Christian Zionist support for Israel driving ‘exodus’ of ancient Holy Land Christians

In their blind support for Israel, American Christians are aiding the erasure of their fellow Christian community in Palestine. That is the stark message delivered in a new on-the-ground podcast report by Tucker Carlson, filmed on the banks of the River Jordan near the site traditionally believed to be where Jesus was baptised.

The episode features Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem Hosam Naoum and Saad Mouasher, a Christian Jordanian and chairman of the Jordan Ahli Bank. The podcast has been praised for challenging decades of Israeli-driven propaganda vilifying Palestinians and Muslims.

Carlson’s report focuses on a question rarely aired in mainstream Western debate: how Christians are treated under Israeli rule. It also contrasts that experience with the long history of Muslim–Christian coexistence in the region, and with neighbouring Jordan.

Read: Jerusalem church leaders condemn Christian Zionism as harmful political ideology

Archbishop Naoum, a Palestinian Christian born in Nazareth, says the Christian presence in the Holy Land has been declining for decades — and that the most devastating blows followed the creation of Israel in 1948 and the territorial expansion of 1967. He tells Carlson that the Christian population “dwindled to half” in 1948 as people were forced to leave, describing Palestinians expelled from what is now Israel as the source of today’s refugee communities — including large numbers of Christians.

Naoum says this history is routinely hidden in the West, where “Palestinian” is often treated as shorthand for extremism. “I’m Palestinian,” he says. “I’m an archbishop.” He adds that many Palestinian Christian refugees ended up forming congregations abroad, citing an Anglican community in Beirut that he says is overwhelmingly made up of Christians originally from Galilee towns such as Haifa, Akko and Nazareth.

The archbishop also accuses Israel’s political and security system of discriminating against Christians and accelerating their departure from historic Christian towns. He describes what he sees as a widening climate of hostility in Jerusalem, including Christian clergy being spat at by Jewish extremists and churches being vandalised. He says some radical groups openly call for “purifying” Jerusalem of Christians, and he claims the authorities fail to impose meaningful consequences.

Naoum also alleges that Israeli policing has increasingly restricted Christian worship. He points to limits on Easter celebrations at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where police controls, he says, have reduced attendance at the Holy Fire ceremony from crowds of around 10,000 to as few as 1,500, sometimes only rising after negotiation. He adds that pilgrimages for other major Christian festivals, including on Mount Tabor, have also been restricted in recent years, again under Israeli security pretexts.

In the occupied West Bank, Naoum says settler violence has intensified, including attacks on Christian villages as well as Muslim communities. He cites incidents in Taybeh, where settlers allegedly set fires and sprayed graffiti, and an attack near Birzeit in which, he says, a Christian woman was hit in the head with a stone and her son was arrested after trying to defend her. He argues that a lack of accountability encourages further attacks.

The interview also turns to Gaza. Naoum says he has been prevented from visiting the Al Ahli Arab Hospital, an Anglican-run facility, despite having travelled there many times in the past. He says the hospital has been hit repeatedly during the war and complains that church leaders have struggled to obtain clear answers about what happened.

Set against those accounts is the testimony of Saad Mouasher, who says Muslims and Christians in the region have lived side by side for more than a thousand years. “Islam is very much an integral part of our culture as Christians here. Yeah, we feel very comfortable,” he says. “As Christians?” Carlson asks.

Mouasher rejects the idea — common in Western post-9/11 rhetoric — that Islam is inherently hostile to Christianity. He says Christians in Jordan have constitutional protections and are represented across the state and the economy. He credits stability and leadership for allowing minorities to thrive, and points to interfaith traditions in the wider region that long predate modern borders and modern conflict.