Jessica Tarlov is Unprincipled
Commenting on what Jewish Jessica Tarlov says as a co-host on Fox’s The Five might be labeled, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” But her using a popular national TV platform on April 8th to churn up an antisemitic blood libel warrants outrage. Tarlov, channeling the Nazi-era newspaper Der Stürmer, in the news show “A-Block,” accused the Israelis of manipulating President Trump dragging him into war.
When the camera pivoted to Tarlov she immediately proclaimed she identified the “lynch pin of the story.” She raced ahead to accuse the Israeli leader of hoodwinking resolute President Trump into taking America into war. She referred to a February 11th meeting in the White House’s situation room where Israel’s Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu was present. Tarlov emphatically added, “Israel pitched them on this war.”
She had crossed a line into classical antisemitism.
Tarlov made this scurrilous charge choosing not to explore the daring rescue of downed American pilots, Iranian children chained around buildings as a shield, Iranian missiles flying to Israel and Arab states, nuclear weapons being fought over, and international commerce affected. Her actions had been premeditated.
Tarlov ignored that President Trump has a long history warning about the menace of a nuclear Iran. On November 4, 2011, well before Trump was a candidate for the presidency, he said, “We can’t allow Iran to go nuclear.” His focus on the existential threat of a nuclear Iran parallels that of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. Trump well knows that Netanyahu has been warning the world and American leadership for decades about Iranian nuclear intentions and capabilities. “Death to America and to Israel” is Iran’s equivalent of “In G-d We Trust.”
Yes, she is the token Democrat on the mostly conservative panel of the highly rated Fox News show. And maybe she is playing a role to “spice” up the interplay balancing the points of view. Sometimes ex-Congressman Harold Ford, Jr fills this seat.
To their credit, her fellow hosts, Greg Gutfeld and Paul Mauro, both responded to Tarlov’s use of the offensive and obvious stereotyping. Mauro cautioned that she was pursuing a “dangerous meme by suggesting Israel was leading Trump by the nose.” Gutfeld colorfully used his hands with wriggly fingers to simulate a slippery octopus. He was illustrating the tentacled malicious trope and caricature originally found in early 20th Century anti-Jewish images and cartoons. The falsities of The Protocols of the Elders conjured up the malign workings of Jews as puppet masters pulling the strings of world leaders. Jessica knows the story well.
Her Trump Derangement Syndrome must be so severe that her commentary “jumped the shark” of thoughtful journalism. We could expect this kind of attack line from Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, AOC, or any of the Squad. We might hear hyperbolic Scarborough, Maddow or O’Donnell also frame the evolving Iran War as workings of sinister forces and proven by unsubstantiated sources.
Why was it so disturbing to witness Jewish Jessica Tarlov throw Israel, and, by extension, her fellow Jews under the bus?
We have seen appalling statistics about the Jews who voted for Mamdani and who attended his fake Seders where neither the word “Jew” or “Israel” was spoken. We learn that a larger percentage of Jews now have more sympathy for the Palestinians than Israel. We are aware that intermarriage rates are over 50%. We know Jews who support destructive organizations like J-Street. We see Jews march on streets impugning Israel and wearing keffiyehs.
Tarlov personified all these disturbing trends. All at once we saw the numbers and recalled images. It coalesced into one careless person…who was Jewish…who should know better. Sitting there tall, in her crisp pink suit jacket, she must have felt sufficiently secure and privileged to ignore the pain centuries of her people’s history. The Israelis that live in range of a nuclear-tipped Iranian missile live less secure lives.
Was Tarlov’s embarrassing and reckless behavior journalism or performative entertainment, like professional wrestling? Diaspora Jews, in America and worldwide, are experiencing a dramatic rise in antisemitic violence and her brethren in Israel are fighting and dying in a seven-front war. Tarlov should be remembered for being unprincipled, and for selling out her people.
