Abdul El-Sayed calls him "hilarious" and a "fellow Egyptian." Mehdi Hasan calls him a "good friend." But Bassem Youssef, known as "the Jon Stewart of the Arab world," is also an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who regaled Candace Owens with loony canards about Israel on her podcast.
Youssef asserted in the Jan. 29 interview that the 9/11 attacks were a "false flag" operation conducted by Israel. And he accused the Jewish state of fomenting other "false flag" attacks, including the Bondi Beach massacre in Australia, in which ISIS-inspired radicals murdered 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration on Dec. 14, 2025.
"How can you believe a country that has a very lucrative history of false flag operations?" Youssef asked Owens.
He called 9/11 "the biggest false flag operation," adding: "And of course we have the Bondi attack."
Beyond pushing debunked claims about Israeli involvement in those atrocities, Youssef invoked antisemitic tropes in a highlight video of the podcast appearance.
The video, which Youssef captioned, "A terrible history of lying," depicts an Orthodox Jewish man with sidelocks and red hair standing in front of an Israeli flag. According to the American Jewish Committee and other groups, the use of red hair to stereotype Jews is a common antisemitic trope intended to link Jews to Judas, the Apostle who betrayed Jesus. Ancient Egyptians also associated red hair with evil spirits.
"Not normal at all. They are a freak," a narrator says at the end of the video.
It raises questions for Youssef's media and political allies, many of whom claim to abhor 9/11 conspiracy theorists and antisemites.
El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, is a huge Youssef fan. In an interview last year ahead of ArabCon, the anti-Israel Democrat named Youssef as someone he was "really excited" to see speak at the conference, which featured several Hamas sympathizers.
"I'm also really excited… you know Bassem Youssef, fellow Egyptian," said El-Sayed, who was born in Michigan to Egyptian immigrants. El-Sayed's mother worked for an Islamic nonprofit that was sanctioned for raising money for al Qaeda.
"He's hilarious," El-Sayed said of Youssef.
Hasan, who recently complained that he is unable to lure "blue chip advertisers" to Zeteo, his far-left media startup, accused Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) last week of promoting 9/11 conspiracy theories about "controlled demolitions" of the WTC towers.
Youssef, who hosted a political comedy show in Egypt more than a decade ago, is one of Zeteo's marquee contributors. Zeteo, which Hasan started after MSNBC fired him in early 2024, touts Youssef's affiliation in its fundraising materials. And Hasan's podcast, We're Not Kidding, states it "regularly featur[es] internationally acclaimed comedian Bassem Youssef."
Hasan called Youssef his "good friend" at a taping of the show at ArabCon last year. During the interview, Hasan burst out laughing at Youssef's remark that Rep. Brian Mast (R., Fla.), a double-amputee who lost his legs in the Afghanistan war, had "lost his legs, and then he lost his balls and his honor" because of his support for Israel. Hasan did not push back, and instead called Mast a "racist."
Youssef has amassed a massive social media following, which spiked after a heated interview with Piers Morgan after the Oct. 7 attacks in which Youssef refused to condemn Hamas's actions.
But Youssef's rhetoric has stoked blowback before. The Australian government blocked Youssef's visa last month to travel to the country as part of his stand-up comedy tour over his remarks about Israel.
Youssef has increasingly embraced antisemites in recent months, starting with the interview with Owens, who has falsely accused Israel of responsibility for Charlie Kirk's assassination and has called Israel "the synagogue of Satan."
Youssef recently appeared on a broadcast with Dan Bilzerian, a failed House candidate who espouses neo-Nazi rhetoric and Holocaust denialism. Bilzerian has stated that, "I would bet my entire net worth that it was less than six million," referring to the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Bilzerian aired a campaign ad attacking Rep. Randy Fine, a Jewish Republican, as a "fat Jew" and a "Shylock."
"Jewish supremacists, Satan's creepy little minions, should we revisit that Austrian painter's opinions?" a Bilzerian ad asked, featuring an image of Hitler.
More than a dozen donors to Bilzerian's campaign have also contributed to El-Sayed, likely over their shared opposition to Israel, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
In a Zeteo interview with Youssef in April, Hasan lightly criticized Youssef for his recent coziness with Owens, whom Hasan referred to as "bonkers."
Hasan mentioned that Owens has stoked unproven claims that Brigitte Macron is a man. Hasan did not say anything to Youssef about his claims of Israeli "false flag" operations on 9/11 and at Bondi Beach.
