Transcript of Whistleblower: Americans Are Being Murdered While Trump Does Nothing and the Media Cover-up Grows

The most shocking part of the story of the USS Liberty, the American ship bombed by the Israeli government back during the 6-Day War in 1967, is not simply the facts of the case. 34 Americans murdered by the Israelis, 171 wounded, bombed, strafed with machine gunfire, et cetera. That's a tragedy and it's shocking. But the most shocking part of the story is that the US government, beginning with the then president, Lyndon Johnson, covered it up, prevented the survivors from talking about it, prevented the public from knowing that it even happened. That's ongoing, by the way. American officials still refuse to talk about what happened to the USS Liberty, by and large, with some exceptions. So that's the part of the story that really makes you wonder what is going on here. It's one thing for a foreign country, foreign government, to murder your citizens. That does happen. But the idea that your own government would take the side of the foreign nation as it murders your people, the people your government is in charge of caring for, that is really stunning. And you have to ask why. Well, in some cases, of course, just a product of evil intent.

There are bad people in positions of power, but for the most part, it's not active evil, it's passive evil. It's the result of moral cowardice. It's more painful to take the side of your own people than it is the side of a foreign government. Therefore, you take the side of a foreign government. That's just the truth about the way most people are, unfortunately. So as you think about that, you think about the depth of the betrayal involved in the aftermath of the USS Liberty murders. You think, well, that couldn't possibly happen now. Well, in fact, it is happening now. Right now, more than a dozen American citizens have been murdered in pogroms in the occupied territories that Israel controls, the West Bank. And they've been murdered by Israelis, mostly Israeli settlers, the ones conducting these pogroms, armed by the US government, carrying American rifles. And if you think the term pogrom is too strong, you don't know the details of what's happening there. Israeli settlers, many of them American citizens carrying American weapons, murdering the local population, Palestinians, some of whom, more than a dozen of whom have been American. And by the way, who are prohibited from defending themselves.

They cannot carry weapons. Of course, Palestinians can't carry weapons on their own land, but Israeli settlers who seek to steal that land can. So this is— these pogroms have been ongoing, of course, but most Americans have no idea that American citizens have been murdered during the course of them. And they have no idea because the media by and large don't report it, and American officials have no interest in talking about it. So we want to bring you a very specific story of a young American man. And by American, we mean literally American, born in the United States. Worked at his family's ice cream shop in Tampa, who was murdered last summer in July of 2025 in the West Bank. He was murdered attempting to go to land that his family owns, has a deed to, not owns in some conceptual sense, but literally owns. And he was killed by settlers, none of whom have ever been punished for that crime. And under normal circumstances, we would give long monologue about why this is bad. Of course, it's self-evidently bad and what it means. But we've just conducted two of the most extraordinary interviews we've done in a long time, one with the father of the boy who was murdered and another with an American journalist who works for a Christian, a Catholic publication, who was effectively prevented from talking about this entire topic, who was censored on behalf of the Israeli government.

In the United States. So these two interviews answer at least two questions. The first is, what is happening? You may not know the details with your money in your name to your fellow citizens in a foreign land. And the second is, why haven't you heard about this? Why is there effectively a media blackout on the details? Not a total media blackout. In fact, we're about to play you a clip from CNN, which to their credit, they did. About the murder last summer of the boy from Florida. But by and large, the American media do not report on the details of these crimes, of these pogroms. Why is that? And the second interview with the editor, former editor from this Catholic publication, gives you a sense of just how the news coverage is shut down at the level of the news organization, what the censorship looks like within the newsroom. And so we want to frame the first interview we're about to bring you with that clip we just mentioned from CNN, which has video in it that you may not have seen, but this is something worth watching. So what you're about to see is video of the father accompanied by a news crew attempting to go to the place where his son was beaten to death during these pogroms.

Watch.

Kamal Muslit hasn't been able to reach this land in over a year. This is the hillside where his son, Saif, an American citizen, was killed. Looks like it's down here if you want to walk.

Yeah. Yeah.

Beaten to death by Israeli settlers exactly 1 year ago. Since then, settlers have illegally occupied the area, preventing this father from getting the closure he so desperately seeks.

We have to keep an eye because usually they'll come down that way.

Yeah. But this solemn, sacred moment won't last. Within seconds, we spot a car speeding towards us. We start to leave, but as we drive away, we see that 4 settlers have set up a roadblock. Armed with clubs and rocks, they try and block our way, first with their bodies, and then— And now it looks like he's trying to slash our tires. He's trying to slash our tires. Oh, he's got a knife.

He's going for the tires.

A group of independent journalists and activists are in the car behind us.

Move!

Move, bitch!

But their vehicle isn't armored.

Move! Move!

But the settlers aren't done. More arrive, blocking another road before chasing us and attacking us again. Nope, they're trying to stop our car again. They're hitting us. We finally make it back to safety, where I get on the phone with the Israeli military. Which is responsible for security in this area. But settlers have also called the military, and these soldiers are only interested in harassing us, refusing to take action against the settlers.

That man, as you just saw, is called Kamal Musalet. He runs an ice cream shop and a Smashburger store in Tampa, Florida, and we're about to bring you our interview with him. And we're not going to say a lot more because nothing we could say would be half as affecting or informative as about— as what you're about to hear him say. But we just add one thing. You will hear him describe his efforts to get the attention of his own US Senator, Rick Scott of Florida. Now keep in mind, Colonel Musa is from Florida. He grew up in Clewiston, Florida, right near Lake Okeechobee. He's not some foreigner. He's an American, an American citizen, and has always been. His family, his parents were American citizens. And of course, his son, now gone, was an American citizen too. Rick Scott is the Republican senator who represents him, and yet Rick Scott has refused to meet with him. Rick Scott is always welcome on this show to explain why. Consider this an official invitation to Senator Scott. But keep in mind, as you listen to this, that his representative in the United States Senate, Rick Scott, has refused to meet with him or do anything to affect justice in this case.

