(José Niño, Headline USA) Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli accused Tucker Carlson of receiving payment from Qatar to promote anti-Israel content, then admitted he possesses no evidence to support the explosive allegation.
Political commentator Chris Menahan summarized the remarks. “Amichai Chikli, Israel Minister of Diaspora and Combating Antisemitism, laments to Israel Hayom conference that Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes are normalizing opposition to Israel,” Menahan wrote.
“He says that he thinks Tucker Carlson is being paid by Qatar—but then admits he has no evidence,” Menahan added on Twitter/X.
Amichai Chikli, Israel Minister of Diaspora and Combating Antisemitism, laments to Israel Hayom conference that Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes are normalizing opposition to Israel.
He says that he thinks Tucker Carlson is being paid by Qatar—but then admits he has no evidence. pic.twitter.com/UQ8hoYTtEQ
— Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews) December 3, 2025
Chikli made the allegations at the Israel Hayom Summit held in New York City on Tuesday. During the event, an interviewer asked him directly about his efforts against figures like Carlson and Fuentes.
The minister described a dramatic shift in his assessment of right-wing antisemitism. When he first entered office, Chikli believed antisemitism from the right consisted of “some lunatic in a basement, someone with no influence” stating his focus should remain on the primary danger originated from the far left and from Islamists “who work together.”
He said the situation has changed substantially. “Two years later. That’s a whole different story. We are seeing the white supremacy, Nazi antisemitism being actually moving to the center of maga, being normalized by people like you mentioned before,” Chikli stated, according to Israel Hayom.
“It didn’t start with the interview with Nick Fuentes. It started with bringing Darryl Cooper a Holocaust denier and many others,” he continued, referring to Carlson’s earlier interview with Darryl Cooper. On September 9, 2024, Jewish House Democrats and the Biden administration condemned Cooper as a Holocaust denier for claiming Winston Churchill was the “chief villain” of World War II.
Chikli outlined what he sees as troubling trends. “So we, what we are seeing as we can see few things. One is the conspiracy theories. Second is the religious assault on Judaism, claiming that we have something against Christianity, and obviously Nazi ideology. Which is being more and more popular,” he said.
Then he made his accusation against Carlson. “I believe that Tucker Carlson is being paid for pushing forward. It is extremely difficult to prove it,” Chikli stated.
He continued without providing evidence. “But what we can see without, intelligence, without, anything of this type. You can see this week on Thanksgiving, you had the delegations of right wing influencers. American influencers going to Qatar. They were asked.”
The interviewer pressed him directly. “So you think Tucker is being paid by Qatar?”
Chikli responded clearly. “I think that Tucker is being paid by Qatar, yes.”
Despite his sharp criticism of figures within MAGA’s orbit, Chikli emphasized that Israel “needs to stay out of the fight inside MAGA” because direct Israeli involvement “would be counterproductive,” according to Israel Hayom. He framed this as an internal American conservative battle requiring action from “the real conservative leaders.”