On May 7, 2026, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) told Tucker Carlson that if he loses the Republican primary on May 19th, it will be Israel’s fault.

The race between Massie and retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein is being closely watched. President Trump has endorsed Gallrein and strongly opposes Massie for repeatedly attempting to undermine Trump’s agenda. 

At the same time, Massie has positioned himself as one of a handful of Republicans who have made a habit of blaming Israel for any policy they oppose: the Epstein files, the Iran war, the medical mutilation of children, and even kill switches in cars. Massie and his colleagues routinely claim that Israel is somehow controlling the United States — a charge that says more about Massie’s worldview than it does about reality.

Massie told Tucker that most of the money going to his opponent is coming from the pro-Israel “foreign lobby,” such as AIPAC, the Republican Jewish Coalition, and Christians United for Israel (CUFI). He claimed CUFI is just another arm of AIPAC, which is exploiting Christians to push its pro-Israel policies.

“They’re really just another wing of AIPAC and RJC that’s been used to co-opt Christians into supporting their position,” he said.

Not Foreign Lobbies — American Organizations

The first major falsehood Massie stated is that these organizations constitute a “foreign lobby.” They are not. They are run and funded by Americans who care about U.S. foreign policy as it relates to Israel. They are domestic organizations — just as the National Iranian American Council, the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, the American Coalition for Ukraine, the American Hellenic Institute, the Armenian Assembly of America, the Turkish Heritage Organization, and the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC are also not “foreign lobbies.” 

As a sitting congressman, Massie should know the difference. The fact that he keeps repeating the claim anyway suggests he’s being deliberately misleading.

CUFI Is No One’s Puppet

The claim that AIPAC is secretly pulling the strings of millions of American Christians is patently false. It suggests evangelicals are being manipulated into backing Israel rather than acting on their own deeply held convictions. But that idea falls apart when you look at the history, the numbers, and the facts. Christian support for Israel runs far deeper — and far older — than any modern lobbying group.

Roots That Go Back Centuries

Christian Zionism didn’t start with AIPAC, which was founded in 1951. It didn’t even start with modern Israel.

Long before Theodor Herzl launched political Zionism in the 1890s, Christians were writing and preaching about the Jewish people’s return to their biblical homeland. Thomas Brightman (1552–1607) and Premillennialist Joseph Mede both wrote boldly of a future restoration of Israel. Brightman declared: “What, shall they return to Jerusalem again? There is nothing more certain; the prophets do everywhere confirm it.”

In 1891, American Christian William E. Blackstone gathered signatures for a petition urging U.S. President Benjamin Harrison to support a Jewish homeland — decades before Israel’s founding. The widely read Scofield Reference Bible and the teachings of John Nelson Darby (1800–1882) spread “dispensational” views that saw Israel’s rebirth as a key end-times sign. 

When Israel declared independence in 1948, many evangelicals saw it as the literal fulfillment of Genesis promises and Old Testament prophecy. The idea of “blessing those who bless Israel,” drawn from Genesis 12:3, has been taught in churches across America for generations. Christian support for Israel is a conviction forged in Scripture, not a lobbying invention.

Millions of Evangelicals, Deep and Durable Convictions

White evangelicals, who make up roughly 14 to 25 percent of American adults, consistently rank among Israel’s strongest supporters in the United States. Pew Research has found that 82 percent of white evangelicals believe God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people — a figure that actually exceeds the share of American Jews who hold the same belief. Many evangelicals say U.S. support for Israel should be even stronger than it currently is.

Recent surveys confirm that theology remains the biggest driver of these views: belief in God’s ongoing covenant with the Jewish people strongly predicts pro-Israel sentiment. These convictions come from Bible reading, sermons, church teachings, and personal faith — not campaign ads. Support has been high for decades, long before today’s high-profile lobbying battles made headlines.

CUFI: A Christian Powerhouse, Not an AIPAC Front

Christians United for Israel was founded in 2006 by evangelical pastor John Hagee — not by AIPAC, a foreign government, or any Jewish organization. CUFI claims over 10 million members, dwarfing AIPAC’s roughly 100,000. It is led exclusively by Christian pastors, with Hagee and his family playing central roles. CUFI runs its own massive summits, church networks, campus chapters, and lobbying efforts — entirely on its own terms.

CUFI’s funding and membership come primarily from evangelical churches and donors. Its mission is explicit: unite Christians to support Israel on what it calls “Biblical issues.” 

While CUFI and AIPAC often work together on shared goals — such as security assistance or Iran policy — they are entirely distinct organizations. CUFI brings massive grassroots muscle and a distinctly Christian voice to the table. Cooperation between allied organizations is normal politics. It is not evidence of a conspiracy. Hundreds of millions of dollars in Christian donations also flow directly to Israeli causes through ministries and humanitarian groups that have nothing to do with AIPAC whatsoever.

Bottom Line

Thomas Massie insists that any support for Israel, from any quarter, must be the product of manipulation, deception, or conspiracy. He cannot seem to entertain the most obvious and honest explanation: that for hundreds of millions of Christians, support for the Holy Land is a matter of faith.

These are people who believe that the ground of Israel is where God made His covenant with Abraham, where the prophets spoke, where Jesus walked, taught, healed, was betrayed, was crucified, and rose from the dead. For both Christians and Jews, Israel is sacred ground. Treating their support as a manufactured con, as something that requires a shadowy explanation, is a profound insult to millions of Christians whose love for the Holy Land predates AIPAC by roughly two thousand years.

Massie may lose his primary on May 19th. If he does, it won’t be because of Israel. It will be because voters have noticed that he has spent his time in Congress cooking up conspiracy theories instead of doing his job.

Sources

Tucker Carlson, Israel Truth Network, Israel Truth Network, Liberty University, Times of Israel, Pew Research, Chosen People Ministries, CUFI, CUFI, eJewish Philanthropy, Christianity Today