The killers of his son remain unpunished. So with that, here's our interview with Kamal Musalet. Kamal Musalet, thank you so much for joining us. Um, so I, I'm hoping you'll tell us the story of your son, and I just want to be clear for people watching that he was an American, not simply a green card holder or even a citizen, but a birthright American born in Florida. Fully American, and he was murdered in the occupied territories by settlers. So tell us who he was and what happened, if you would.

Sayf Allah Musalett, my son. My name is Kamel Musalett. Sayf Allah Musalett was born in Port Charlotte, Florida. He was working at an ice cream shop in Tampa, Florida. And me and him built it together and we opened it up and he was serving ice cream to kids. That was his job description. Sayfullah, in the summer of 2025, July, he was in West Bank, Palestine. He wanted to visit his family. He wanted to visit. My wife was there at that time. And his siblings were there. And honestly, he wanted actually to hopefully find a potential wife. He wanted to get engaged, and he said, "Maybe I can find my spouse there." And so I told him, I was debating because business was booming, the ice cream shop was doing well, but he convinced me that, "Let me go there for now." I told him, okay, but what we'll do is that we'll kind of switch places. I'll go take care of the ice cream shop while you go there. We spent some time together there together. We spent our holiday, Eid, and we attended my nephew's wedding, which is his cousin. And I came back to the States.

I left him there. Israeli settlers, since April of 2025, they've been basically trying to steal more land, the land theft that they're doing and the land theft that they're getting away with. And since April, they've been coming to our town. It's basically across from our village. Across from our village, meaning these two big mountains or hills, one of them has the homes and schools schools and so forth. And then the other one is open field, but it's part of our village. Tucker, as you might have heard before, our village consists of 80% American citizens.

Yes.

Yeah, in Mazraa al Sharqiyya and most of Ramallah area. So my father's the one that came to the States. My grandfather came to the States in 1895 on a on a boat and lived in New York. My father came in the '60s. So, you know, I'm second generation. I've been here for years. And I grew up in Clewiston, Florida, a small town by Okeechobee.

I know it.

Yeah.

Yeah. I went to Friday night football games. You know, that's who we are.

Eating right's pretty important, but it's hard if you live here. About half of the American diet is ultra-processed foods, and that hurts you. Fake food harms your body, your mind, and especially your liver. So people think that feeling sluggish and foggy and bloated is just what it is to be older, but that's not true. Eating crap makes you feel that way. Well, our friends at Dose have a solution. It's called Dose for Your Liver. This doctor-approved plant-based liver supplement is clinically proven to promote liver function and lower liver enzyme levels. That means you're less bloated, less tired, you feel more like yourself. All you need to do is take a daily 2-ounce shot, tastes like orange juice, an easy shot of liquid. It's not the vax. People we know use Dose for Your Liver and they have seen rapid results in their blood work and they feel much, much better. The difference is very obvious. Lots of brands claim to support liver health but do so before their products have gone through testing. This has been tested. Everything checks all the boxes. Visit dosedaily.co/tucker. Use the code Tucker for 35% off. That's dosedaily.co/tucker, code Tucker, 35% off.

You're going to love it.

Um, so We are Americans. My son was born in the States, my older brothers were born in the States and so forth. So our village, just like my father, most of the older generations, they moved to the States. So 80% of our village, it consists of 20,000 people, only 4,000 live there and 15,000 live abroad, either in the States or South America, and most of them are American citizens. So most of these American citizens own these lands. I own a piece of land in this land, in this mountain. And the Israeli settlers have been going there since April 2025 and preventing us from getting into our lands. And as you know, Tucker, there's Area A, B, and C. Believe it or not, this land where these settlers are at right now, this moment as we speak, I can't get to my land. It's Area A and Area B. It's not this Area C disputed Oslo agreement saying that it's under Israeli authority. No, this is under Palestinian authority, but the Palestinian Authority doesn't even go there. We don't go there. So they were trying to get to their land since April, and week after week they were attacked and attacked and attacked.

And it just It doesn't make sense that we can't get to our lands because of 5 or 6 or 7 of these Israeli settlers attacking us. They're armed with M16s, they're armed with sticks, with rocks and so forth. And every time someone would try to go there, they would get hurt or attacked. But it's our right to be in our land. This is land that is owned by us. It's land owned by American citizens, Tucker. There's many Americans all over the world that buy land and own land in many foreign countries. So that July 11th, just like every other week, many people were trying to get into their lands and they were prevented by these Israeli settlers. Sayyid Fallah was one of the people that was trying to get to his land. I have land there, about an acre land there, in Area A, and there wasn't many settlers or they didn't see many settlers. It seemed that they had an ambush ready for them. When they got there, maybe 50 settlers, a mob of them ambushed Saifullah, ambushed his friend Muhammad al-Shalabi, attacked many other people that day. His friend, Mohammed Chalabi, was shot in the back, a close friend of him, a Palestinian, but his name is not known as much because he's not an American.

Sayfullah was beaten to death that day. And what happened was that the ambulance A first ambulance was trying to reach him, and on the way there, it was attacked by stones and had to go back. My other son, Muhammad, when he heard about this news, and I'm in the States, Tucker, right now at this moment, and Sorry, Tucker.

No, it's all right. It's hard to imagine.

