| THE LIE Israel persecutes Christians while Islamic countries like Jordan embrace Christians. |
| THE TRUTH Israel—the birthplace of Christianity—is the safest country in the Middle East for Christians and one of the only places in the region where the indigenous Christian population is growing. |
| BACKGROUND On February 5, 2026, Tucker Carlson released a video featuring interviews he conducted in Jordan, arguing that Israel persecutes Christians and that Jordan welcomes them. (X) He claimed the Christian population in Israel has sharply declined since the state’s founding in 1948.He referred to social media clips of Jews spitting at Christian clergy in Jerusalem as proof of widespread persecution of Christians in Israel. He also aired a claim by Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum that Israeli authorities restrict Christian pilgrims from attending the annual Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. |
TRUTH EXPLAINED
- The claim that Israel’s Christian population has “plummeted” is false. The Christian population in Israel proper has grown from approximately 34,000 in 1949 to about 181,000 today—an increase of more than 400%. Israel is one of the only countries in the Middle East where the indigenous Christian population is increasing. (CBS), (CBS), (Jerusalem Post)
- Surveys show that 84% of Christians in Israel report satisfaction with their lives. (Algemeiner)
- By contrast, Christian leaders have repeatedly warned that the rise of radical Islam in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza has placed mounting pressure on local Christian communities. The Palestinian Authority—whose legal system is rooted in Sharia—has routinely failed to protect Christian landowners in Bethlehem, where the Christian population continues to collapse amid intimidation, violence, and systematic harassment by Muslims. Churches have been vandalized and desecrated in Aboud, a historic Christian village under PA control, while residents of the Christian village of Jifna near Ramallah have faced attacks from local Muslim militias. (BBC), (Jewish Virtual Library), (All Arab News), (Middle East Forum)
- Tucker failed to mention that the Christian population has steadily collapsed in areas under Hamas and Palestinian Authority control—dropping to 1.5% by 1997, 1.2% in 2007, and just 1% by 2017, according to Palestinian data. (PCPSR), (JCFA)
- Incidents of Jews spitting at Christians are rare and widely condemned by Israeli society, including by Jewish leaders. In such cases, Israeli police have made arrests, Jewish bystanders have intervened to protect Christians, and large numbers of Israeli Jews have publicly demonstrated in support of Christian pilgrims and against anti-Christian harassment. (TOI), (CNN), (TOI)
- Jordan is ranked 49th out of 50 countries on Open Doors’ World Watch List for persecution of Christians. Israel did not make the list. In Jordan, Christians and converts from Islam risk discrimination, violence, arrest, or even death from family members or extremist groups. Unrecognized churches—especially those that evangelize—sometimes face harassment by authorities. (Open Doors), (X)
- Tucker also omitted that Jordan’s Christian population fell from roughly 20% in 1930 to about 2% today. (ERLC)
- Despite his professed concern for persecuted Christians, Tucker has ignored multiple ongoing genocides of Christians in Africa and the Islamic world and has even platformed voices denying such atrocities. In November 2025, he hosted attorney Robert Amsterdam, who denied that Christians in Nigeria are facing genocide. (TCN), (Mediaite), (JNS), (WikiIslam)
- Claims that Israel discriminates against Christians by restricting access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are false. The Church’s own architect requested that Israeli police limit capacity during the Holy Fire ceremony due to serious safety concerns. (TOI)
- Israeli police impose similar—and sometimes stricter—limits on Jewish religious gatherings. After a deadly crowd crush at Mount Meron in 2021 that killed 45 Jews and injured over 150, authorities have severely restricted attendance in subsequent years and banned Lag BaOmer celebrations entirely in 2024—measures that were not imposed on Christian pilgrims. (JNS), (TOI)
| QUOTES “How ironic is it that Tucker Carlson gets to visit Jordan, my country, to continue his anti-Israel campaign and to showcase how an Islamic country is taking care of a Christian site, while I, the Jordanian, can’t, simply because I am a convert and pro-Israel?” — Dan Burmawi |
| Takeaway Far from persecuting Christians, Israel protects them. Tucker knows this, but still chooses to obscure that truth while laundering talking points for regimes and ideologies that actually drive Christians out—or slaughter them outright. He finds endless airtime to scold Israel over isolated, condemned incidents, yet averts his gaze from mass violence, ethnic cleansing, and open jihad against Christians across the Islamic world and Africa—sometimes even giving platforms to those who deny those atrocities. This was never about protecting Christians at all—it’s about using them as props for a relentless, politically driven fixation on Israel. |
