Carlson: Goal of war with Iran is rebuilding the Third Temple in Jerusalem

Tucker Carlson. Photo: screenshot from Carlson's YouTube channel

American journalist Tucker Carlson said on his program The Real Motives of Israel, Provocations, and the Coming Global Crisis that the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran is driven by a religious goal – the destruction of Islamic shrines on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and the construction of a Third Jewish Temple.

During the broadcast, Carlson showed video of an Israeli soldier – apparently an American, judging by his accent – explaining what he was fighting for: “They call this operation 'The Swords of Iron.' But what are we really fighting for? We are fighting for the right of the Jewish people to exist, be Jewish, practice their religion, and be free. And one day our true leader will come, and we'll be united as a whole Jewish nation, so we can rebuild the Beit HaMikdash.” Beit HaMikdash is the Hebrew name for the Temple.

The soldier was also showing patches attached to his Israeli military uniform. One of them, Carlson said, depicted the Third Temple. Carlson added that after only a few minutes of searching publicly available sources, he had found dozens of similar images showing Israeli soldiers wearing the same patches on uniforms funded by American taxpayers.

The journalist also recalled remarks by Pete Hegseth – now the U.S. secretary of defense overseeing the war with Iran. Speaking in Jerusalem in 2018, Hegseth said: “1917 was a miracle. 1948 was a miracle. 1967 was a miracle. 2017 – the declaration of Jerusalem as the capital – was a miracle. And there is no reason why the miracle of the reestablishment of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount is not possible.”

“That's the secretary of war right now overseeing the war with Iran – that people fighting it are starting to say actually it's about rebuilding the Third Temple,” Carlson said.

Carlson also focused on the phenomenon of so-called Christian Zionists – evangelical pastors who call for the destruction of Islamic shrines. In particular, he quoted pastor Greg Locke as saying: “Israel needs to get a great missile and blow that wicked Dome of the Rock, and plum it off the spot, so we can get the Third Temple rebuilt and usher in the coming of Jesus.”

Carlson said such views are in direct contradiction to the Christian faith. In his view, the destruction of Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount could trigger a global religious conflict. He cited population figures to make his point: there are about 15.5 million Jews worldwide, roughly 2.5 billion Christians, and about 2 billion Muslims. He also said Islam is the second-largest and fastest-growing religion in every Western country, noting that Europe is home to 65 million Muslims and that Muslims make up around 20% of Russia’s population.

“Whatever happens next is not going to be just a fight between Muslims and Jews – 2 billion versus 15 million. Not much of a fight. This is likely to be – if not brought under control immediately – a religious war between Muslims against Christians. This will play out globally, and it'll play out in our cities,” the journalist warned.

Carlson also quoted Israeli rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, who in 2024 publicly proposed staging a false-flag provocation – passing off an Israeli strike on the Dome of the Rock as an Iranian one in order to turn Muslims against one another.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the operations against Iran had been given a biblical name.

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