Christians In Israel

A recent video by Tucker Carlson seems to paint a gloomy picture of how Christians are treated in the Holy Land and some who actually live there are pushing back as we in an article from the Media Line:

As online rumors swirl that Tucker Carlson could be landing in Israel on his way back to the United States from Jordan, at least one evangelical leader is warning the popular podcaster that “he’s in real danger spiritually.”

The man who is warning Carlson use a familiar Bible verse to justify that claim:

American Israeli evangelical Christian Joel Rosenberg issued the warning to Carlson through The Media Line this week, citing Genesis 12, which he said makes clear that God will bless those who bless the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and curse those who do not.

“I don’t wish ill on Tucker Carlson, but he clearly wishes ill against Israel and the Jewish people and all Christians who love and support Israel, as it says to do in the Bible,” Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg didn’t mince words either:

Rosenberg runs the news agency ALL ISRAEL NEWS, a platform geared toward an evangelical audience, largely in North America. He was responding to a report Carlson released last week from Jordan, in which Rosenberg said Carlson “spewed lies, demonstrably provable lies.”

There were rumors that Israel was considering barring Carlson from coming into Israel over his antisemitic comments, but those rumors were dismissed by the Israeli government.

Not Reporting All The Facts

One Israeli feels Carlson was playing fast and loose with the truth in the report:

Even if Carlson never sets foot in Israel, Christian leaders there say his Jordan-border report was nothing short of “a master class in gaslighting,” according to Israeli civil rights attorney and chairman of the Judeo-Christian Zionist Congress Calev Myers.

“Carlson took half-truths or things that actually exist but blew them out of proportion, and then ignored other very important salient facts,” Myers said. Carlson’s 30-minute video, released February 5, was titled “The Shocking Reality of the Treatment of Christians in the Holy Land by US-Funded Israel.”

The video states that Christians in Israel are vanishing:

Along with Myers and Rosenberg, The Media Line reviewed Carlson’s central claims. One of Carlson’s strongest assertions is that Christians in Israel are disappearing.

“Their numbers are not growing. They are shrinking, and there’s a huge debate about why,” Carlson said.

But figures released by the Israeli government refute that claim:

Critics say that the claim does not hold up against the data. Figures released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of Christmas 2025 show an increase in the number of Christian citizens in Israel. About 184,000 Christians live in Israel today, representing nearly 2% of the population, with steady growth over the past year. Many reside in Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Haifa.

It is true that some areas have less Christians, but overall, the Christian population is growing:

Myers and Rosenberg echoed that point, telling The Media Line that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian minority population has grown over the last 80 years rather than declined.

Rosenberg noted where Christianity is declining, places like Iran and Syria. But he notes that Israel isn’t one of them:

By contrast, Rosenberg said, the number of Christians—and even Jewish believers in Jesus—has grown in Israel. He said that in 1948, there were only 23 Jewish followers of Jesus, and today there are between 20,000 and 30,000. Although “Messianic Judaism” or “Jews for Jesus” remains controversial, these citizens are free to live and practice their faith, provided they do not illegally proselytize to Jewish citizens. He added that there are between 4,000 and 5,000 Arab evangelicals, alongside longstanding Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christian communities whose families have lived in the land for generations.

Not Thriving?

In the Carlson video, a religious leader in Jerusalem states that Christians aren’t “thriving”:

In the video, Carlson interviews Archbishop Hosam Naoum, head of the Anglican Church in Jerusalem. The archbishop says Christians in Israel are “not thriving,” though Rosenberg argues that it depends on how one defines the term.

Rosenberg disagrees:

“Christians are free to worship, free to walk their faith, free to talk about their faith,” Rosenberg told The Media Line.

Accounts of people treating Christians poorly are random and rare:

Naoum points to “fringe groups of people who are radicals” in Jerusalem who claim they want to “purify Jerusalem from infidels, Christians,” and who sometimes spit at or threaten Christian residents in the Old City. Both Myers and Rosenberg acknowledged that such incidents occur but stressed that those involved represent a small minority.

“There is a problem with young hooligans spitting on robed clergy in the Old City, but we all know that 99.999% of Christian clergy in Israel have never experienced that,” Myers said. “There is a very certain place, in the Christian quarter of the Old City, where a small group of rebellious youth know that priests will be walking down the street and then spit at them.”

He said the offenders are usually very young and that police do detain them. Prosecution is rare, he added, because spitting is not typically classified as a crime without direct contact. The youth do not spit directly at the clergy, as the archbishop has acknowledged, but rather in their direction or in front of them.