Yeah, it's my oldest son, you know. It's like, so I get these messages that are saying that Sayfullah is in this mountain and Sayfullah has been hurt. Nobody's giving me direct messages. Nobody's telling me exactly what's happening. And I understand that nobody wants to tell the father what's going on. My younger son, Muhammad, he heard what happened. He crossed this mountain and he just, I guess the adrenaline pumped into him and he wasn't afraid that there was Israeli settlers there. He wasn't afraid that the Israeli army, remember, Tucker, Israeli army, their presence was there at that moment. And that's why we couldn't get another ambulance. And after the first ambulance went back, they had to get a permit for another ambulance to enter to get to Sayf Allah. And it took 2.5 hours until they finally got the permit to reach Sayf Allah. But my son, when he heard this, he went there. He crossed this mountain and he told me there were settlers on top, but They didn't see him. The Israeli soldiers didn't see him. He got to his brother. He reached his brother. And I was calling and calling and calling. And when I— Saifullah's phone and someone answered, I was kind of relieved at that moment.

But it wasn't safe because Saifullah's face was blue. He had a hard time breathing. His body just couldn't take it. And what's sad is my other son told me that he was still breathing and waiting for some sort of help. He was unconscious with his eyes open. And when I called him, Later on, my son told me that he didn't look good, that he needed some sort of medical attention, medical help. And when they finally approved for this ambulance to get to him after 2.5 hours, they put him on the stretcher. And 5 minutes before he got into the ambulance, my son told me that he took his last breath.

Oh.

So it was just that matter, just that time. If they allowed the ambulance, if the first ambulance got into him, he would be with us right now at this moment. I would not be having this interview with you at this moment. I would be with my son. We would be in an ice cream shop working together. The first one didn't make it. Why not allow the second one to get there sooner? They should have been the ones knowing that Israeli illegal Israeli settlers being in land that is not theirs under Oslo Agreement, under international law, under Israeli law. You know, there's these big signs up there. I don't know if you've seen pictures of them, that it is illegal for an Israeli to be in Area A. There's these big red signs. So it's under Israeli law, it's illegal for them to be there. They attacked my son. They attacked many other people. Why are they not even sending ambulances to get help, to help these people that have been hurt? And he took his last breath at that moment. And ever since then, there's been no accountability. There's been no justice. There's only been more settlers going there till this day.

Over a year and settlers are still in those areas. Every time we try to go there, we get attacked. And just on the 1-year anniversary, I don't know if you've seen the CNN report that I did with Jeremy Diamond. I agreed with CNN that I would do a follow-up with them, But like, I had a condition that I needed to be safe. They provided me an armored car. They provided me bulletproof vests. So think about it, to try to get to my own land, the only way that I can feel safe is if I'm in an armored car. And this is one year later since that, you know, my son was murdered. And we all know, what did Mike Huckabee say when he learned about Sayfullah's murder? He called it a criminal and terrorist act, a criminal and terrorist act. What did the director of the FBI say? I was listening to him not long ago and this thing popped up. He said, this is his exact words. If you kill an American citizen in an act of terrorism, we will hunt you down. We will bring you to justice, and you will— you will face justice here in America.

And Mike Huckabee called it a criminal and terrorist act.

Imagine the sensation, if you will, of going to sleep feeling like you're floating, then waking up rested with no soreness from a hard or stiff mattress. That is the daily experience of people who use Brooklyn Bedding. We can probably guess what you're thinking— a mattress like that is super expensive. Only Bill Gates uses a mattress like that. It's probably made in Bangladesh anyway. Oh, wrong on all counts. Brooklyn Bedding is an American company with a seriously impressive 650,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Arizona. The company started by a guy called John, and he built it from the ground up right here in the US with no college degree, by the way. Brooklyn makes mattresses for every sleep style and body type, plus uses temperature regulation to make sure you stay cool throughout the night. They offer a 120-night sleep trial— many nights— so you can return your mattress if you don't love it. Don't expect that to happen though, because Brooklyn Bedding has been awarded the best mattress by CNET and the best hybrid mattress by Wirecutter. People love it. Check for yourself, brooklynbetting.com. Use the promo code Tucker at checkout for 30% off site-wide.

Everything on the site, 30% off. That's brooklynbetting.com, promo code Tucker, 30% off site-wide all summer.

So like, why is my son different than any other American? If it was any other place in the world, Tucker, that a mob, a mob, you know, beats an American citizen to death in a foreign country. What would be the outcry of it? Would they not send authorities from the US to investigate it? Why is my son different in this situation? It just doesn't make sense. I didn't get a call from Rick Scott. I didn't get a call from DeSantis. I tried to set up meetings with them when I went to DC. But don't get me wrong, there's many senators out there that are so sincere, and Van Hollen is one of them. And him and 27 or 28 other senators signed a letter demanding an investigation, an independent investigation led by the US. And till this day, nothing. I try to get some answers from the Israeli authority, and They haven't sent, they've given me no updates. So that day when I went with Jeremy, one year later, I wanted to go to the place where my son was killed. I wanted to, maybe it would give some closure. I wanted to see this tree that he was under.

Because he was under a tree. His friends put him under a tree where there was shade. It was hot that day, and I wanted to reach that tree. But that day when we went with CNN, one year later, they're still there. We got attacked. The car was attacked. The journalists behind us got attacked. We were safe because we were in an armored car. The footage shows that the settlers were trying to slash the tire with a knife. And this was after reaching the area that the attack occurred. I reached that area and to be honest, it was really hard on me because I started to imagine my son being in that area, being attacked and his friends being attacked. Our next step was our next area, our goal to reach was the tree that he took his last breath in under. On our way there, we were attacked, then we were chased, then we were chased around the whole mountain until we got out safely. Even after that, they came down to the village and they started attacking and so forth. And it's like, until when? Why is there not sanctions on these people, on these terrorists?

