Conservatives Turn on Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson has sparked ire among several conservative commentators after interviewing a Palestinian pastor, who discussed how the ongoing Israel-Hamas war has affected Christians in the region.

The latest round of tensions in the region was heightened after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked southern Israel in October. Much of Gaza has since been razed in subsequent strikes from Israel, with huge numbers of the Strip’s 2.3 million residents forced to flee their homes.

Gaza health officials estimate that more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel embarked on retaliatory strikes, and Israeli officials say that roughly 1,200 people were killed in the initial Hamas attacks, during which a further 253 were taken hostage.

The White House has become increasingly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military response in the Gaza Strip. Israel has also faced pressure from the international community after its military killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in an airstrike last week. Netanyahu called the strike a “tragic event.”

Former Fox News host Carlson added his voice to the criticism of Israel on the latest episode of his talk show, where he spoke with a Palestinian pastor about how the conflict has affected the region’s small Christian population.

“A consistent but almost never noted theme of American foreign policy is that it is always the Christians who suffer,” the broadcaster said at the start of Tucker Carlson Uncensored. “When there’s a war abroad that the United States is funding, it is Christians who tend to die disproportionately.”

After citing wars in other regions, Carlson asked: “But what about Gaza? What about the entire region in the Middle East, where of course there’s very intense fighting going on? Many Christian churches in the United States, particularly evangelical churches, support that.

“But there is virtually never a word about the Christians who live there, the ancient Christian community in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel proper. So, because no one has said a word, there has been great suffering among the Christian population in that region.”

Carlson said that “we almost never hear from” the Christians in that region, adding that it would be “interesting and maybe edifying to hear from one of them right now.” He then introduced Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, who serves as the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christian Church in Bethlehem.

“One of the biggest problems we are facing right now is the deterioration of our numbers,” Isaac told Carlson. “People keep pleading because of the political reality. Life under a very harsh Israeli military occupation is difficult to bear. And as a result, many young Palestinian Christians continue to leave, for example, Bethlehem, choosing to find a better and easier life elsewhere.”

He added that Palestinian Christians “are probably disproportionately affected by all of this because of our small numbers as a religious community. Anything that happens impacts us severely.”

Isaac also criticized the “so-called religious right,” from whom “we receive nothing, no sympathy whatsoever. Sometimes we just plea to be heard and have our perspective taken seriously. And one of the things I’m often stuck with, whether when I speak to diplomats, politicians, Congress staff or even influential pastors is how little they know about the reality on the ground.”

“Their knowledge of the situation here seems to be very, very shallow,” he added. “Yet they hold very strong opinions. And oftentimes, these opinions are shaped by political parties’ positions, the United States’ position.”

Carlson’s interview with the pastor sparked outrage among a number of figures on the right, including Caroline Glick, an Israeli-American conservative author who is a columnist for Newsweek.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, she wrote: “This is mendacious hit piece that shows Tucker’s generally well-hidden hand. The Christian population of Bethlehem all but disappeared after the PLO took over in 1996 due to Islamic persecution. The only Christian population in the Middle East that is growing is the Christian community in Israel.

“The Christian community in Gaza disappeared after Hamas took over in 2005.
In 2002, PLO terrorists took nuns and priests hostages in a standoff with IDF forces in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.”

Commentary magazine editor John Podhoretz reacted by writing of “Anti Semite filth,” while Darrell C. Scott, a pastor and vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump, opined that Carlson “is trying to spark anti Jewish sentiments among Christians.”

Breitbart Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak responded with a lengthy thread, commenting of Carlson: “He says he is concerned about Christians; I’ll accept that. But there’s no excuse for this.”

“First, a fact about Bethlehem. Christians used to be a majority there; they are now a minority,” Pollak continued. “The Palestinian Authority has been Islamizing the city since taking control of Bethlehem 30 years ago. Israeli ‘occupation’ is hardly the primary issue.”

“Another fact: Bethlehem has become an antisemitic city under Palestinian control, far worse to Jews than even to Christians,” Pollak went on to state. “In 2007, I was told not to speak Hebrew there; in 2023, I was told to remove my yarmulke, or cover it with a hat. In the birthplace of Jesus, a Jew.”

Josh Hammer, a conservative commentator and Newsweek senior editor-at-large, said: “Turns out Tucker needed Fox more than Fox needed Tucker. Very sad.”

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Carlson via email for comment.

While Carlson was hit with a wave of a wave of criticism, he also received support from a number of X users.

Former MMA fighter Jake Shields weighed in: “Tucker Carlson is actually America first. Unfortunately, all our Republicans are Israel first and Democrats are Ukraine and every third-world nation first.”

Conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has been critical of Israel amid the war, reposted a post from the account @CensoredMen.

The post quoted Carlson as saying: “If you wake up in the morning and decide your Christian faith requires you to support a foreign government blowing up churches and killing Christians, I think you’ve lost the thread.”

Another X user mocked the “Zionists on the right crying over the Tucker Carlson interview with a Christian Palestinian. I thought you guys were America first? I thought you were Christians? Why you mad?”

Elsewhere in the interview, Isaac said that American Christians sending money to Israel are ultimately funding the military and the building of settlements, “on land confiscated from Palestinians and in many cases from Palestinian Christian families.”

He described Israel as a state that is “oppressing Palestinians, and breaking international law, committing sometimes human rights abuses… against Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians.”

Sharing his own thoughts, Carlson said: “It would be pretty easy for Republicans in the U.S. Congress to say we support the government of Israel. But if you touch a single Christian, harm a single church, prevent any Christian from practicing this religion, you’re done. Not a single dollar will come from the U.S. Congress for you. That doesn’t seem hard.”

Isaac told Carlson: “American Christian support [for] Christians is actually conditioned by where you stand on the political spectrum… If Christians were hit or targeted or persecuted by someone who’s not an ally, then you will see an outrage. But because Israel is an ally to America, no one cares about Christians being targeted.”