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News Faith and Religion Israel Gaza war alternative media Judaism Christianity Islam

Tucker Carlson embarrasses himself on Israel
By Terry A. Hurlbut
Tucker Carlson, until recently, enjoyed the implicit trust of anyone skeptical of legacy media on a variety of subjects. But two days ago he violated that trust, perhaps illustrating the folly of reposing implicit trust in anyone. He granted an interview to an obvious covenantalistic pastor in Bethlehem – that Bethlehem – and accepted uncritically the distorted picture that pastor presented of the conduct by Israel of the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, and even of what life is like for a professing Christian either living in Israel or making any kind of pilgrimage to it. The problem is that a simple Internet engined search (with a reputable search engine) belies a particularly disgusting allegation. Failure to do such elementary due diligence makes this the most disappointing Tucker Carlson show on record.
Tucker Carlson lends credence to anti-Jewish pastor
Herewith Episode 91 of the Tucker Carlson show, on his account on X.
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1777800149818822809
https://rumble.com/v4ohlzx-the-real-impact-of-american-aid-on-palestinian-christians.html?mref=4teej&mc=88ce6
Tucker’s “meta-description” reads thus:
How does the government of Israel treat Christians? In the West, Christian leaders don’t seem interested in knowing the answer. They should be. Here’s the view of a pastor from Bethlehem.
For forty-five minute Carlson interviewed The Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac – a self-identifying “Palestinian Christian.” According to this summary by Patrick Houck at American Liberty News, Dr. Isaac advanced two main theses in the interview:
1. No Christian can support Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. Those who do have lost sight of their Christian values. But neither Dr. Isaac nor Tucker Carlson bothered to define those values.
2. The State of Israel has always treated Christians badly, and this foul treatment continues to this very day. The booby-prize example of this is an apparent “ancient Orthodox Jewish custom” of spitting on or at Christians in public.
On the first point, Dr. Isaac laid great stress on the damage to an Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip. This church, Saint Porphyrius, is the oldest Orthodox Church still functioning in Gaza City. The second allegation has received a great deal of attention since the war began. Those harping on it seem to say that “the Jews” deserved what they got on October 7. The spitting incidents, and alleged custom, are their justification for so saying. But the evidence does not support either point that Dr. Isaac saw fit to make. Tucker Carlson could have settled this with some elementary show prep, using a proper search engine. That he did not, will redound to his everlasting shame.
Which search engine should you use?
Before treating these points, I have a specific search engine to recommend. I have never, of course, used to Google as a verb. Google is not a verb. The verb-ifying of common trademarks, besides violating various companies’ intellectual property rights, unfairly slights the competitors of the companies involved. (Which likely explains why no company has bothered to protect its trademarks in court against such improper usage. No doubt you’ve heard other examples, like to Xerox.)
Today my favorite search engine is Result Hunter. Without exception, every other search engine downgrades results that do not “toe the woke line.” That makes them inherently unreliable, in addition to their support for an agenda I despise. I recommend Result Hunter without reserve to anyone who wants reliable results emphasizing primary sources whenever they are available. (At the present time they are not a sponsor of mine.)
I also need to take notice of the difference between dispensational and covenantal theology. I’ve covered this before. Briefly: Dispensationalism says that God relates to human beings in different dispensations – and right now we are in the Dispensation of Grace. And here’s the key: as regards ethnic Israel, Divine divorce is not an option. In contrast, covenantal theology holds that the Church replaces ethnic Israel in the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants, and inherits the promises made to ethnic Israel. That includes the geographical promises, which totally negates the statement that God’s Kingdom shall have no end. Not in time – nor in space, either.
On the spitting allegation
In March and April 2011, I made my own “pilgrimage” to Israel, along with a tour group from Pennsylvania. Never once did anyone spit on me, nor did I ever see that happen to anyone else. Not in the Old City of Jerusalem, nor indeed anywhere else.
The results from a Results Hunter search on the phrase “Jews spit on Christians” are instructive. The earliest article even hinting that the practice had any currency is datelined April 7, 2010. It describes an interfaith forum among Christian and Jewish senior clerics, hoping to stop the practice. The usual targets are not foreign tourist, but are Orthodox priests in their traditional vestments.
As the other search results show, on October 4, 2023, police arrested five ultra-Orthodox Jews over a particularly public incident. Competing Christian and Jewish processions crossed paths, and those five saw fit to “hawk up.” Apparently Pope Francis expressed outrage at the incident – which would seem to reflect its rarity. Regrettably, Itamar Ben Gvir, who became National Security Minister in the latest coalition negotiation, downplayed the incident. Other members of the government were not so cavalier.
But that was before the war began. After that, the next such incident took place on February 3, 2024. That resulted in two arrests. A Jewish historian in Germany, in reply, suggested those involved violated “elementary” principles of their faith by so acting. But obviously Tucker Carlson couldn’t trouble his staff to do even elementary fact finding or checking.
About that church
The case of St. Porphyrius Church in Gaza City is more tragic – yet at the same time more confusing. This much we know, again starting with a search on the phrase “Israel bombed Orthodox church.” First, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Arabic Harakah al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmiyyah, abbreviated HAMAS), and/or their sympathizers on social media, circulated a false rumor to the effect that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had obliterated that church in initial shelling of the region. Five days after debunking that rumor, they were boasting of giving shelter to Christians and Muslims.
Second, on or about October 19, 2023, the church did sustain damage to its annex and its compound entrance. From that point forward, the account becomes confused.
In the first place, HAMAS, and the government that is the glove of which HAMAS is the hand, reported that the Israeli Air Force had bombed a hospital. Nothing could be further from the truth. As it turned out, Islamic Jihad, which is an auxiliary Muslim militia, damaged the hospital with a stray missile.