Why is there not enough international pressure stopping this? And this is not only happening to Palestinians, this is happening to Americans. So we're funding this. That day, they said the day that we were attacked with Jeremy, CNN, they said they apprehended 4 people. But what really happened? Because the next day we couldn't get there. It's like the Israeli army claiming that they're that great, they can't remove 7 or 8 settlers from this mountain because the Palestinians can do only so much and they can't really retaliate against them. And the only thing that they could do is just basically nothing. We took it to the courts. We took it to the courts. And try to evict them, which makes no sense, evicting them from land that's not even theirs or evicting them from land that they're trying to steal. And the court's order from the Israeli courts, the Israeli Supreme Court has a court order that they must be removed, that they must leave, and still nothing. No investigation from The US Department of State, the Israeli authorities are not removing them, and they're just saying that they're just a bunch of a wild gang or some sort of.

And till this day, I'm there as a father. I feel I have a responsibility for my son, We're safe, that I can't give up and do what I can as an American. Tucker, he loved being an American. I mean, he got his new passport one day, the new passport with the card. He sent me a video. He said, "Dad, Dad, look at the new passport. It's different." Then his friend sent me a video after he was killed. That I'd never seen before until after he was killed. And he was holding this US passport and he was saying, "Blue is blue. It doesn't matter." This was Saif's direct words. He said, "It doesn't matter if you're a Palestinian American. It doesn't matter if you're any other." He said, "Blue is blue. American is an American." And this was like, he believed in it so much, you know? And it kind of, you know, like, how disappointed would he be right now that his passport did nothing for him?

Ah.

Okay. You know, this is who Sayyid was.

Let me ask you two questions. Has anyone ever been arrested for your son's murder?

Uh, they claim at the beginning some, uh, they were— four were arrested that day. They didn't give me information on who. They didn't say, but, uh, you know, they were, uh, released soon after.

So no, no one's been punished for murdering your son?

Nobody's been punished.

Homeownership has always been at the center of the American dream. It is an actual asset, a place people work their entire lives to build, a place of stability and security and real value. Right now though, too many homeowners are stuck swiping credit cards to cover groceries. There's basically a survival tax of 20% interest or more. So why keep handing your money to the banks when you could keep it for your family? Interest is what kills you. Our friends at American Financing have a better way. They're helping homeowners use their hard-earned equity, and they're supporting Americans looking to fulfill the dream of owning a home with mortgage rates currently in the 5s. American Financing saves its customers an average of $800 a month. That's about $10,000 a year. It's not just a loan, it's a true financial reset. We recommend American Financing. They're called America's Home for Home Loans for a reason. So get out of credit card debt. I mean, it is just crazy to borrow money. No judgment, but it doesn't make any sense to borrow money at that rate. If you want out, call 800-685-5696, 800-685-5696, or visit americanfinancing.net/tucker. That's my first question.

My second question is, I just want to make sure I have this clear. You're a— you're an American. You run an ice cream shop in Tampa where your son, an American citizen, works, but you're Floridians. And Rick Scott, the Republican senator from Florida will not meet with you after your son, an American citizen and Florida resident, was murdered in a foreign country? Did I get that right?

We've tried. We've tried to do direct meetings with him. I think they wanted us to meet with their staff or so forth. I wanted a direct con— I wanted to meet him directly. I went to DC. I met with many senators. Why not my senator? You know, you know, my Floridian senator.

So I just want to say that again. Rick Scott and his— the phone number for his office is on the internet. Encourage everyone to look it up and give the office a call. Um, Rick Scott, the Republican senator from Florida, will not meet with his own constituent whose son was murdered in a foreign country. That, you know, you think like the USS Liberty could never happen now. That American leaders would never tolerate their own people being killed by a foreign country. They'd never cover up on behalf of a foreign power when Americans are murdered. But clearly it is happening again.

And my son is not even the only American that's been killed there. Since 2003, a dozen Americans have been killed. And even after my son, my whole thing was Maybe this time will be different. Maybe something will happen. Something will— there'll be a change because of— there was media out there covering about Saif's story and it won't happen again. There'll be some sort of international pressure. No other American will be killed there. And even after my son was killed, two more Americans were killed by Israeli settlers after my son. And it just doesn't stop. And like, you know, my whole thing is like, you know, why is the US government not doing enough for their citizens? You know, when it comes to them being killed by Israelis. I don't know, Tucker, don't you think if it was any other place in the world, there would be this investigation? They'll send out their investigators and so forth to see what happened. It's been a year down the road and I just feel now it's even too late. What kind of investigation can you do after a year? I'm going to try to keep doing my part and demand justice, demand accountability, and hopefully, this impunity that they have, thinking they can do anything they want and get away with it because they are.

And nobody's stopping them, you know, slap on the wrist or so forth. Or, but, you know, there's no true accountability. There's nobody getting, you know, going to jail. And like I said, when what the director of the FBI said, You know, he's claiming that you're not going to get away if you kill an American citizen, but these guys have.

You can also rape children and molest children in the United States and flee to Israel and never face justice. And that's happened a lot. So, of course, um, they behave as if they have impunity because they do have impunity. That's the answer. They do have a goal.

And Mike Huckabee called me up 2 days after, and these were my exact words that I asked him. I said, should I not fear to go into my land as an American that is under my name that I purchased anytime I want. And he said, no, you should not. I remember one year later, I still fear going into my land. He came to my house, we sat with each other, and he told me he would— he wants to get answers from the Israeli authorities and still, still today, no answers from them. Um, they, the case is still open, you know, when, when we asked, but with no answers, with nothing.

