Conservative podcasting titan Tucker Carlson said he and his staff were detained in Israel on Wednesday following an interview with Donald Trump’s ambassador to the country.

The former Fox News host flew into Tel Aviv for a sit-down with Mike Huckabee, who challenged Carlson to speak to him directly following an online spat about the country’s treatment of Christians.

Carlson, who also frequently criticizes Israel for its military actions in Gaza, took Huckabee up on his offer.

But as critics and pro-Israel activists began piling on Carlson for purportedly not leaving the airport during his brief visit, he revealed that he was met with hostility in the Middle Eastern country.

Carlson exclusively told the Daily Mail that shortly after the interview, Israeli officials confiscated his passport and hauled one of his colleagues off to an interrogation room.

‘Men who identified themselves as airport security took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about,’ Carlson told the Daily Mail. 

‘It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country.’ 

Prior to the interview, Carlson posted a photo on X of himself and his business partner, Neil Patel, in front of Ben Gurion airport on Wednesday with the caption: ‘Greetings from Israel.’

Tucker Carlson says he and his staff were detained at Ben Gurion airport and interrogated by Israeli officials on Wednesday following an interview with US Ambassador Mike Huckabee

Carlson frequently criticizes Israel for its military actions in Gaza and treatment of Christians

Huckabee, who has known Carlson for over three decades and previously worked with him at Fox News, invited Carlson to Israel for a discussion over their differences

‘Too bad Tucker stayed in the airport in the face of so many invitations to see so many wonderful places. A huge and obviously intentional missed opportunity,’ taunted David Friedman, the former US ambassador to Israel during Trump’s first term.

Two sources familiar with the matter, however, told the Daily Mail that the Israeli government initially did not want to allow Carlson into the country, prompting a delicate negotiation involving the State Department.

In the end, the Israeli government decided not to bar Carlson from entering the country in order to avoid a ‘diplomatic incident,’ according to a Channel 13 report.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Israel denied that Carlson was detained and claimed he ‘received the same passport control questions that countless visitors to Israel, including Ambassador Huckabee and other diplomats, receive as part of normal entrance and exit from Israel.’

‘It is not accurate that Israel only was going to let Tucker into the country for the interview,’ the representative added. 

‘The only engagement the Embassy had with Israel about his visit was to coordinate his private plane landing as part of facilitating a seamless visit. It was Tucker who chose to only come into the country for a few hours and depart. And Tucker received the same positive treatment of any visitors to Israel.’

The Daily Mail has contacted the White House and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office for comment. 

Carlson accused Huckabee last week on his YouTube show of not ensuring proper protections for Christians in Israel.

Huckabee, who has known Carlson for more than three decades and previously worked with him at Fox News, responded by inviting him to Israel for a discussion.

‘Instead of talking about me, why don’t you come talk to me?’ Huckabee wrote on X. Carlson replied by welcoming the invitation, before noting that they were working on setting up the interview.

Israel’s popularity remains at an all-time low in the GOP among young Republican voters and Trump supporters. 

The Carlson-Huckabee event was reportedly an attempt by the Trump administration to prevent debates surrounding Israel from breaking the GOP’s conservative coalition ahead of the midterms. 

Carlson is a longtime supporter of Trump and ally of Vice President JD Vance

Carlson and his business partner Neil Patel at Ben Gurion airport on Wednesday

Trump urged Carlson and others within the GOP to ease off internal fights with Republicans over Israel, according to former Fox News anchor Melissa Francis. 

‘Everybody’s looking for a way to turn down the temperature,’ Francis told the  Jerusalem Post. ‘President Trump is telling everyone, including Tucker, “Let’s take this down.”‘

Carlson is a longtime ally of Vice President JD Vance and speaks with Trump on a range of issues, including foreign policy. 

Last month, Carlson visited the White House twice and met with Trump in the Oval Office on at least one known occasion.

By KATELYN CARALLE, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER

Published: 15:13 EST, 6 February 2026 | Updated: 01:26 EST, 7 February 2026

Social media users are calling for the author of one particularly egregious email to be unredacted from the Jeffrey Epstein files.

A message sent to Epstein’s ‘vacation’ email account in 2014 featured the vulgar note about the ‘littlest girl.’ When put in the context of Epstein’s child sex trafficking crimes, the email is even more heinous.

‘Thank you for a fun night,’ the email reads, followed by the second line: ‘Your littlest girl was a little naughty.’

It was sent March 11, 2014 from an iPhone to Epstein’s account jeevacation@gmail.com, which is the email repeatedly featured in the files.

Everything in the email is included except for the name of the sender, which, like many other names in the files, is covered with two black bars concealing their identity.

The message was just one of the 3.5 million documents, images and correspondences included in the Justice Department’s drop of Epstein files last week.

Americans are furious, however, over the selective redaction of the emails.

Social media is demanding that the DOJ un-redact the name of someone who sent an email to Jeffrey Epstein saying: ‘Your littlest girl was a little naiughty’

The latest Epstein files drop shows several egregious emails between the convicted child sex offender and other rich, powerful and influential people – though many names remain redacted

Critics claim the black bars and blocks throughout the files do little to protect victims like the Justice Department promised. Instead, they complain, it many times conceals the identities of those who were in contact with Epstein and allegedly potentially involved with his parties and sex trafficking ring.

The DOJ did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment on whether there will be consideration to reveal portions that were previously redacted and black-barred.  

The email to Epstein about his ‘littlest girl’ was sent six years after the offender was sentenced to 18 months in a Florida jail for charges of solicitation of prostitution from a minor.

‘America deserves to know who the f**k this person is,’ a furious X user wrote with an image of the redacted email.

Another said: ‘I second this.’

Following negotiations conducted in 2007, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida as part of a plea deal to avoid federal charges that could result in life in prison. At the time of the ‘secret arrangement,’ the Florida US Attorney’s office was headed by Alexander Acosta.

Epstein served 13 months of the 18-month sentence in a private wing of the Palm Beach County jail. He got a cushy deal and was allowed to leave jail six days every week for a ‘work release’ that spanned 12 hours every day.

He began the sentence the summer of 2008 and was released on probation in July 2009.

There are several nefarious messages sent between Epstein and other rich, powerful and famous men after his release from jail.