben Shapiro’s campaign against right-wing antisemitism and his effort to draw boundaries inside the Republican coalition.

The Times of Israël reports that Shapiro told the AmericaFest crowd, “If you invite a defender of Hitler, a Nazi and an anti-American like Nick Fuentes,” and continued, “if you invite this person onto your show and you kiss their boots, you must own the responsibility for it.”

EL PAÍS

The same outlet says Shapiro was continuing an attack he launched earlier in the week at the Heritage Foundation, after its president supported Carlson and invited Fuentes onto his podcast.

El País adds that Shapiro called Carlson’s interview with Fuentes an “acto de imbecilidad moral,” and it says Shapiro also attacked Steve Bannon as “relaciones públicas Jeffrey Epstein” and Megyn Kelly for refusing to criticize Owens and Fuentes.

El País also describes how Carlson and others responded when Shapiro took the microphone, with El País stating that “Todos ellos devolvieron a Shapiro los cumplidos cuando fue su turno y cogieron el micrófono.”

The Times of Israël provides Carlson’s own reaction, quoting him as saying, “Hearing calls for censorship and denunciation at an event organized by Charlie Kirk, I thought: What? This is hilarious,” and it also quotes Carlson defending his stance on Jews: “I am not antisemitic for a very precise reason. It’s not because it’s unpopular, nor because my donors don’t like it. If I am not antisemitic, it’s because antisemitism is immoral in my religion.”

Separate from the AmericaFest fight over antisemitism and Israel policy, another flashpoint in the United States-Israel debate came from U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s remarks in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

“El apoyo de Estados Unidos a su aliado provoca un cisma en la extrema derecha y un agrio debate en torno a figuras como Tucker Carlson, los límites de la libertad de expresión y el antisemitismo Con su líder, Donald Trump, de vuelta en la Casa Blanca y la mayor influencia de su corta e intensa historia sobre la mayoría republicana en el Congreso, este estaba llamado a ser el gran año de la expansión del universoMAGA”

EL PAÍS

Le blogue de Richard Hétu reports that Huckabee said, “It would be fine if they took it all,” after Carlson asked whether he believed Israel had a biblical right to lands “from Egypt to the Euphrates River in Iraq.”

The same article says Carlson referred to a Genesis passage where God promises Abraham’s descendants a territory that would “today encompass nearly the entire Middle East,” and it reports that Arab governments reacted with anger to Huckabee’s remarks.

Le Grand Continent describes the regional response as “reacted almost in unison against a supposed right of Israel to exercise sovereignty over territories belonging to Arab states,” and it says a joint statement was signed by foreign ministers including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian territories, and organizations including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

In that joint statement, Le Grand Continent quotes the condemnation as a “firm condemnation and their deep concern regarding the statements made by the United States ambassador to Israel, in which he indicated that it would be acceptable for Israel to exercise control over territories belonging to Arab states, including the occupied West Bank.”

The Le blogue de Richard Hétu account adds that the U.S. Embassy in Israel said Huckabee’s remarks had been taken out of context, and it quotes the embassy clip as not including the rest of Huckabee’s remarks where he said “he did not think that was the subject today and that the Israelis did not want to take control.”

Across the sources, the American right’s internal debate over Israel support is portrayed as splitting along different religious and political interpretations, with Tucker Carlson positioned as both a critic of unconditional alignment and a driver of controversy.

Al Jazeera Net describes Carlson as provoking debate about “the relationship between Christianity and Israel” and says his framing includes a “policy of 'subordination' of the American administration to President Donald Trump,” while opponents describe it as “slavery” where “no opposing or critical decisions are made about Israeli policies.”

Le Grand Continent

The same Al Jazeera Net account says Carlson’s assessment rests on premises that “the decision to go to war in Iran was an Israeli decision subject to influence networks in Washington” and that “the ceasefire agreement and thus manipulation of the United States are also Israeli decisions.”

It also says Carlson’s critique points to a “tight circle” around White House decisions and Trump’s mind, naming “Sean Hannity,” “Rupert Murdoch,” “Miriam Adelson,” and “Mark Levin” who “urged striking Iran with nuclear weapons.”

In parallel, alencontre argues that Carlson “knows how to sense the wind turning” and says that “Over the past year, he has become one of the leading defenders, on the right, of abandoning the United States' long-standing support for the Jewish state.”

That outlet quotes Carlson telling his audience, “Let’s hope that the first thing we do, if and when this war ends, will be to disentangle from Israel,” and it describes Carlson’s approach as using “conspiracy theories” including a March monologue about Israel attacking Iran to “demolish the Al‑Aqsa Mosque and rebuild the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.”

The sources portray the stakes of these disputes as both political and policy-related, with consequences ranging from internal Republican coalition management to broader regional backlash over U.S. statements.

“Geopolitics in the Middle East is being defined by a Tucker Carlson interview”

Le Grand Continent

Le blogue de Richard Hétu reports that Arab governments reacted with anger to Huckabee’s remarks, saying “Saudi Arabia denounced extremist rhetoric and unacceptable” and that “Egypt called the ambassador's remarks a flagrant violation of international law,” while the U.S. Embassy in Israel said the remarks were taken out of context.

Al-Jazeera Net

Le Grand Continent describes a “joint statement” signed by a wide list of foreign ministers and regional organizations, expressing “firm condemnation” and “deep concern” about the ambassador’s indication that it would be acceptable for Israel to exercise control over territories including the “occupied West Bank.”

Within the U.S. conservative movement, The Times of Israël says Shapiro’s campaign is tied to younger Republicans growing “increasingly opposed to American support for Israel” after the Jewish state’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and it frames Shapiro as staking his future on “eradicating” conspiracy theories about Jews and Israel.

The Times of Israël also quotes Carlson’s defense of his stance and reports that Vice President JD Vance “deliberately refrained from condemning antisemitism,” while it says he appeared to oppose the idea that conservatives should “excommunicate anyone for their views.”

Al Jazeera Net adds a forward-looking political dimension by saying “experts foresee potential electoral consequences of this split ahead of the midterm elections,” including effects on “candidacies” and “electoral rhetoric itself.”