Well, he is the United States ambassador in a country that would only exist because of the United States. So if he wanted answers, he could get answers. He's the envoy from the Trump administration, the benefactor of Israel. So it's like not not that hard to get answers if you, if you really want to. So he doesn't really want to.

What hurts a lot, uh, Tucker, is like, you know, imagine what it feels like, like my own tax dollars that I pay, you know, contributed to my own son's murder. Yes. You know, that hurts. And that hurts because we all know our tax dollars go there and my son was killed there. So do I have a part of that in reality? You know, so I can— well, you know, we can pray for the best and and hope that there'll be some change, that they'll finally put a stop to this land theft that just keeps going and going and going. And just 3 weeks ago, just 3 weeks ago, they put a new outpost in our land, in the Mazraa al-Sharqiya land, land that's owned by mostly 80% Americans from our village. And they brought their sheep. They started small. Now there's a tent there. And now every day more and more settlers are going there. And now another area of our village that we can't go to because there's Israeli settlers there. This was just 3 weeks ago. So it's not stopping. It's not. It's increasing, actually, on an everyday.

I appreciate your taking the time to tell your story and the story of your son and what happened after he was murdered in this pogrom. Um, and I hope many people will see this, and I hope that changes the result of that. So thank you very much.

Well, thank you, Tucker, for having me and letting me give my story and letting my You know, son's legacy live on. Thank you.

So if you just watched that entire interview, we were emotionally exhausted by the end of it. You may be asking yourself, among many other questions, why didn't I know that this happened? Pogroms are underway, literal pogroms where people are being murdered, including American citizens, including a boy from an ice cream shop in Tampa. And I didn't know that even happened. Well, the reason you may not have known is because the media are by and large not covering it. There is one exception. It's a Catholic publication whose political editor you're about to meet— former political editor— and his name is Stephen Heriot. Heriot describes how coverage of this story and stories like it has been shut down at a Christian publication. And of course, if it's shut down at a Christian publication, you can imagine it has no shot at all at most media outlets in the United States. But without delay, here is editor Stephen Heriot. Stephen, thanks so much for doing this. Um, this story, what happened to you recently, is— it's, it's hard to believe at first. Um, so if I understand just the outline of it, you were working for a Catholic news organization, and you were told not to allow anything in print that might criticize, discredit the state of Israel, up to and including the state of Israel's mistreatment of Christians.

Is that right?

It's not quite such a complete prohibition. More alarmingly, I guess— here's the thing, let me just, for a little context, Yeah, I work for, and I'm a longtime political editor for ZL News, which is a Catholic, Catholic votes news outlet. And we have in the past done a lot of coverage until very recently, done a lot of coverage, arguably more than any other Catholic outlet on the mistreatment of Palestinians by Israeli forces and by the Israeli settler movement. And one of our main sources on the ground has been the organization the Vulnerable People Project, which I know you've heard of and I've seen mentioned on your show. And what happened is right after the Napa conference, it was conveyed to me that we were now adopting a new policy and it was to drastically reduce, um, our coverage of Israel. Now I will say it's been presented to me in various ways. On one occasion, yeah, it was a total prohibition, no coverage of Israel until the elections. That's as a rule, and maybe with exceptions. And there will be— if there are exceptions, it has to be explicitly put, you know, brought to the CEO and under— brought under extra scrutiny.

I'm sorry to ask you to pause. Until which elections?

I guess the upcoming midterms.

Okay.

Would be the reference. And so to me, though, what was— what was alarming on the outset was This came in the context of, uh, right after the Napa Conference in California, which was attended by the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, Brian.

And what is that? What is the Napa Conference?

The Napa Conference, the Napa Institute, it's, um, the, the people present would be Catholic, influential Catholics in politics and media, um, donors, and, um, U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Brian Birch, who is the former president of CatholicVote, was there, and the current CEO of CatholicVote and of ZEAL, Kelsey Reinhart, uh, and another executive met with him. Uh, they also met with donors, um, meaning the current CEO and other executives met with donors, and it was presented to me as coming from that. Like, one of the takeaways from our meeting, uh, our meetings with donors and from our meeting with the ambassador, is we have to change our editorial policy on all issues with, you know, all articles that we were publishing with regard to this one issue, Israel. Um, that in itself, without even getting into the substance of what the policy change might be, uh, was so alarming that I immediately went to my immediate supervisor and said, I think this violates my conscience. I don't, I don't think I can abide by this. Um, But that was only, I guess, the beginning.

If you're over 35, you remember exactly where you were on 9/11, that morning, September 11th, 2001, 25 years ago. But amazingly, after a quarter century, we still can't say with certainty what happened that day.

Why?

Because the government is holding so many of the 9/11 files 25 years later. That's not the behavior of someone who's telling the truth. That's the behavior of a government that is lying. Secrecy is a signifier, is a sign that someone's lying. Now, former Congressman Curt Weldon has been on this for a long time. The FBI actively tried to destroy his life for asking questions about what happened, and his new book outlines it all— the buried intelligence, the bureaucratic cowardice, and yes, the cover-up spanning multiple administrations, indeed generations. 9/11 changed history, so it's worth understanding what really happened. And you can get a lot closer to that in Kurt Weldon's book, Able Danger: What the 9/11 Commission Never Told You. It's available now on TuckerCarlsonBooks.com. TuckerCarlsonBooks.com. May I ask you again to pause and tell us what your supervisor said when you explained your conscience won't permit you to work under these conditions?

