NEW YORK – In his ongoing campaign against Israel, Tucker Carlson has deployed a new tactic: positioning himself as a defender of Christians in the Middle East. In a video released on February 5, 2026, Carlson, reporting from Jordan, painted a picture of Israel as a persecutor of Christians, while lauding Islamic countries like Jordan as their protectors. This narrative, however, crumbles under the weight of facts, revealing a cynical use of Christian communities as a cudgel against the Jewish state.

Carlson’s central claim is that Israel’s Christian population has “plummeted” since the nation’s founding in 1948. The reality is the exact opposite. In 1949, Israel’s Christian community numbered approximately 34,000. Today, it has grown to about 181,000, an increase of over 400%. Israel is one of the only countries in the Middle East where the indigenous Christian population is growing and thriving. A recent survey found that 84% of Christians in Israel are satisfied with their lives, a testament to the freedom and security they enjoy.

In stark contrast, Christian populations are in freefall in the areas governed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, a reality Carlson conveniently ignores. In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, the Christian community has been decimated under Palestinian rule, shrinking from a majority to a tiny, embattled minority. Christian leaders have repeatedly warned of rising radical Islam in these areas, leading to intimidation, violence, and systematic harassment. Churches have been vandalized and desecrated in historic Christian villages under Palestinian control. The Christian population in areas under Palestinian and Hamas rule has collapsed, dropping to a mere 1% by 2017.

To bolster his false narrative, Carlson highlights isolated incidents of Jewish extremists spitting at Christian clergy in Jerusalem, presenting them as proof of widespread, state-sanctioned persecution. These incidents, while deplorable, are rare and have been widely condemned by Israeli society, including by prominent Jewish leaders. Israeli police have made arrests in these cases, and Jewish bystanders have often intervened to protect Christians. To portray these fringe acts as representative of Israeli society is a gross distortion.

Meanwhile, Carlson is silent on the very real persecution faced by Christians in Jordan, the country he holds up as a model of tolerance. Jordan is ranked 49th out of 50 countries on the Open Doors’ World Watch List for Christian persecution. Converts from Islam in Jordan risk discrimination, violence, arrest, and even death. Unrecognized churches, particularly those that evangelize, face harassment from authorities. Jordan’s Christian population has dwindled from 20% in 1930 to about 2% today, a demographic collapse that Carlson fails to mention.

Carlson’s selective outrage is telling. He has ignored ongoing genocides of Christians in Africa and across the Islamic world, and has even given a platform to those who deny these atrocities. In November 2025, he hosted an attorney who denied that Christians in Nigeria are facing genocide. His concern for Christians, it seems, extends only as far as it can be used to attack Israel.

Another of Carlson’s claims, amplified by Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum, is that Israeli authorities restrict Christian pilgrims from attending the Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is false. The capacity limits were requested by the church’s own architect due to serious safety concerns. Israel imposes similar, and often stricter, safety measures on Jewish religious gatherings. After a tragic crowd crush at Mount Meron in 2021 killed 45 Jews, authorities have severely restricted attendance at the annual Lag BaOmer celebration, a measure far more stringent than any applied to Christian events.

As Jordanian convert and pro-Israel advocate Dan Burmawi noted, “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?”

Carlson’s narrative is not about protecting Christians. It is about laundering talking points for regimes and ideologies that are the true drivers of Christian persecution in the Middle East. By inverting reality, he provides cover for the very forces that are ethnically cleansing Christians from the region, while demonizing the one country where they are safe and their numbers are growing. This is not journalism; it is a politically motivated deception that uses Christians as pawns in a relentless war on Israel.