Victor Davis Hanson responds to Tucker Carlson’s claims that Israel offers little strategic value to the United States, laying out Israel’s cultural importance, democratic legitimacy, military cooperation, and technological innovation—and why America benefits directly on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of a segment from today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to VDH’s own YouTube channel to watch past episodes.

Jack Fowler: Victor, I’m looking at an X post today and it’s posted by someone, Open Source Intel. There‘s a link in here to a video of Tucker Carlson giving an interview, which I watched. It’s a few minutes long, but here’s the synopsis of it.  

He’s in Qatar. I’m going to call it “Gutter.” 

He questions why the United States prioritizes Israel over Gulf States such as Qatar, arguing that the strategic value is one-sided. He, Tucker, said Israel is, quote, “a completely insignificant country,” end quote, with no resources, 9 million people. Adding that, quote, “The only reason it has any significance is because we provide a security guarantee.”  

Carlson added, “Do we have to defend Israel?” and claimed there is, quote, “no strategic interests in Israel for the United States,” saying, “What are we getting out of this? Nothing. It’s only costs.” 

By contrast, he argued the Gulf States matter far more, saying, quote, “The six GCC nations, there are very obvious benefits to........

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