(LifeSiteNews) — While Christians are mistreated by the Israeli government among their own citizenry, and much worse in the occupied Palestinian territories, they ironically enjoy “very comfortable” lives in Muslim-dominated Jordan just across the river.
This contrast served as a primary theme in Tucker Carlson’s interviews on site in the Holy Land which aired on February 4. Additionally, the popular host emphasized the irony of Christians in the U.S. being left in the dark regarding just how their government’s virtually unconditional support for Israel is oppressing their fellow Christians in the region.
As the podcasting titan explained in his opening remarks, they filmed on site along the eastern bank of “the River Jordan and about 150 yards from the spot where Jesus, the Christian Savior, God on earth, was baptized by John the Baptist.”
Within the border of the Kingdom of Jordan, yet just around 25 miles from Jerusalem, Carlson interviewed Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem Hosam Naoum and Saad Mouasher, a Christian Jordanian and chairman of the Jordan Ahli Bank who studied in the United States earlier in his life.
Naoum is a Palestinian citizen of Israel whom Carlson explained, with a chuckle, “was, in fact, born in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth” and “his father was literally a carpenter.”
Asked how Christians are faring in the Holy Land, the Anglican recalled that Christians have been there for 2,000 years, yet their ongoing sharp decline in numbers since the 1948 creation of Israel is threatening their continued presence.
In 1947-48, Jewish forces compelled more than 700,000 Palestinians to flee for their lives: abandoning their homes, lands, and livelihoods. The Zionist army then barred them from returning.
These people, with their descendants, make up more than 5.9 million refugees who were distributed in Gaza (70 percent of the overall population), Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank, with the right to return to their homeland still recognized under international law.
“The Christian population dwindled to half in ’48 because many people had to leave what is my home land,” Naoum explained to Carlson. “Half of the Palestinian population had to be expelled to other places,” becoming refugees. “So, when we speak about Palestinian refugees today, they all came from what is proper Israel today.”
READ: Palestinian leaders: Christian communities risk being wiped out if US churches don’t intervene
He also illustrated the impact of the ongoing 58-year illegal Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territory on Christian populations.
With regards to Bethlehem, he explained, “the city is surrounded by the separation wall that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem.” And along with restrictions on movement and travel imposed by the Israeli military, these measures are “causing many people to leave the country.”
He said around 50 years ago there were 100,000 Christian residents in Bethlehem, while “today we have less than 30,000,” which appeared to shock Carlson.
‘Spiraling hate crimes against Christians in Jerusalem’
Turning his attention to how Christians are treated in Israel and the West Bank, the Anglican cleric described an intensifying climate of hostility against them from Jewish extremists, who have also become part of the nation’s ruling coalition.
Such aggressions include spitting on Christian clergy, primarily in Jerusalem, vandalism against churches, and “doing nasty things to clergy” that the prelate declined to describe on camera, apparently due to the degree of indecency it would require to explain.
READ: Latin Patriarch says new Israeli gov’t has emboldened Jewish extremists to attack Christians
“They’re doing like really shameful things, you know, in front of church doors,” Naoum explained. “It’s been caught on camera many times.”
In the summer of 2023, Israeli television journalist Yossi Eli investigated “spiraling hate crimes against Christians in Jerusalem” by dressing as a Catholic priest for one day and experiencing being spat on and derided by fellow Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem.
After donning a Franciscan habit, he was “spat at just five minutes after setting out” to walk through the Old City of Jerusalem. Soon after he was mocked by a man in Hebrew, and later spat at by an 8-year-old as well as by a soldier, when a group of troops passed.
“Friar for one day” English version: The justification of some Jewish groups for hate crimes is that they are “mentally ill”. so no. Our investigation proved that the attacks are really not from the mentally ill, but people with a clear opinion who simply hate something they are… pic.twitter.com/rAmReyLnCv
— Yossi Eli (@Yossi_eli) July 12, 2023
READ: Israeli investigative reporter spat on, harassed in Jerusalem while dressed as a Catholic priest
The report also documents incidents of an Armenian priest being attacked by Jewish youth, who after defending himself is arrested by Israeli police, and his assailants are left unpunished.
