January 28, 2024
Over the past two years, Colonel Douglas Macgregor has become Tucker Carlson’s “go-to guy” on foreign policy and military matters. Yet, there is reason to question whether Carlson should be giving Macgregor a bully pulpit. That’s because, during a recent Cyrus Janssen podcast that saw Macgregor offer insights into the current Middle East conflict, he revealed that he traffics in the worst kind of antisemitic tropes and stereotypes. Macgregor’s theme was that Washington is now controlled by Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu calling the shots.
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Preliminarily, Janssen is incredibly hostile to Israel and completely supportive of the Hamas narrative. Given that fact, Macgregor’s willingness to appear on his podcast was already a red flag.
Then, during the interview, Macgregor asserted that Israel has exaggerated the fatality count and the horrors included in these attacks. He further stated that there were a significant number of friendly fire fatalities, inflating the death toll. He suggested that Israel is intent on building an Israeli “super state” from the Jordanian border to the Mediterranean by removing all Arabs in this area. The most stunning accusation was his comparing today’s Israel Defense Force actions to the 1944 Nazi purge of the Warsaw ghetto.
Image: Col. Douglas Macgregor and Tucker Carlson. X screen grab.
Macgregor spoke of collective punishment, a term he has used before. The term is popular among Hamas supporters in the United Nations as it suggests war crimes. Hence, the Nazi comparison.
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Sometimes, it feels as if we are going back in time. In the early 20th century, the fictitious “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” were used to argue a plot by Jews/Zionists to take over the world and subvert Christianity. The abbreviated version of the book first appeared in Russia in 1903. Russian historian Vladimir Burtsev revealed that the “Protocols” were forgeries put together by Russian authorities and the secret police. Apparently, Colonel Macgregor is still unaware that they are a forgery.
The Israeli Knesset (parliament) and our government have seen video footage of the October 7 Hamas atrocities. Macgregor can obtain a screening so that he can verify for himself the horrors of that day. Much of the footage was obtained from Hamas sources, their own people posting online the joy of their grisly work.
Macgregor quotes numbers of fatalities for the Palestinian victims of Israeli aggression that could only have come from Hamas. Since when are terrorist organizations a credible source of information? Did the Allies take Nazi news releases at face value? As it happens, there’s every reason to believe Hamas’s numbers are fake. Indeed, later in the podcast, Macgregor admits that no one knows what the real numbers are.
Much of Macgregor’s commentary was a rambling diatribe, offering no specifics or sources of the Israeli numbers as to exaggeration or details of friendly fire casualties. He just offered up broad generalizations lacking support.
Macgregor asserted that of all Israel’s technological advantages came from America. He seems unaware that Israel is a sophisticated entrepreneurial tech nation. America has benefited immensely from Israel’s sharing of its innovative military technology. This has saved America many billions of dollars and years of research. Israel’s incredible defense system for short-range missile attacks, Iron Dome, is legendary, with a roughly ninety percent effective rate. Iron Dome, which was originally developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, has been co-produced with the United States through a partnership with Raytheon since 2014.
In addition, the same two companies developed David’s Sling to counter long-range rockets and slower-flying cruise missiles. In 2020, they teamed up in a joint venture called Raytheon Rafael Area Protection Systems. Israel Aerospace Industries and Boeing form another U.S.-Israel missile defense partnership, together developing the Arrow systems, which cover short-range (Arrow), long-range (Arrow 2), and high-altitude (Arrow 3) aerial attacks.
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More than 80 percent of Israel’s imported weaponry comes from America, but Israel adds value by enhancing the technology of this modern weaponry. In addition to weaponry and tech, Israel is a valuable source of intelligence concerning our Middle Eastern interests.
The U.N. has given billions in aid to Gaza since the Israeli withdrawal in 2005, with America being a major contributor. What have we gotten for it? Outside of UN funding, Palestinians have received $40 billion in foreign aid from various countries between 1994 and 2020. To what end?
During the Obama Administration, we were sending Pakistan over $600 million a year, even though it sheltered Osama bin Laden, who was assassinated there in 2011. Nice going, Pakistan! With Israel, we acquire hi-tech military equipment field tested ready to go, as well as valuable intelligence.
Another thing that Macgregor asserted is that from Eisenhower through George W. Bush, American presidents have acted to restrain Israel and pointed as evidence to America’s aid to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Then, Egypt, Syria, and other Arab states attacked Israel on the holiest day in its calendar. The alleged purpose was to avenge the Arab rout in the 1967 Six-Day War. As to that war, Macgregor noted that Israel launched a preemptive strike. What he left out is that the Arab world had massed military assets on Israel’s borders in readiness for a Jewish genocide and that this followed the closing of the Straits of Tiran, blocking Israeli shipping and strangling the country’s economy. So, who attacked first?
Despite the surprise 1973 attacks, Israel rallied and took the war to the enemy. General Ariel Sharon’s tanks were approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Cairo, with nothing between them and the Egyptian government. Henry Kissinger forced a “ceasefire” on Israel, preserving Egyptian control of the Suez. Kissinger’s goal was to drive the Soviet Union out of the Middle East.
Macgregor claimed that if America had not stopped Israel, then Russia would have entered the war. That’s pure speculation. If Russia was going to intervene, it more than likely would have done so before rather than after the fact, when it would have been easier to turn things around. Peace was later achieved because the Egyptians were afraid of Israel. It is the same now with the Abraham Accords. If the Arab world fears Israel, and only if it does, will there be peace.
It is worth noting that Egyptian head of state Anwar Sadat was assassinated on October 6, 1981, for making peace with Israel. When President Clinton attempted to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the so-called Palestinians, Yasser Arafat, who led the terrorist PLO and who was worth hundreds of millions or billions when he died, walked away at the last minute. He was later reported to have said, “If I make peace with Israel, I will be joining Sadat!”
Apparently, Colonel Macgregor’s opinion is that American policy in the Middle East should be “Do not let the Jews win.”
What is now going on is what happened in 2014. Under President Barack Obama, America intervened to save Hamas. So now Macgregor advocates doing this again and again.
If you want to understand how Col. Macgregor views conflicts between Israel and her genocidal neighbors, a Tony Branco cartoon from 2014 explains it all. It depicts three people around a table. In the center is former Secretary of State Kerry (under Obama), to the right, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and, to the left, a Hamas representative clutching a child wearing a suicide vest in his right hand. In his left hand, he holds a paper stating his single demand: “Death to All Jews.” Kerry’s word bubble has him asking Netanyahu, “Could you at least meet him halfway?” This sums up the situation perfectly.
Tucker Carlson has built up a highly respected conservative brand…and conservatives support Israel because they understand that doing so is the truly moral position. Tucker should not sully his brand by consorting with someone like Col. Macgregor, who oozes the ancient poison of antisemitism.
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