Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ failure to denounce Tucker Carlson for hosting white supremacist Nicholas Fuentes and for past remarks critical of Jews and Christians has cost the conservative think tank millions in donor support, Zionist Organization of America President Morton Klein told Newsmax on Friday.
“My organization has many of the same donors as Heritage,” Klein said on “Wake Up America.”
“They’ve told me that they’re stopping all funding for Heritage until they get rid of Kevin Roberts, so yes, they have lost millions of dollars in donations since this controversy arose.”
Klein said he gave Roberts an ample opportunity to express regret and apologize for platforming Carlson, a powerful advocate of antisemitism.
Instead, Klein said Roberts has only equivocated, offering an apology for a “mistake” while never refuting or denouncing Carlson’s attacks on Jews and Israel.
Klein said the ZOA has “already left” the Heritage Foundation, after having been involved in its antisemitism project, and “we’re not going to be there anymore.”
That project, the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (NTFCA), also known as Project Esther, announced on Thursday that it is formally breaking away from the Heritage Foundation.
Klein added that others have already cut ties with the think tank over the controversy.
“A lot of people have dropped away and resigned,” he said.
He pointed to longtime Heritage fellow Stephen Moore’s recent departure.
“He doesn’t want to be involved with Heritage, which is now tainted as an antisemitic, bigoted organization,” Klein said.
“It’s harmed everything else they do.”
The dispute began after Roberts did not condemn Carlson’s decision to give a platform to Fuentes on his podcast and when the Heritage Foundation leader declined to address criticism of Carlson’s past statements.
In a video, Roberts defended Heritage’s refusal to “cancel” anyone but did not specifically denounce Carlson, a move that Klein said fell far short of what was needed.
“First of all, no one is talking about canceling people,” Klein said.
“What we’re saying is Tucker Carlson should not have vicious bigots, haters, and lunatics on his platform on his show.”
“He’s not required to have David Duke or Louis Farrakhan or Nicholas Fuentes on his show,” Klein continued.
“But when he brings them on, he’s legitimizing people who are saying, ‘I praise [Adolf] Hitler. He’s awesome and cool.'”
“‘I’m a big fan of [Joseph] Stalin, who murdered 45 million people. The Holocaust never occurred,'” he added.
Previously, Klein has also said he was flabbergasted to discover that Heritage under Roberts has been funding and sponsoring Carlson’s podcast, which he said is “filled with hate and disgusting attacks on Israel.”
Roberts must “criticize Tucker, apologize for ever praising him, and say Tucker Carlson will have nothing to do with Heritage, or he should be fired,” Klein stressed.
Klein said Carlson’s rhetoric and Roberts’ silence have badly damaged Heritage’s reputation and alienated key supporters.
“Kevin Roberts said nothing about Tucker Carlson,” he said.
“He didn’t condemn him,” said Klein.
He added that Carlson has said that “Christian supporters of Israel have a brain virus and are acting in a heretical way to Christianity.”
“That means he’s condemning [President] Donald Trump, [former President] Ronald Reagan, and Ambassador [Mike] Huckabee,” said Klein.
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