There are moments when the edifice of propaganda collapses, when the images of emaciated children, pulverised neighbourhoods, and mass graves pierce the armour of denial. For Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan, two men once counted among Israel’s most ardent defenders, Gaza became that moment. Their transformations—Carlson from a “rabid Zionist” to a relentless critic of Israel, Morgan from a staunch defender of its military campaign to a voice of outrage—are not anomalies. They are the inevitable consequence of witnessing a genocide in real time.

Carlson’s metamorphosis was as startling as it was consequential. For years, he echoed the talking points of the Israeli lobby, portraying Israel as America’s indispensable ally. But in a viral interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Carlson stripped bare the fiction.

“We are told Israel is our greatest ally,” he said, “but what kind of ally demands we violate our own laws, our own values, to serve its interests?”

“We are told Israel is our greatest ally,” he said, “but what kind of ally demands we violate our own laws, our own values, to serve its interests?”

His words reverberated across the United States, challenging millions to reconsider the uncritical support Washington extends to Tel Aviv.

Carlson did not stop there. He called Benjamin Netanyahu a “genocidal maniac,” accused Israel of committing war crimes, and described the US relationship with Israel as one of servitude. The backlash was immediate. AIPAC and the donor class mobilized. Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett dismissed him as “a chickenshit and a phony.” Carlson was smeared with the familiar charge of antisemitism, the blunt instrument wielded against anyone who dares to question Israel’s........

© Middle East Monitor