Oh, my direct supervisor was very sympathetic. And there are, as, as you know, on this issue, um, there's a lot of sympathy. In fact, as I said to one of my bosses, you could cast about for sympathy for days, uh, uh, and if you tell people we're changing our policy on Israel stories until the elections, you'll find that sympathy in one or two retirement communities and maybe Florida and New York and maybe in some boardrooms in D.C. But every— as you've seen, I mean, people are very morally outraged by the comportment of Israel in the West Bank and of course in Gaza over the last 3 years almost. So, yeah, my direct supervisor is very sympathetic. There are plenty of people who are very sympathetic. And in fact, Tucker, I'd honestly say and I said this to everyone before I resigned, I said, I believe that you are fundamentally in agreement with me on this. I view you not as, you know, some bad guy trying to impose something on me, but as a good person who's been manipulated. And to me, that's my main attitude toward this. And I feel bound in conscience, and I even said this to executives before I resigned, I said, this is unmistakably a moral scandal.

And with the involvement of the US Ambassador to the Vatican, especially in light of how outspoken our Holy Father has been, as well as his right-hand man and the holy man, you know, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the cardinal who is the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to say nothing of the clergy on the ground in the West Bank, um, for the US Ambassador to be going to the US and meeting with an executive at a media organization and saying we need to adjust our policy toward Israel and the way we cover it is inherently scandalous. And I said, I will not be complicit in such a scandal, uh, and I don't be— I don't appreciate being put in the position of sitting on it, you know. Um, and sure enough, you know, when it— when I reached out to your team, your response I think was as commonsensical as mine, like, are you kidding me? You know, that's very alarming. There's no mistaking it, is there?

No, it's shocking. I mean, this is a Christian news organization reporting on, among other things, the mistreatment of Christians in the Holy Land. And, and so to, to hear not just that a US official but the ambassador to the Vatican would be trying to shut that down, um, yeah, I had trouble believing that could be true, but You know, that's a daily, daily experience for me.

Um, well, and to be clear, Tucker, I wasn't privy to this conversation. I didn't have a conversation with you as ambassador to the Vatican, but it was very strange to me that 3 executives independently confirmed that this conversation had taken place. 2 of them were present and recount— yeah, as I was saying to Brian, and as he said, um, so to be meeting with the ambassador to the Vatican And coming out of that meeting with, and here's our new editorial policy with regard to all stories having to do with Israel. By the way, I'm Catholic Votes, in a sense, I'm Catholic Votes' most senior editor. I'm not, you know, I'm the political editor. To hear this as sort of just marching orders out of the blue and for it to be presented, frankly, cavalierly. Here's the other thing, you know, when I talked with the CEO, she did mention, I do, quote, I do, uh, uh, she said, I, I, I, I understand that some things have been communicated in a clunky and alarming way. At one point she even said she would have one person who communicated it to me rescind his communique. Nonetheless, I was like, no, you don't go oops on something like this.

This is very grave. Um, And I was very frankly— it's just very— I'm still mystified, um, that they would not, uh, see how serious I was, but also how grave the situation is, if that makes sense.

What do you think motivated this? What kind of coverage— and pardon my ignorance— were you all doing before this conversation?

Wonderful coverage. Um, really, I'm very proud of it. I'm very proud of them. They really stuck their necks out. We— one of our main focuses, to give you a flavor of it, was Taiba. And thank you, by the way, I've heard you mention Taiba on your, on your show. It's the last all-Christian town in the West Bank, and it has been subject to some of the— some really nasty settler violence and menacing activity by settlers surrounding it. We're trying to push the local community out. This is an ancient Christian community. They, they descend from the first converts. I mean, these are— this is the— the West Bank is made up of, uh, of, uh, of, uh, descendants of Christ's first followers. But we've done some beautiful coverage of Taiba that included exclusive comments from the residents there. Um, that coverage included, uh, citations of those residents expressing— well, essentially alleging that Israeli forces were complicit in or even facilitated settler violence against them and threats against them by settlers. So there's a final chapter to this. Hours after I tendered my resignation, the Zeal website published its first report on Taiba without my editorial oversight, and presumably in, uh, in keeping with the new policy that they had adopted on Israel.

And in sharp contrast to all of the past reports on Taiba, there were no direct quotations from the residents. The main source it cited was an official statement from the Israeli military, and that statement gave its rationale as, "We are coming and declaring Taiba a closed military zone in order to protect the residents from settler violence. It flies in the face of everything we— the whole perspective of the local community, including, by the way, Father Bashar, the local pastor, who we've quoted in our past reports. These are exclusive quotes, by the way. I got these exclusive contacts through the Vulnerable People Project, and a major part of the policy that troubled me the most when they said we're going to be changing our policy on Israel was zero, absolutely no more citations of the Vulnerable People Project as a source. And I'm like, they're my— they're our main source. They're a gold mine. They're a US-based Catholic apostolate. Their work has been favorably written up by the official Vatican news portal. They have contacts with everyone on the ground, including Father Bashar. Um, it's through them that I got these exclusive comments from Taiba's residents.

To suddenly no longer be able to cite VPP or use them as a source— and they're offering us exclusives freely— to suddenly— that's a major curtailment of my ability to cover what's happening to the community in, in the West Bank. Um, and, uh, so anyway, in this report, no quotations of local residents. The main quotation was an Israeli press release from the military. And by the way, since then, I've been in a group chat with residents of Taiba, and they sure enough, of course, they told me, we— the general mood, you know, our sentiment on the ground is we are frightened of the presence of the new, the increased Israeli military presence. And we don't trust it, and we're afraid that it might even lead to a worse outcome. Um, we feel more under threat. And in addition to that, settlers are still getting through. This is supposedly a closed military zone. The Christian residents of Taiba are saying, our movement is being restricted, but settlers are walking into our town armed and not being stopped, which presumably would be the purpose of this closed military zone. Would be to check them before they get in, right?