Tensions raised, but not to the level that Carlson makes it appear when he refers to various incidents where Christian activity was apparently limited, however the restrictions were for safety, not discrimination:

“Does this constitute a national crisis? No,” Rosenberg said. “Is it coming from government policy? Absolutely not. Are those attacks against Christians legally sanctioned? Absolutely not.”

Facts Be Damned

Carlson kept pushing his narrative in bombastic manner even though the actual incidents don’t support his assertions:

Still, Carlson compared the incidents to al-Qaida.

“In the United States after September 11, we were told, and I think it was true, that there were these madrasas, these schools, Islamic schools that were producing radicalism, true radicalism against the infidel, Christians and Jews. It sounds like something similar is going on in Jerusalem now,” Carlson said.

There has not been a single incident of these Jewish extremists in the Old City murdering a Christian.

He mentions an Easter celebrations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that limited Christians from attending, but the restrictions were for safety reasons. Then Carlson brought up an incident in 2021 where 45 people were killed. But even that was another situation where the intent was to maintain safety:

Israeli authorities say crowd-control measures at holy sites are intended to prevent similar disasters. Carlson, however, uses the issue to argue that religious freedom is lacking in Israel. Rosenberg and Myers reject that claim, saying the restrictions are about safety, not discrimination.

Carlson then says that aid from the US isn’t helping Christians:

Carlson argues that American aid to Israel does not benefit Christians in the West Bank.

“Why wouldn’t they send help to Christians in the town where Jesus was born and the town where he grew up?” Carlson asks American Christians. That claim is easily debunked. After the Hamas massacre of Israelis, the Biden administration sent more than $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. In addition, substantial private American donations support Bethlehem-based Christian NGOs and other religious institutions.

Then Carlson just flat out bends reality with another example from early in the war against Hamas:

Another flashpoint in the interview concerns the explosion at the Anglican Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, less than two weeks after the war began. Carlson suggests that an Israeli missile struck the hospital. Multiple investigations later concluded that the blast was caused by a misfired rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Naoum describes the incident as contested, saying “there are two narratives” and that “in Gaza they said … it was an Israeli rocket.”

I remember this incident well and Israel didn’t fire on the hospital. I just don’t understand why Carlson is using this easily disputed incident to make him point:

Subsequent reporting, third-party analyses, and corrections by major media outlets found no evidence that Israel was responsible.

They’re Not Better Off

The idea that Christians are faring worse in Israel than other parts of the Middle East doesn’t hold water either:

Carlson’s broader premise is that Christians fare better in Jordan. Yet Jordanian law presents serious obstacles, particularly for those who convert from Islam to Christianity. A Muslim who converts can be brought before a Sharia court and declared an apostate. Judges may annul marriages, remove custody of children, deny inheritance rights, transfer property to Muslim relatives, and, in some cases, restrict civil rights, including the right to vote.

And it’s not just Jordan:

Myers said conditions are often worse in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria—each bordering Israel—where Christians have limited political rights and face periodic persecution.

According to Open Doors, which tracks the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution, eight of the top 10 countries in 2026 are Muslim-majority nations.

Rosenberg says it’s better in Israel and he should know:

By contrast, “the Christian citizens in Israel have full and equal rights like every Jew, like every Muslim, like everyone else,” Rosenberg, who moved to Israel in 2014, said.

The logic for Carlson to want to go out of his way to bash Israel and its treatment of Christians is hard to understand. Yet he is. Both Rosenberg and Myers aren’t going to let him and others continue to muddy the waters even if they have less clout on social media. Rosenberg again says that he is more concerned for Carlson’s personal relationship with Jesus:

We have survived the Tucker Carlsons of the world, and we’ve survived the Candace Owenses of the world. He added, “We have survived the Tucker Carlsons of the world, and we’ve survived the Candace Owenses of the world,” speaking with an air of optimism. He told The Media Line that he is more concerned about Carlson’s spiritual salvation than about the resilience of Judeo-Christian values and faith.

Still Rosenberg sees he and others winning this media fight in the end:

“They have a lot of influence right now, and we need to take it seriously,” Rosenberg said of Carlson and Owens. “But as I recall, although Goliath was much larger, David won that battle.”

Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism efforts continue to grow and major influencers are leading the fight now more than ever. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we need to pray for the fight on the 8th front which Prime Minister Netanyahu says is the lamestream media. We need to add all of social media to that fight as usually staunch supporters of Biblical issues are turning on God’s chosen people.