By Daoud Kuttab

In a revealing and emotional ( watch on youtube here) interview, Rev. Dr. Fares Abraham, CEO of Levant Ministries, sat down with Tucker Carlson to discuss the “existential threat” facing the world’s oldest Christian community in the Holy Land. The conversation provided a rare perspective from the indigenous Christian population of the West Bank and Gaza—a group Carlson noted is “rarely” heard from in American media.

A Heritage Under Threat

Originally from Bet Sahour, a majority-Christian village near Bethlehem, Dr. Abraham described his people as “the early descendants of the first Christmas story” who have maintained an uninterrupted presence for 2,000 years. However, he warned that this heritage is disappearing.

“The world needs to know that there are Christians in Gaza. They are our brothers and sisters,” Dr. Abraham stated, highlighting the “unprecedented hardship” that words cannot fully describe. He emphasized that the survival of this community is currently at risk, describing the situation as a “slow suffocation” caused by Israeli settlement expansion and military restrictions.

Living Through Violence

The interview took a personal turn as Dr. Abraham recounted witnessing his own mother being shot by an Israeli soldier in 1990 when he was just ten years old. He described the act as random: “We were just kids playing… My own mother, who loves the Lord… she caught a bullet in the back”.

Despite such trauma, Dr. Abraham emphasized a message of non-violence and forgiveness rooted in the Sermon on the Mount. “I don’t want to allow the atrocities and the sins that have been committed against Christians to allow bitterness to grow in our hearts,” he told Carlson.

Criticism of Western Silence and “Heresy”

Carlson and Dr. Abraham were critical of the American evangelical community’s relationship with the region. Carlson questioned why many U.S. Christians support policies that he argued fund “the displacement and the murder of the oldest Christian community in the world”.

Dr. Abraham attributed much of this to a theological lens he believes prioritizes political outcomes over human life.

• On Christian Zionism: Dr. Abraham suggested that “Christian Zionism has replaced Jesus with the current state of Israel,” a sentiment Carlson labeled as “heresy”.
• On Weaponized Scripture: “Our money and our scripture are being flipped on us and weaponized against us,” Dr. Abraham noted, referring to how theology is used to justify the displacement of indigenous Christians.

A Call for Compassion

As the interview concluded, Dr. Abraham called for a shift from political tribalism toward a humanitarian and Gospel-centered approach. He urged the Church to see the “humanity of the Palestinian people” and the desperate need of the Christian community to survive.

“Our hope is in the Lord, but we are calling on our brothers and sisters around the world to stand with us, to pray for us, and not to forget that the light of Christ is still flickering in the Holy Land”.