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<\/a><\/p>\nHeritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts addresses antisemitism in a video published Oct. 30, 2025. (Screenshot)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Kevin Roberts also said in a video on the social network X that Christians should reject calls not to criticize Israel, which he said were coming from a \u201cvenomous coalition\u201d of \u201cbad actors,\u201d and that conservatives should further refrain from \u201ccanceling\u201d Fuentes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will always defend truth, we will always defend America and we will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else\u2019s agenda,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThat includes Tucker Carlson, who remains, and, as I have said before, always will be, a close friend of the Heritage Foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He warned Carlson\u2019s critics: \u201cTheir attempt to cancel him will fail.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a striking show of support from the influential conservative organization, which previously put out \u201cProject Esther,\u201d a right-wing plan to counter antisemitism post-Oct. 7. The Heritage Foundation was also behind Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for President Donald Trump\u2019s second term in office that has been closely adhered to on a policy level, and has farmed many of Trump\u2019s closest associates.<\/p>\n
Fuentes has mounted an outside bid for influence within the larger right-wing movement, using overt antisemitism as his main flank. His chummy conversation with Carlson, who agreed with the provocateur on many issues including Israel, was seen as a further mainstreaming of antisemitic views within the right.<\/p>\n
Roberts, however, saw it as embodying the conservative ideals of free debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI disagree with, and even abhor, things that Nick Fuentes says,\u201d Roberts said, without elaborating. \u201cBut canceling him is not the answer, either. When we disagree with a person\u2019s thoughts and opinions, we challenge those ideas in debate. And we have seen success in this approach as we continue to dismantle the vile ideas of the left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Framing Carlson\u2019s critics as dissatisfied online, Roberts continued, \u201cThe Heritage Foundation didn\u2019t become the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement by canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians. And we won\u2019t start doing that now. We don\u2019t take direction from comments on X.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Heritage head staked out a position that was critical of Israel, at a time when once-sacrosanct support for the country on the right is diminishing.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristians can critique the state of Israel without being antisemitic. And of course, antisemitism should be condemned,\u201d he said. \u201cMy loyalty as a Christian and as an American is to Christ first, and America always. When it serves the interests of the United States to cooperate with Israel and other allies, we should do so, with partnerships on security, intelligence and technology. But when it doesn\u2019t, conservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n
(The term \u201cglobalist\u201d has a history of being used as an antisemitic dog whistle.)<\/p>\n
Roberts\u2019s remarks on only supporting Israel when it suits the United States echoed similar statements made by Vice President JD Vance in Mississippi Wednesday evening \u2014 at an event in which Vance, too, was criticized for failing to condemn a question laced with antisemitism. In his video, Roberts also called Vance a friend and positively referenced his comments.<\/p>\n
On X, some conservative Jews criticized Roberts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can be no respectful debate with people who have said the things that Fuentes and Tucker have said about Jews,\u201d replied Mike Ginsberg, a Jewish Virginia Republican. \u201cRegarding Jews, neither Tucker nor Fuentes have taken rational political positions one can debate honestly \u2026 Choosing to associate with them \u2014 consciously, knowing what they have said about Jews \u2014 is a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
One person thankful for Roberts\u2019s remarks was Fuentes himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for your courage in standing up for open discourse and defending Tucker against the Israel First Woke Right,\u201d he wrote to Roberts on X.<\/p>\n
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