For Fox News host Dana Perino, supporting Israel has been a given since the early days of her career, when she visited the Jewish state multiple times with President George W. Bush as his press secretary. Perino, who first arrived at the White House while the nation was reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, worked alongside Bush, initially as his deputy press secretary, throughout the early years of the war on terror. 

Two decades later, as co-anchor of Fox’s “America’s Newsroom,” Perino finds herself frequently drawing on those experiences, especially in the past year and a half as she’s reported on the aftermath of another crisis — Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, the ensuing war in Gaza and record-breaking levels of antisemitism in the U.S.   

“Once you learn those issues, they are ingrained in you,” Perino told Jewish Insider, referring to the threats Jews face, in Israel and around the world. “Plus, if you care about doing the right thing — and an additional plus is working for a place that encourages you to do the right thing, that news comes first. To me, it was an obligation and an honor to tell the story the way it needed to be told: bluntly with really engaging guests that did not gloss over the complexities of the situation, but that [are] very honest about drawing a line between right and wrong.” 

The sentiment has increasingly caught the eye of liberal-leaning American Jews who believe that much of the mainstream media’s coverage is unfairly hostile to Israel. Weeks after Oct. 7, Fox Corp.’s CEO, Lachlan Murdoch, told shareholders at the annual meeting that the network must “stand-up” to antisemitism. 

It was then that even some staunchly liberal Jews found refuge in Fox’s coverage, which by the end of October 2023 had debuted a newsletter — and running section on its website — called “Antisemitism Exposed.” 

Fox has also garnered attention for its Middle East coverage, with Tel Aviv-based chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst leading the network’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. Yingst, who was the first reporter from a major American network on the scene on Oct. 7, 2023, following Hamas’ terrorist attack in southern Israel, detailed his firsthand account of the attacks and experience on the ground in Gaza in “Black Saturday,” his book published last fall.

Even as Fox has long been the leading news source for conservatives, ratings data from liberal-leaning major metropolitan areas show a spike in viewership that surpasses its rivals and has remained consistent since October 2023. (There is no publicly available data on the religious affiliation of the cable news viewing audience.) 

According to Nielsen Ratings, between Oct. 8, 2023, and April 14, 2025, Fox News Channel viewership increased among its target demographic of 25-54 year-olds by 46% in L.A., 42% in New York, and 62% in Philadelphia. Comparatively, in those same cities, CNN viewership increased by 1%, 8% and 19%, respectively. MSNBC viewership declined by 8% in New York over the same period. 

Fox News commentator and “The Five” co-host Jessica Tarlov, who is Jewish and one of the network’s liberal commentators, told JI she frequently hears from like-minded Jewish friends and peers in New York City that they’re increasingly watching Fox.  

“A bunch of friends who are all Democratic voters, not part of the cohort who even switched over to voting for Trump on the issue of Israel in the 2024 election — I hear quite regularly people say they are making a choice to consume content that reflects the world they see — which is that there was a massive terrorist attack against the Israeli people and that’s the most important component of this and Hamas is the one that is regularly breaking these ceasefires,” Tarlov said. 

“They are feeling underrepresented, and sometimes completely unrepresented, in some of the left-leaning coverage [at other networks]. They have found a home at Fox and are enjoying the rest of the coverage that we do on top of that.” 

Reporting on college campus protests was “a huge lightning-bolt issue” on the topic of antisemitism, Tarlov said. But as university protests fizzle out in 2025 and other global and domestic events are taking attention away from the war in Gaza, Fox News has remained focused on the issue.  

Earlier this month, its subscription service, Fox Nation, premiered “Rebound: A Year of Triumph and Tragedy at Yeshiva University Basketball,” a documentary that tells the story of YU’s basketball team’s challenges and successes in the wake of Oct. 7. 

Perino said she’s made it a personal and professional goal to “never forget every day that there are hostages being held [in Gaza]. The story is not over.” 

And it appears that more Jewish viewers are taking note of it these days — including in Israel, where an IDF soldier who accompanied Fox’s leadership on a visit to the Jerusalem bureau last year asked for a message to be delivered to “The Five” co-hosts in New York. “We love you all very much,” the soldier said in a video message. “Thanks for supporting Israel. This is a blessing from the IDF. Please come and visit us anytime. It is safe here. And when you come, you’re always welcome to each and every home.”