Additionally, these Jewish extremists urinate, defecate, and spit at the doors of Christian churches, and yet Israeli police virtually never indict these individuals over their harassment and humiliations, which only serves to encourage more offenses.
Restrictions on religious freedom, escalating Israeli terrorist attacks in the West Bank
Naoum also charged Israel’s police authorities with imposing unnecessary restrictions on the freedom of Christian worship in Jerusalem and the broader region of Israel under the pretext of security.
He particularly highlighted the “unprecedented” restrictions on the numbers of pilgrims permitted to attend the Holy Fire Saturday celebration at the empty tomb of Jesus Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher the night before Easter.
Naoum reports the Israeli government has tightened the restriction of pilgrims from 10,000 down to around 1,500. Though if by a “miracle” of negotiation, Christians may get the number to approach 3,000 people.
In 2023, Christian leaders in the Holy Land called these restrictions “unreasonable,” “unprecedented,” “heavy-handed,” and unnecessary for an annual ceremony that has been safely held in the same way for centuries.
Earlier this month, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III stressed to a group of diplomats that access to the holy shrines is a sacred right rooted in centuries of faith and Status Quo agreements.
He called out these unprecedented restrictions on the numbers of worshipers permitted to attend such liturgical events, accompanied by aggressive police enforcement, ostensibly to maintain safety, as unacceptable violations of freedom of worship and human dignity.
READ: Holy Land patriarch decries Israel’s devastation of Gaza, rising settler attacks in West Bank
The archbishop also highlighted the “escalation of violence of (Israeli) settlers” in the West Bank, saying that since October 7, 2023, these terrorist attacks have “risen drastically,” with the targets extending past “Muslim neighborhoods and villages,” but including Christian towns as well.
He recounted attacks of Israeli terrorists upon the Christian town of Taybeh last summer, which included setting a fire near the town’s cemetery and its ancient Church of Saint George, which dates back to the 5th century.
Settler terrorists also vandalized property with threatening graffiti and trespassed upon private farms “to harass farmers who are Christian,” Naoum said.
He also recalled a recent settler attack near Birzeit in which he said a Christian woman was struck on the head with a stone, and then the Israeli army arrested her son.
When asked by Carlson why the son was arrested, the archbishop said, “because he tried to defend his mother, and because of that he was arrested.”
READ: Holy Land bishops urge Christians worldwide to help defend faithful from Israeli settler attacks
Tucker: ‘I don’t think many Americans are in favor of a foreign policy that oppresses their fellow Christians’
Seeking to contrast the treatment of Christians in Israel and its occupied Palestinian territories with the country they were sitting in, Jordan, Carlson asked Naoum, “Are there attacks on Christians in Jordan?” to which he replied, “That question makes me laugh.”
Having pastoral responsibility for Anglican communities in Jordan, the archbishop said that even though Jordan is 98 percent Muslim, he feels much more at ease “because I know that I’m free in this country. I can be myself without worrying that I would be spat at,” or the like.
Explaining this dynamic in a follow-up interview was Saad Mouasher, who recalled how Christians and Muslims have lived together in the Middle East for 1,500 years. Though they only make up 2-3 percent of the population, Christians thrive in Jordan, are affluent and well represented.
“So, Christians are represented, in the Senate, in Parliament, in government, in the military, in the private sector, even though we are a minority,” explained the Jordanian banking executive.
He also challenged the notion prevalent in Western nations since 9/11 “that Islam is inherently hostile to Christianity,” stating, “I totally disagree with that.”
He went on to say that he has “never felt discriminated against as a Christian” in Jordan, even if there are sometimes natural discussions and differences with regards to theology among his friends and acquaintances.
Highlighting the contrast between the way Christians are treated on either side of the border, Carlson said the reality is interesting, since he does not “think it would enter the minds of most Americans that a Christian could be better treated here in Jordan than in Israel.”
And after acknowledging the great suffering of the Palestinian people, both Christian and Muslim, under the weight of the Israeli occupation, Carlson observed that “America is paying for this, and America is a majority Christian country.” So, while they may have differences on foreign policy, “I don’t think many Americans are in favor of a foreign policy that oppresses their fellow Christians.”
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