Conservatives rally against right-wing podcasters fueling antisemitism

A coalition of Republican lawmakers, Trump administration officials and religious leaders convened in Washington this week to confront what they described as a growing antisemitic influence emanating from the right-wing podcast world — and to organize a counteroffensive.

The National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism held its summit at the Museum of the Bible on Monday, drawing speakers including Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who discussed her new book on campus antisemitism. National Security Council Senior Director for Counter Terrorism Sebastian Gorka addressed jihadist threats and the administration’s new National Strategy for Counterterrorism. Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for Civil Rights at the Justice Department, stressed the importance of prosecuting antisemitic hate crimes, while Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida warned of the internet’s corrosive “race to the top of Mount Clickmore.” Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter reserved some of his sharpest words for the New York Times, calling it “a pornographic rag.”

The urgency behind Monday’s gathering is reflected in recent polling. A December Manhattan Institute survey found that 16% of Republicans believe Jews receive too much favorable treatment, with antisemitic attitudes disproportionately concentrated among younger voters. Thirty-eight percent of first-time GOP presidential voters said most or all American Jews are more loyal to a foreign country than to the United States, and 12% said Israel is not an ally. A separate Pew Research Center poll from late March found that 57% of Republicans between the ages of 18 and 49 now hold an unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from 50% the previous year.

The task force originally took root at the Heritage Foundation, which helped launch it. It parted ways with the think tank after Heritage President Kevin Roberts defended podcaster Tucker Carlson’s decision to give what critics called a softball interview to Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist with a well-documented history of antisemitism.

Carlson, who commands a large online following and retains influence within the Trump administration, was repeatedly named at the conference as a central figure in the right’s drift away from Israel. Task Force co-chair Pastor Mario Bramnick said the group’s strategy is “to unite our movement, while marginalizing those on the right who have demonized the state of Israel.” He named Carlson and Candace Owens as having launched “troubling … antisemitic attacks from within our own ranks” and cited Carlson’s sympathetic comments about Iran, Qatar and Russia, his claim that “Israel persecutes Christians” and that “Netanyahu controls President Trump,” and his denunciations of Christian Zionists as heretics afflicted with “a brain virus.”

Co-chair Luke Moon called out Mr. Carlson, Mr. Fuentes and Mr. Owens by name, saying their antisemitism “must be confronted” to ensure it does not take hold on the right the way it has on the left. Mr. Moon also unveiled a public pledge that Americans can sign to join what he described as “a firewall to counter the rise of antisemitism in America.”

Ambassador Leiter pushed back on Carlson’s characterization of Israel as an expansionist state and his suggestion that residents of Israel submit to DNA testing to determine “who Abram’s descendants are” — a comment Carlson made during an interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

“Did we have our DNA checked in Auschwitz?” Mr. Leiter said.

The conference also addressed conspiracy theories that erupted online following Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September 2025. Mr. Owens explicitly claimed on her podcast that Israel and investor Bill Ackman were behind the killing, without evidence — accusations both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ackman publicly rejected. Mr. Netanyahu called the claims a “monstrous, big lie.” Jackson Hinkle posted a running list on social media of purported “Israeli connections” to the assassination and separately wrote that Israel had killed Kirk outright. Ian Carroll, an anti-Zionist podcaster with more than a million followers, posted within 24 hours of the killing that Israel had “murdered him in front of his family” — a post that drew more than 10 million views.

Missionary-turned-filmmaker Matthew Monfore said the conspiracy theories prompted him to make a documentary film countering anti-Jewish accusations. He said he has personally encountered long-standing conservatives and “church ladies” spreading what he called the most extreme conspiracy theories he had ever heard, including claims that Jeffrey Epstein was a Mossad agent with compromising material on President Trump.

“I am seeing nine out of ten young people on the right that are skeptical to critical of Jews and Israel,” Mr. Monfore said, describing his own experiences in conservative circles.

Isaac Woodward of Generation Zion offered a more optimistic read, saying that at events like Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest and CPAC, most young conservatives could still be reached. He said that once he explained Zionism as the belief that Jewish people have the right to live in the land to which they are indigenous, he rarely met serious resistance.

Lucas Miles, vice president of Turning Point USA and a New York Times best-selling author, urged the pro-Israel community to broaden its coalition by dropping the insistence that Christians must embrace Dispensationalism to stand with Israel.

“Dispensationalism should not be a requirement to stand with Israel,” Mr. Miles said. “We do not need a theological purity test to say that Israel has the moral ground.”