And in the second place, we see an organ calling itself The Christian Post citing, of all people, The Washington Post – who in turn are citing “Palestinian health officials.” Palestinian health officials can only be the HAMAS Medical Corps! The Washington Post is already a chequered source. Beyond that, anyone who cites “Palestinian government” sources for anything but a claim-of-responsibility for Israeli casualties, should have his head examined.
Tucker Carlson and his worst failing
Part of the problem a Tucker Carlson faces is that objective intelligence on the true state of civilians on the ground, is lacking. Another part is deciding whether the concept civilian even remains valid in Gaza. Many who would be called “civilians” in any other context:
• Accompanied elements of HAMAS into Israel as irregulars and took an active role in their atrocities, or else:
• Danced in the streets and mocked Israeli hostages – and half-naked corpses – as HAMAS paraded them in those same streets.
It’s all very well for someone to proclaim, “We are all HAMAS now.” But whoever does that, should at least try to understand the full implications of what he’s saying.
If Tucker Carlson wants to criticize a country for counterattacking another country that has visited atrocities upon its population, atrocities evoking the memory of the Holocaust, he owes his viewers the best research he can do. Two simple engine searches belie his entire presentation, and that of his interview subject.
He also missed much else, as Donald Trump’s Ambassador to Israel – who relocated his office to the American Consulate in South Jerusalem, thereby transforming it into an Embassy – points out.
https://twitter.com/DavidM_Friedman/status/1777824962335666310
Tucker, my friend, before the Palestinians took over Bethlehem pursuant to the Oslo Accords in the mid-1990’s, Bethlehem was under Israeli control and its population was 80% Christian. It was one of the centers of the Christian world. Since Oslo and the resulting Palestinian rule, Bethlehem became 80% Muslim and Christians are afraid. But they don’t speak out against the Palestinian Authority because you just can’t and survive.
Joel Pollack, Senior Editor-at-large at Breitbart, left this thread:
https://twitter.com/joelpollak/status/1777875038903087440
https://twitter.com/joelpollak/status/1777875048973640087
https://twitter.com/joelpollak/status/1777875059543339239
https://twitter.com/joelpollak/status/1777875068678484342
https://twitter.com/joelpollak/status/1777875077654261976
https://twitter.com/joelpollak/status/1777875573190344842
Allow me to respond to Tucker Carlson’s interview here with Munther Isaac by talking about the facts, rather than speculating about whether Tucker hates Israel, or is an antisemite. 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. 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. 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.
Rev. Isaac does not believe Israel should exist, a fact Tucker does not discuss. He also repeats many false claims about Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, like the claim Israeli snipers killed 2 civilians in a church, which the IDF (which admits other mistakes) refuted. Remarkably, Rev. Isaac criticizes the Abraham Accords, a peace agreement between Israel and several Arab states. One who is truly interested in peace should welcome that development. For Rev. Isaac, that peace deal is bad because it distracts from the Palestinian struggle.
Rev. Isaac is an activist who campaigns worldwide against evangelical Christian support for Israel. He tells Carlson evangelicals should not use the Bible as a basis for supporting Israel. He is entitled to these beliefs but they are not authoritative in any broader sense. Rev. Isaac says Israel is "not as free as people say" for Christians, claiming it is tough to register conversions. (Bureaucracy is tough for everyone in Israel, due to laws dating to the Ottoman era.) Tucker extrapolates, falsely, Christians have "fewer rights" in Israel.
Carlson adds some of the interview's most incendiary comments, suggesting that the U.S. should not give Israel aid if one Christian is killed and should not support a foreign government that he says is guilty of "blowing up churches and killing Christians," which is false. One suspects Carlson's real target is Republican foreign policy. He mocks "self-professed Christians" in the U.S. whom he says are "sending money to oppress Christians," another false and inflammatory statement. He attacks evangelical Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), Speaker of the House, for supporting Israel.
There are many pro-Israel Christian Arabs (talk to Yoseph Haddad, for example). Concern about Christians would suggest backing Israel against Islamist HAMAS and opposing Palestinian Authority policies. Tucker has taken his opposition to a U.S. role in foreign wars to an absurd extreme.
Apologies for typos; I'm on a flight to Israel.
Analysis
First, The Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac will not earn a place in Foxe’ Book of Martyrs, Quatercentenary Edition, by subordinating truth to his convenantal, or replacementistic, theology. The Ninth Commandment reads:
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Exodus 20:16, KJV
And he who repeats the lies of others, breaks that commandment just the same as if he originated them. Furthermore, George Washington said,
Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the disparagement of any.
Rules of Civility
For Dr. Isaac, his covenantal theology is an excuse. He is letting his racial heritage trump the Christian values he says he embraces. Again he forgets that:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, … slave nor free, … male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28
Or neither Jew nor Mamluk – for this Third Race of Philistines, now calling themselves “Palestinians,” are Mamluks. And they didn’t even live in the region when Emperor Hadrian coined the name Palaestina for the region.
But at least one expects Dr. Isaac to have an agenda, though one loathes such tribalism. (And naivete, because Isaac, being a Christian, is a dhimmi.) Tucker Carlson indeed has no excuse. He should have done his homework, so he could call out lies when he heard them. Why Tucker Carlson would want to believe that Israel blows up churches and treats Christians like second-class citizens, is incomprehensible. But only that can explain why he forgot to do elementary research when he is supposed to be a professional. The “show prep” for this episode was not up to professional standard.
But once again, the Fourth Arab-Israeli War brings out the worst in many people.
Link to:
Tucker Carlson’s interview, on many platforms:
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1777800149818822809
https://rumble.com/v4ohlzx-the-real-impact-of-american-aid-on-palestinian-christians.html?mref=4teej&mc=88ce6
https://tuckercarlson.com/uncensored-munther/