On May 5, 2026, Megyn Kelly said that since she joined the anti-Israel faction of the Right, she has started to “notice” that Islam is unfairly criticized.

Instead, she argued, most criticism of Islam is pushed by pro-Israel voices who “need us to demonize them” to maintain American support.

“It’s been something I’ve noticed just since I’ve gotten a sort of more clear-eyed on Israel that a lot of the anti-Muslim rhetoric that’s put out there originates with people who are very very pro-Israel who kind of need us to demonize them,” she said.

Kelly went even further, saying she now finds herself moving in a pro-Islam direction.

She’s not alone in that shift. Tucker Carlson has made similar arguments, claiming that criticism of Islam is essentially an Israeli “psyop.”

But that claim collapses under even basic historical scrutiny.

A 1,400-Year Record of Criticism

Criticism of Islam didn’t begin in 1948 with the founding of Israel, or anywhere close to it. It goes back roughly 1,400 years, to the earliest days of Islam itself.

Take John of Damascus (c. 675–749 CE), one of the first known critics. In his work Fount of Knowledge, he described Islam as a Christian heresy. He challenged Muhammad’s claim to prophethood, criticized polygamy, questioned descriptions of paradise, and rejected Islamic accusations against Christians.

Centuries later, Enlightenment thinkers picked up similar critiques. Voltaire portrayed Muhammad as a manipulative fanatic in his 1741 play Mahomet, depicting religion as a tool for power.

Even American leaders weighed in. John Quincy Adams, the sixth U.S. president, described Muhammad as combining “genius” with “the fraudulent spirit of an impostor,” pointing to polygamy, the treatment of women, and religious warfare as core concerns.

French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville studied the Quran and concluded it was “deadly to men” and a principal cause of “decadence,” combining religion and politics in ways incompatible with modern democracy.

Catholic theologian Alphonsus Liguori was even more blunt, criticizing Islamic teachings on paradise, polygamy, and restrictions on religious debate.

And Washington Irving—who served as U.S. Minister to Spain in the 19th Century—described Islam in his 1850 work Mohammed and His Successors as a religion spread by “violence and the sword.”

Today, former Muslims themselves are among the most outspoken critics of Islamic ideology. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has repeatedly warned about the political and theological dangers embedded within Islam. Ridvan Aydemir, who left Islam and later converted to Christianity, has been even more blunt, describing Muhammad as a warmongering pedophile and arguing that Islamic doctrine follows the model he set.

Conflict Before Israel Ever Existed

Similarly, conflict between Islam and the West long predates Israel.

In the late 1700s, the United States was already fighting Muslim powers in North Africa during the Barbary Wars. These conflicts weren’t about Israel, because Israel didn’t exist. American ships were attacked, sailors enslaved, all justified by jihad.

Thomas Jefferson even recorded a conversation with a Barbary ambassador, who explained that their actions were rooted in Islamic law: nations that did not accept their authority were considered sinners, and it was their duty to wage war and enslave them.

Fast forward to the modern era, and Muslim movements emerged long before 1948 as well. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928, openly promoted jihad against non-believers decades before Israel’s creation.

Since the September 11 attacks, Muslim terrorism has remained a real threat. More than 162 Americans have been killed on U.S. soil in attacks carried out by Muslims—more than by any other religious group. In 2025 alone, at least 17 Americans were killed in such attacks, including incidents in Colorado, Washington, D.C., and a vehicle-ramming in New Orleans that left 14 dead.

But the issue isn’t limited to terrorism

Beyond Terrorism: A Political Ideology

On December 20, 2025, Tulsi Gabbard warned at AmericaFest that Muslim ideology represents a major strategic threat—not just because of violence, but because it seeks political power and governance. She described it as a movement aiming to establish a global caliphate governed by sharia law, replacing existing nation-states.

Sharia law, derived from the Quran, includes punishments and legal structures that conflict sharply with Western legal norms—such as the death penalty for apostasy and adultery, amputating the hands of thieves, and the imposition of the jizya tax on non-Muslims. Quran 9:29 explicitly calls for fighting non-believers until they submit and pay that tax.

Groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb ut-Tahrir have openly advocated for implementing these systems on a global scale.

Even within Western democracies, some organizations have sought to expand Islamic political influence. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), for example, has promoted increased Muslim participation in politics and law, framing it as civil rights advocacy while also supporting policies aligned with Islamic legal principles.

These debates are no longer theoretical. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, now running for the U.S. Senate, has proposed censorship policies under the banner of combating “Islamophobia.”

Takeaway

Megyn Kelly’s claim that criticism of Islam is a pro-Israel “op” to demonize Muslims is lazy, ahistorical nonsense that perfectly illustrates how Israel Derangement Syndrome rots the brain. 

As she’s grown more critical of Israel, Kelly now says she’s “noticing” that anti-Islam rhetoric comes from people who “need us to demonize them,” and she’s even drifting pro-Islam. She completely ignores 1,400 years of history that started long before Israel existed: Byzantine saint John of Damascus called Islam a heresy in the 8th century; Voltaire mocked Muhammad as a fanatic in 1741; John Quincy Adams slammed its fraudulent spirit, polygamy, and holy wars; Tocqueville saw the Quran as deadly to liberty. Add the Barbary Wars, the Muslim Brotherhood’s founding in 1928, 9/11, Sharia’s death penalty for apostasy, and ex-Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali blowing the whistle — none of it was invented by AIPAC. This is what happens when obsessive Israel hatred makes you erase centuries of evidence, rewrite reality, and whitewash an expansionist ideology just to own the neocons.

Sources

Next Up With Mark Halperin, Catholic365, Britannica, Apologetics Press, American Minute, Hoover Institution, Charlie Kirk, Pew Research, Israel Truth Network, Israel Truth Network, Pew Research