So, and we've seen there's footage now of people in Taiba being confronted by settlers, and then the Bedouin communities right outside of Taiba are being directly attacked by settlers. Yesterday, as I was literally in communication with them directly while these attacks were happening. So the military zone is not working. More importantly, the residents don't even believe it was intended to, if that makes sense.

Yeah, it sounds like it is working according to its purpose, right? So disgraceful. It's so evil. Why would the United States ambassador to the Vatican abet the ethnic cleansing of Christians from the land that Jesus walked? I don't— I don't understand.

I don't either, Tucker. And I can't— I can't speculate beyond to say, like, In a way, I think that what's happening right now— we battle, as scripture says, against powers and principalities. Um, it would be simplistic and unproductive to go, okay, I found the bad guys, right? Now jump on my bandwagon.

Exactly.

Where none of the bad guys are, we're all good. Um, the line, as Solzhenitsyn said, between good and evil runs through the human heart, and I just found it runs through the hearts of everyone in my organization, right?

Yeah. And, and ours for that matter.

And ours, right. And so the message that I feel I want to send is more like, right now the Church in the Holy Land is suffering, and I want Catholics in America to be intimate with Christ, to be close to Christ, to look to Christ, and not lose their— not lose sight of Christ on the cross, and not lose sight of the body of Christ where it's suffering, especially and not allow whatever the interests might be that would say, well, until the elections, we need to focus, you know, downplay some, you know, like, that's just not an option for us as Christians. It's not. We have to be focusing on, on being in solidarity, I think, especially with our co-religionists when they're under attack. As you said, in the land where Christ walked, the birthplace of our faith, What could be more important than that? Someone's ambitions for 2028? Maybe some donors who are angling for something in the— certainly, by the way, not even in the interests of the current administration, which has been increasingly outspoken, by the way, against Israeli aggressions. We have Trump directly decrying Netanyahu's use of arms in Lebanon, where their, their offensive is explicitly modeled after their Gaza offensives.

And he's specifically calling it out for high civilian casualties. We have Vice President Pence warning about domestic efforts to pressure people to, to comply with Israel's interests. And we have the Trump administration repeatedly calling them out over annexations, over the settler movement explicitly. So, yeah, again, I don't— if you know what I mean, I guess I'm saying Why would this happen? Uh, because there's a devil. Um, not because, aha, I found them, the bad guys, this guy's turned bad, and, or, you know, something like that. It's not as simple as that. In fact, you know what I would also say is that I would say that especially alarming is the fact this is all especially alarming because of how good everyone involved is. Yes, there is a powerful just outpouring of power in the direction of keeping American Christians from looking at their own church where it suffers and their own Lord and being intimate with the people in the Holy Land. It's so powerful that even the best of us, you know, again, at Catholic Vote and Zeal, I think have done— I would say arguably they've been the best of all outlets in the U.S. in terms of coverage of this issue.

And even they— someone even got to them. You see what I'm saying?

Of course I do.

Yeah.

So to me, it's almost like it's not like I found the bad guys and I want to go on Tucker's show and, you know, get, you know, tell everyone how bad they are. My attitude is almost more like, wow, this is so bad that even the best people who are advocating ostensibly for the interests of our faith and of our Lord and of the body of Christ, are feeling enough pressure that they're going to their editor and saying, shut up, you know, like, we have to be real careful, you know, whatever. Like I said, even if they weren't saying shut up and no coverage, even if they were saying we've got a new policy on this one issue, that's it. That's enough for me. I'm like, no, that's very alarming.

That is such a wise perspective, and I just want to thank you for it, um, because it is— it's, it's bigger than the story itself, and it is of a piece And the rest of the piece is Christian persecution. And it's happening in a lot of different places, most strikingly in Ukraine, where the Bolshevik in charge has banned the largest Christian denomination. And not 1 in 1,000 Americans knows that their tax dollars are supporting this. So I wonder if you see this as foreshadowing of Christian persecution in the United States.

Yes and no. I mean, yes. I shouldn't say no, of course. Yes, in the sense of, you know, there's the symbol that convinced me and kept me tied to Christianity even when I struggled most profoundly with my faith to the point of identifying as an atheist was the crucifix. And it was because it looks like reality. Christ identified himself, went out of his way to identify himself kind of especially with people who are not let in on the program. You know, people who are, uh, um, marginalized, who are not respected or represented. Um, and then he died like one of them. And he said, you have to treat them like they're me. Um, right now I see definitely in our political messaging something that is more dangerous to Christians because it doesn't directly target Christians. Instead, it inveigles them into complicity in attacking their innocent neighbors who are not Christian. And so it's still a betrayal of the heart of Christianity. It is not— it is a betrayal of love and of human solidarity, um, and it is a stumbling block to our neighbors who— to whom the gospel is meant to be good news, not a threat.

