Tucker Carlson has launched a docuseries on 9/11 that revives one of the ugliest antisemitic lies: the so-called “dancing Israelis” conspiracy. Carlson suggests that Jews, not al-Qaeda, celebrated as the Twin Towers fell. The truth is clear: Palestinians and radical Islamists were filmed rejoicing. Israel condemned the attack immediately and stood with America.
The “dancing Israelis” story has been investigated and debunked for more than two decades. The FBI detained five Israeli men in New Jersey on September 11, 2001. They were interrogated for weeks, subjected to multiple polygraph tests, and cleared of any prior knowledge of the attacks. They were deported only for visa violations. There was no evidence of Israeli involvement in 9/11.
By contrast, news cameras captured Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank handing out candy, chanting “Allahu Akbar,” and flashing “V for Victory” signs as Americans burned alive. Radical Islamist preachers abroad also glorified the massacre. In London, Abu Hamza al-Masri’s Finsbury Park Mosque hosted a grotesque “Towering Day in History” event celebrating the hijackers and urging followers to draw lessons from the attack. These were the real celebrations of 9/11.
Israel’s response could not have been more different. Then–Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “It’s an attack on the entire civilized world.” Far from rejoicing, Israelis mourned alongside Americans. The historical record shows that Islamist terrorism, not Israel, had already targeted New York before: in 1993, al-Qaeda operative Ramzi Yousef masterminded the first World Trade Center bombing, a foreshadowing of 9/11.
Carlson’s remarks fit into a disturbing pattern. He has increasingly trafficked in antisemitic tropes, giving platforms to Holocaust revisionists and spreading conspiracy theories that Jews “control” U.S. foreign policy. At a Charlie Kirk memorial event, he even implied that “a bunch of guys eating hummus in Jerusalem” plotted to kill him. As journalist Yashar Ali observed, “Almost every single Neo-Nazi I track believes Tucker was talking about Jews.”
Republican leaders have begun to call this out. Senator Ted Cruz said on his Verdict podcast: “Something is wrong with Tucker Carlson,” pointing to Carlson’s disturbing drift into antisemitic conspiracy theories and saying his rhetoric is now “unrecognizable.”
The facts are indisputable. Palestinians and radical Islamists cheered 9/11. Israel condemned it and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with America. Tucker Carlson’s attempt to recycle the “dancing Jews” lie is not investigative journalism — it is antisemitic propaganda. By blaming Jews instead of al-Qaeda, Carlson desecrates the memory of the 2,977 victims and gives new life to the world’s oldest hatred.
