What happened
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack has made controversial comments about Iran and Jewish history, sparking widespread criticism. At the Global Security Forum in Doha, Barrack defended the Iranian government, describing it as 'not evil' and stating that antisemitism was not a significant problem before the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948.
Barrack's comments have been widely condemned as a distortion of historical facts. The historical record shows that antisemitism has been present in the Middle East for centuries, with numerous instances of forced conversions, massacres, and systemic oppression of Jewish communities.
The Iranian regime, which Barrack described as 'not evil', has a long history of human rights abuses, including the murder of protesters and political prisoners. In recent years, the regime has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of protesters, including over 7,000 in January 2026 alone.
Barrack's comments are part of a larger pattern of behavior that has raised concerns about his views on Israel and the Middle East. In the past, he has questioned Israel's status as a democracy and drawn moral equivalencies between Israel and terrorist organizations like Hezbollah.