So right now in our messaging, and I'm— unfortunately Catholic vote has even been— again, some of the best of us are being drawn into this. You've seen the messaging about Muslims. Oh, we're living in a context where we as American taxpayers have been made complicit by our taxpayer dollars in numerous decades of numerous military, unjust military actions, including against civilians throughout the Arab world. Most of the victims of which, yes, are Muslims, many of whom are all obviously also Christians. And, um, there's no downplaying the, the gravity of ISIS, the rise of radical Islam, and the persecution of minorities— Yazidi Christians, etc.— throughout the Middle East. But in the context of this, we are part of— we helped get people elected who are involved in horrifically unjust— we just, what, bombed a girls' school in, in Iran based on like 1.0-level GPS AI systems. No apologies. It's just sort of— and that's just the latest of a long train of examples of abuses, military brutality, to say nothing of our backing of Israeli policies that have hurt people. Trump went to the Knesset and gave a speech at one point, and he boasted of US manufacturers providing the arms that Netanyahu used in Gaza.

And then he turned to Netanyahu, who was present, and said, and you used them well. Um, I cried that day. It was, it was, it twisted my guts because I was, I helped get this man elected and this is evil. But right now, the messaging of Muslims, El-Sayed, you can oppose the guy's candidacy for numerous reasons, But he said inshallah. So he's a— that's actually code for I'm declaring war on Western civilization. I have a coworker, by the way, he's a Lebanese Christian, Lebanese American. She says inshallah. It's like saying how are you? I mean, it's so common in their language throughout the Arabic world. One person, by the way, who works for VPP is a Christian. He's an expat from Gaza. And he said, I say inshallah like 20 times a day.

Do you know what it means literally? Do you know what the English translation from the Arabic means?

God willing, roughly.

Exactly, exactly, exactly. That's God willing. And as a Christian, there's kind of no sentiment I endorse more than that. That's not in conflict with my faith. It's an expression of my faith. So yeah, yeah.

And the other thing is that, you know, the messaging on the right, we can't be complicit in it, man, as Christians.

Oh, I know.

The, the, the— it's funny too. I mean, there's Christian community in Dearborn, Michigan, and it's all about how they're going to, you know, slaughter everyone as soon as we're not looking. This is a group of— they've, they've partnered with local Christians to get, you know, LGBT extremes out of schools.

Yeah, I know.

They're social conservatives. They're family-oriented.

Oh, I know. Oh, I know them. Yes.

Yeah, I, I couldn't—

and, and they all work to elect Trump. Which is the irony. They all did. I don't know. The support that Trump got from Arabs in the United States, Arab American voters, was really, really strong. The majority. And by the way, I think if I remember correctly, Jesus spent 2 full days in a Samaritan village, right? And I mean, the Samaritans were the enemies of the Jews, of course. You know, they were going to hell. They were heretics, apostates. And Jesus lingered in their village and brought them over to him. So it's like the idea that we have a moral duty to hate Muslims. No, we have a moral duty to love people, period.

Yeah, especially people when they are most directly under threat.

Yeah.

And I don't appreciate my friend having a crosshair put over her face because she has a Middle Eastern last name. And because she says inshallah. And that's wrong. It is wrong. Christians have— I'm sorry. I mean, Christ demands that we not do that, right?

Well, I must say, I'm really impressed by your bravery in resigning, something people almost never do. And I'm grateful that you did because it opens up your future to something else, and you're clearly on a path that this, this will help this country. So what is your next step?

Um, my next step, if I may, is I asked Father Bashar, I said, I'm about to do an interview— I didn't say where— um, that's high profile and that will air soon. Um, would you like to say something to American Christians? I'd be honored if I could convey what your message is. Father Bashar is the pastor in Taiba, and I wanted to know his perspective on what unfortunately Zeal reported was a new policy of declaring Taiba a closed military zone so that the IDF could protect Christians in Taiba. If you wouldn't mind, could I read his statement?

Oh, I would be grateful if you did.

Okay. Um, this is, uh, what he texted to me. Taiba is not simply another village on the map. It is an ancient Christian community rooted in the land of Christ for centuries, and today our people are facing a very serious threat to their ability to remain on their land in security, freedom, and dignity. For months, we have experienced repeated settler incursions onto private and agricultural lands, fires, damage to property, intimidation of families and workers, and attempts to establish a permanent presence around our town. Even after Taiba was declared a closed military zone, settlers have continued to enter areas around the village. This is why we believe that any new military presence or security measures must be judged by what actually happens on the ground. Are the attacks stopped? Are our homes and lands protected? Can farmers and workers reach their land safely? Can our children and families live without fear? Our concern is that measures announced in the name of protecting Taiba must not end up restricting the people who are being threatened while failing to stop those responsible for the violence. Protection must mean real protection of this community, its freedom of movement, its property, and its future.

To our Christian brothers and sisters in the United States, I would say, please do not look at us only as Christians who need sympathy. See us as your brothers and sisters who are asking for justice, dignity, and the right to remain in the land where Christianity was born. We do not ask that you stand against anyone. We ask you to stand for human dignity, for justice, for peace, and for the protection of innocent people. Use your voices, your churches, your institutions, and your relationships with your elected representatives to ensure that the protection of Christian communities in the Holy Land is not only spoken about but translated into concrete action. And please come and see us. Visit Taiba. Pray with us. Meet our children and families. Listen to their stories and then go home and tell others what you have witnessed. Despite everything, our message is not one of despair. We intend to remain. Our answer to fear is faith. Our answer to isolation is solidarity. And our answer to the threat of displacement is to strengthen life here through our schools, jobs, healthcare, support for young families, and especially through giving our children a reason to believe that they have a future in their homeland.

Please pray for us, but also walk with us. Help us keep hope alive in Taiba and keep the Christian presence alive in the Holy Land. With gratitude and hope, Father Bashar.

Ah, Stephen Harriet, thank you very much, very much for doing this interview and for explaining it so well and for your integrity, uh, in how you responded. It's definitely a model for the rest of us. I hope we see you again.

Thank you, sir.

That's it for us tonight. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next Wednesday.