Jeremy Carl is a long time conservative strategist who has moved in the orbit of institutions such as the Claremont Institute and previously served in the Trump administration. President Donald Trump tapped him to be Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, the official who would steer U.S. policy at the United Nations and handle disputes over Israel, antisemitism, and global governance more broadly.
That nomination is now in real trouble. A cluster of reports from outlets like CNN and NBC News resurfaced years of commentary in which Carl spoke about “anti white discrimination,” “cultural genocide” against white Americans, and “white culture” being hollowed out by mass immigration. He has also echoed the “Great Replacement” theory and once talked about “peaceful coexistence” with Democrats as impossible.
The sharpest attacks, however, focus on his words about Jews and Israel. On a 2024 podcast highlighted by Jewish Insider, Carl agreed with a host who depicted Israel as “not a victim but a perpetrator” and questioned “how long” people could rely on the Holocaust narrative in light of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. In other remarks, he said Jews “have often loved to play the victim” and argued that the Holocaust “dominates so much of modern Jewish history.”
In addition, Carl wrote that the United States spends “too much time and energy on Israel, often to the detriment of our own national interests.”
Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), who chairs a relevant Foreign Relations subcommittee, used the session to drill into Carl’s history. As noted in Curtis’s own press release, he stressed that the job in question is responsible for pushing back against antisemitism and institutional hostility to Israel inside bodies like the United Nations. Curtis read Carl’s words about America devoting “too much time and energy on Israel” and pressed him to identify which concrete U.S. interests had actually been harmed by strong, sustained backing for the Jewish state.
Carl has tried to draw a line between his past and the job he is seeking. In testimony quoted by CNN, he described his earlier work as that of an “advocate” and commentator and told lawmakers he recognizes the need for a different style if confirmed as a diplomat, even while insisting that he can’t just set aside his years of advocacy. On the specific question of Israel, he has emphasized that U.S. support inside international bodies is necessary, arguing that Washington must stand with Israel against entrenched antisemitism and bias in multilateral institutions.
For Senator Curtis, those assurances were not enough. After the hearing, he announced that he will vote against Carl’s confirmation, stating that what he views as Carl’s “anti-Israel views and insensitive remarks about the Jewish people” make him unsuitable for the position. His move, combined with unified Democratic opposition, has put the nomination on the verge of collapse in committee.
This fight underscores the need to talk honestly about where U.S. interests align with or diverge from those of any foreign country without reflexively branding dissent as hatred. An independent republic must be able to scrutinize its alliances, including with Israel, while keeping the debate grounded in facts. If our foreign policy arguments collapse into smears and slogans, the American people lose their voice in decisions that should always serve their security, prosperity, and freedom first.
