Tucker and Other Fools

How to react to antisemitic nutcases

Tucker Carlson is the most prominent and dangerous Israelopath and antisemite in the US. He’s also a complete lunatic. He’s gushed about Russian supermarkets. He insists that he was once clawed during the night by a demon, and most definitely not by the four dogs that were in his bed. He also insists that nuclear weapons were not invented by human beings.

Recently, he issued a claim that there are Israelis who avoid using the plus sign in mathematics (and instead substitute an inverted “T” shape) because it is similar to a Christian cross:

Now, how should one respond to that? In a post that received a huge number of likes, one popular self-appointed hasbara activist drew attention to this video. He responded that Tucker is truly insane and pure evil, and that his claim about the plus sign “is a total 100% lie.”

But actually, while Tucker is indeed truly insane and pure evil, his claim about the plus sign is totally 100% the truth.

Tucker did not claim that all Israelis do not use the plus sign. He specifically said that it was in “some Israeli religious schools.” And this is absolutely true, as people with actual knowledge of Israeli religious schools are well aware. I’ve seen it myself in my own kids’ schoolbooks. (In the earlier days of the State, it was widespread across even non-religious schools.)

And it’s sometimes also found outside of the context of schools:

But claiming otherwise does not just reveal a lack of knowledge of the Israeli religious community that the person has decided to publicly defend (and lives in!). It also demonstrates a lack of interest in doing the easiest thing in the world before making a public claim about Israel. Everyone with even the most basic tech skills can simply ask AI or Google it:

And naturally, this is what Tucker’s fans did, and made an absolute fool of the hasbara activist (who did not retract or respond).

There is a much more truthful and appropriate way to respond to Tucker’s claim: So what?! Yes, there are some Israeli religious schools that stay away from anything resembling a cross, a custom that dates back to Europe when Jews were endlessly persecuted and massacred by people acting in the name of Christianity. This is not something that needs to be hidden and it’s not something particularly significant.

Do you know what’s much, much more significant, if you care about Christianity? It’s how Tucker makes false claims about the collapse of the Christian community in Gaza being the fault of Israel rather than the fault of Hamas. It’s how he regularly ignores the severe, legal, and societal persecution of Christians in Muslim-majority nations like Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Tucker’s beloved Qatar, where church-building is heavily restricted or illegal, and conversion to Christianity is a crime theoretically punishable by death.

The bigger lesson here is something that I’ve been trying to teach for decades. Avoid knee-jerk, tribalist, simplistic reactions. Realize that the facts and the truth might not be the perfect fairy-tale that you imagined when you were a kid. Contemplate, research, and only then react. And then your response will be far more powerful - and truthful.