Tucker Carlson gives US conservatives rare window into plight of Palestinian Christians

Orthodox nun Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos discussed land dispossession and armed resistance in the Holy Land on Carlson’s show

US political commentator Tucker Carlson speaks during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 18 July 2024 (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

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During conservative media personality Tucker Carlson’s podcast on Monday, Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos of the Russian Orthodox church gave his followers rare insight into the lives of Palestinian Christians under Israeli occupation.

The show was titled, "Here's What It's Really Like to Live as a Christian in the Holy Land", with the YouTube thumbnail image reading "SEGREGATION".

Mother Stephanopoulos has lived in Palestine since 1996 in the Palestinian town of Bethany, in the occupied West Bank, and was one of a string of pro-Palestine guests on the former Fox News host’s show.

In addition to discussing discrimination against Palestinians, Carlson focused much of the interview on Christian Zionism, a right-wing ideology that believes Jews must return to the Holy Land to bring about the second coming of Christ.

“The problem you have is one with the Christian Zionists, the ones who don’t recognise the Christians in the Holy Land as being fully Christian,” Stephanopoulos said.

“We are closed off in Bethany from going to our convent in Jerusalem because of the wall that was built on Palestinian land, on Christian land, there’s a Christian home for boys that the Israelis just took over and cut up to make part of the wall,” she continued.

Carlson’s interview received a variety of responses, many of which were positive.

“i can’t believe i’m pushing a tucker carlson video but this is an extremely important interview. especially if you are an american christian. your faith is being hijacked and used against you,” one person wrote.

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“Tucker is interviewing the Orthodox who actually have ministered in the region as opposed to Six Flags Over Jesus types”, Zaid Jilani posted on X.

Another social media user, who has right-wing slogans in his Twitter bio, said, “watching right now and Mother Agapia is amazing. Thank you for speaking the truth about what is happening to Christians under Israel’s terror ☦️❤️✝️”.

Still, some conservatives responded negatively to the interview.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, whom both Carlson and Mother Stephanopoulos mentioned by name, responded by saying that what has happened to Carlson was “tragic”.

“He now routinely attacks Trump, shills for Iran & doesn’t bother to hide his all-consuming hatred for Israel,” Cruz wrote.

Carlson is a former US TV network host for Fox News who left cable television to start his own YouTube channel that has garnered 4.4 million subscribers to date.

Palestinian Christians

Palestinian Christians make up up to 10 percent of Palestinians worldwide, and are primarily Greek Orthodox or Catholic.

Over 100,000 Palestinian Christians live in Israel, and 45,000 Palestinians reside in the occupied West Bank. They face frequent violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers.

Just over 1,000 Palestinian Christians live in Gaza, and many are unable to visit their holy sites due to Israel’s war on the enclave.

Several churches in Gaza, including the Holy Family Church, Gaza’s sole Catholic church, have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli bombardment.

The late Pope Francis of the Catholic Church spoke frequently about the plight of Palestinian Christians under Israeli occupation, and called the Holy Family Church every day.

His successor, Pope Leo XIV, has not continued this tradition, although he has called for a ceasefire and an end to starvation in Gaza.

Stories of occupation

Mother Stephanopoulos is not the first person Carlson has invited on his show to talk about Palestine.

Previous guests, such as political scientist John Mearsheimer, and the president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, have discussed similar topics, which represents Carlson’s shift towards featuring alternative voices outside of the mainstream pro-Israeli US media.

Early in the interview, Mother Stephanopoulos explained to Carlson how Israeli laws discriminate against both Muslim and Christian Palestinians.

Israeli settlers repeat attack on Palestinian Christian village in West Bank

She explained how Israeli law mandates that Palestinians in the occupied West Bank must drive on separate highways and pass through violent checkpoints in a system described by a United Nations rights expert and a growing list of humanitarian organisations as “apartheid”.

“So little by little Israel just keeps taking over the land, confiscating, building the settlement, adding the checkpoints, and strangling the life of anybody living there,” Stephanopoulos said.

These stories resonated with some social media users, with one user describing them as “riveting…told so very well, which brings to life the realities of what Zi0nism has done to the Christians in the Levant.”

When Carlson asked why Palestinian Christians were being punished for “Islamic terror”, the Orthodox nun discussed armed resistance against Israel.

“I don’t think it’s Islamic terror that’s taking place in the first place. I think we have to disabuse ourselves of that notion that this is a battle between Muslim and Jew,” she responded.

“What is Hamas? Hamas are people who have had their homes taken from them, who, if they live in Gaza, have basically been in an open-air prison for certainly the last 20 years… I know people who wanted to try to go to school in America and couldn’t get out of Gaza, you know, had a Fulbright scholarship and weren’t able,” she continued.

Mother Stephanopoulos also discussed disparities in how western media outlets treat resistance.

“Think about when the war started with Ukraine and Russia. I remember a story in the New York Times, it was a huge story celebrating that a beer factory was now generating Molotov cocktails to throw against the Russians. [In Palestine] hundreds of teenage boys have been killed because Israel will say they were throwing a Molotov cocktail.”

The interview drew to an end with a question for Carlson.

“Aren’t you, as a media person, horrified?” Stephanopoulos asked. “Why can’t reporters go into Gaza? Reporters are not allowed in large portions of the West Bank now. They call them military zones. What kind of press freedom is that? And what is [Israel] trying to hide?”

The interview has generated over half a million views on YouTube and 7.9 million views on X since its initial airing.

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