“We will not survive as a Christian community if the situation of Palestinians in general is not solved.”
Members of Gaza’s small Christian community were among the thousands of civilians killed in Gaza as a result of Washington’s support for Israel in its war, a pastor from Bethlehem has told journalist Tucker Carlson.
In an interview posted on the social media plattform X, Reverend Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christian Church also criticized Christian leaders in the United States for failing to oppose the destruction in Gaza.
“One of the biggest problems we are facing right now is the deterioration of our (Christian community) numbers,” Isaac told Carlson. “People keep leaving because of the political reality. Life under a very harsh Israeli military occupation is difficult to bear,” he explained.
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,” the pastor said.
Carlson agreed that it’s a “consistent but almost never noted theme of American foreign policy that it is always the Christians who suffer,” recalling the massacre of Catholics in Vietnam and a complete devastation of an ancient Christian community in Iraq.
“We’ve always had a very serious problem when it comes to American foreign policy,” Isaac replied.
He referred to an Israeli airstrike on an Orthodox church compound in Gaza last October, which resulted in the deaths of 18 civilians.
“American Christian support to 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,” Isaac stated.
‘Jesus Would Be Born under Gaza Rubble’ – Palestinian Pastor
According to the Palestinian pastor, who has consistently called for a ceasefire in Gaza while meeting with US diplomats, politicians, Congress staff, and even influential clergy, it is astonishing “how little they know about the reality on the ground.”
His wish is for the US and its Christian leaders to put money into initiatives that bring peace, and cease “to support Israel unconditionally without holding them accountable.” Isaac suggested this support is the reason for the current catastrophe – “it’s because of these policies,” he added.
He described the Israeli war in Gaza as “genocide,” stating: “We will not survive as a Christian community if the situation of Palestinians in general is not solved.”
Carlson ended his interview with the pastor by issuing an appeal to the audience. “If you wake up in the morning and decide that your Christian faith requires you to support a foreign government blowing up churches and killing Christians, I think you’ve lost the thread.”
Ep. 91 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. pic.twitter.com/Gvo116ojnf
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 9, 2024
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 33,482 Palestinians have been killed, and 76,049 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Global Christian Leaders to Spend Christmas in Bethlehem in Solidarity with Palestinians
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(RT, PC)
Thank you Tucker Carlson and Munther Isaac for having this important conversation, and thank you Palestine Chronicle for this excellent summary.
Focusing on the plight of Palestinian Christians is a useful exercise which sheds light on Israeli oppression of all Palestinians, and on the roots of the USA’s catastrophically flawed post-Cold War foreign policy, which has caused immense suffering not only for the Palestinians, but also the Iraqis, Syrians, Lebanese, Yemenis, and Libyans.
The Israel lobby, including the ADL, which Buchanan warned about in 1990 and Mearsheimer thoroughly exposed, uses Genesis 12:3 and threatened accusations of “anti-Semitism” to manipulate American Evangelicals.