On January 26, 2026, Tucker Carlson argued that Iran’s regime chants “Death to America” only in response to U.S. actions in the Middle East, not out of inherent hostility. He also claimed that “America had no Islamist terrorism problem before 1948,” implying that Israel’s creation caused Islamic hostility toward the United States. These claims misrepresent history, ignore centuries of Islamic ideology, and falsely absolve the Iranian regime of responsibility for its actions. The facts demonstrate that Islamic hostility toward America is ideological and religious, not geopolitical, and it existed long before the State of Israel was founded in 1948.
America was targeted by Islamic countries before Israel existed. The U.S. Navy was created in the late 1700s largely to stop Muslim pirates from North Africa who seized American ships and enslaved sailors, justifying their actions as a Quran-sanctioned “holy war at sea.” That predates Israel by 150 years. The Barbary wars had nothing to do with Israel. Barbary states attacked the U.S. in the 18th century because they viewed America as an infidel nation encroaching on dar al-Islam, the House of Islam. Israel did not exist.
Thomas Jefferson documented this ideological hostility. He recorded that the Barbary ambassador told him: “It was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners.”
Iran’s founders were explicit. Ayatollah Khomeini repeatedly said hostility toward America was rooted in Islamic doctrine, not specific Israeli actions. Iran says America is the main enemy. Iran labels the U.S. the “Great Satan” and Israel the “Little Satan,” showing that its primary hostility is toward America, with anger at Israel coming second, not the other way around.
Carlson’s claim of “no Islamist terrorism before 1948” confuses absence with scale. There was little Islamist terrorism in early America largely because there were very few Muslims and almost no global travel. In fact, only a small share of America’s Muslim population arrived before 1970. Pointing to the absence of terrorism in that period proves nothing. It is like saying there was no cybercrime before the internet.
Targeting followed exposure, not Israel. As U.S. global involvement expanded after World War II, with bases, alliances, and oil interests, so did Islamic attacks on the United States. That pattern explains the timing. Israel does not. Jihad did not begin in 1948. Armed jihad is a foundational belief in Islam rooted in the Koran that dates back to the 7th century, long before modern geopolitics or the Jewish state.
Israel was not bin Laden’s motive. Osama bin Laden cited U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and Somalia as reasons for attacking Americans, including on 9/11, not U.S. support for Israel. Some jihadists say it outright. ISIS has explicitly stated it fights America not because of Middle East policy, but because America has not embraced Islam. Israel is irrelevant to that claim. ISIS stated: “The fact is, even if you were to stop bombing us, imprisoning us, torturing us, vilifying us, and usurping our lands, we would continue to hate you because our primary reason for hating you will not cease to exist until you embrace Islam.”
Anti-Western jihad did not start with Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928, promoted violent jihad against the West from the beginning. Its founder called for armed struggle against “non-believers” decades before 1948.
U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee observed about Carlson: “Suddenly, in a very short period of time, a switch is flipped, and he has a completely different worldview, and his ideological base has completely changed. That’s not normal for someone in his 50s.”
Tucker Carlson is wrong: Islamic hostility toward America did not start with Israel. He misrepresents history, ignores centuries of Islamic ideology, and falsely claims America “had no Islamist terrorism problem before 1948,” a claim so ignorant it erases the Barbary wars, early massacres, and the very foundations of Islam. Tucker Carlson is an apologist for the Iranian regime, a government that has massacred American servicemen in addition to thousands of its own people. His revisionist narrative serves to absolve a theocratic dictatorship of responsibility for its actions while distorting the historical record to fit an ideological agenda that blames Israel for conflicts rooted in religious doctrine that predates the modern state by more than a millennium.
