Tucker Carlson is \u201ctotally wrong\u201d about the experience of Christians living in Israel, Shadi Khalloul, founder of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association NGO and a former Knesset candidate, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Khalloul extended an invitation to the right-wing American commentator in early February, hoping to shed light on the true experience of Christians in Israel, but he told the Post that Carlson had failed to respond to the invitation.<\/p>\n
Khalloul had offered to bring Carlson to his home in the Galilee to meet with his brother-in-law, the head of the Maronite Church of Israel, and hear directly from Christian leaders as well as visit holy sites.<\/p>\n
Carlson has been vocal about Israel, regularly criticizing the support the Jewish state receives from its closest allies in Washington, and has repeatedly made claims of widespread mistreatment of Christians in Israel.<\/p>\n
The media personality briefly visited Israel on Wednesday for a filmed sit-down<\/a> with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, focused on claims about the treatment of Christians in Israel and the wider region, sources earlier told the Post.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to take him to different locations in the Galilee, to take him to different villages of Christian communities, and let him hear the truth,\u201d Khalloul explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to see if he will write about this truth if he would hear it in his own ears, but he didn\u2019t respond\u2026 It\u2019s not the first time I sent him invitations; every time on Twitter I\u2019m tagging him and sending him letters by email.\u201d<\/p>\n This time, \u201cI said, \u2018Okay, he\u2019s coming. It\u2019s a good opportunity. Let\u2019s invite him officially,\u2019\u201d Khalloul said, adding that the lack of response showed him that Carlson<\/a> \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to know the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson conducted the conversation with Huckabee inside Ben-Gurion Airport and did not travel beyond the airport complex, the sources said. He departed Israel at around 3 p.m., ending a trip that lasted only a few hours.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s speaking about me, about my people who live here in Israel, and it\u2019s totally wrong, total lies,\u201d Khalloul shared, while becoming visibly angry about Carlson\u2019s apparent attempts to represent his experience.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe he\u2019s serving Qatar; maybe he\u2019s serving the Islamic regime. [I don\u2019t know] who is paying him,\u201d Khalloul wondered.<\/p>\n When asked whether he thought Carlson truly believed the rhetoric about Israel he was sharing, the Khalloul answered, \u201cI don\u2019t know what the reason is, why he\u2019s doing it, where this hatred for the Jews and Israel [comes from].\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson recently visited Qatar for the Doha Forum and interviewed Qatar\u2019s prime minister and foreign affairs minister last year, as well as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.<\/p>\n Carlson condemned for platforming Islamists<\/p>\n Khalloul was especially critical of Carlson\u2019s decision to platform the Islamist officials, noting that much of the Arab and Islamic world is \u201cvery hostile\u201d to Christians.<\/p>\n \u201cWe build churches freely in Israel; the state allows us freedom of worship, the freedom of movement, the freedom of speech.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality of our ladies \u2013 they can go out for work and drive their cars, and nobody harasses them, and go in the streets, and nobody harasses them, while in Arab countries, everything is the opposite,\u201d Khalloul described. \u201cThey are harassed; they are oppressed. They are living in fear. That\u2019s the difference that people should know about.\u201d<\/p>\n Khalloul drew attention to neighboring Syria and the recent bombing of a church in Damascus, where 25 worshipers were killed and 60 wounded.<\/p>\n He also noted the case of Moussa el-Hajj, a senior member of the Maronite Church, who was stopped at the Lebanese border with money and medicine from the Christian community in Israel and arrested by Hezbollah for allegedly normalizing relations with the Jewish state in his charitable efforts.<\/p>\n Khalloul said that Iraqi and Lebanese Christians were prevented by Islamists from making pilgrimages to the land Jesus Christ once inhabited.<\/p>\n \u201cLebanese Christians cannot speak with us. We have families there, and we cannot speak with each other because Hezbollah is oppressing them and will accuse them of being collaborators,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the reality here in Israel \u2013 we have the freedom to speak with our Christian brothers and sisters anywhere in the world, even in countries that define us as enemies. Why does Israel allow us that? Because they trust us, because they know we are not dealing with terror, we are not dealing with a spy against the country. We only talk about it as a humanitarian issue with our brothers and sisters on the other side. Does Tucker Carlson speak about it?\u201d<\/p>\n Acknowledging reports of Christians being spat on in Jerusalem, Khalloul assured the Post that it was a \u201cfanatic, tiny minority\u201d and not an issue the large majority of his community has ever encountered.<\/p>\n \u201cWe condemn them as Christians, and we go against these guys, and we ask the government to punish them, and they are punished, and they are followed by the secret service and police,\u201d he said. \u201cBut these are very tiny minorities that don\u2019t represent the Jewish majority\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cChristians feel free to walk in the streets, and if they are spat on, the people go to the authorities, and they will punish the guy [responsible] \u2013 that\u2019s the difference. In Arab countries, they do suicide bombings on churches, and those jihadis go and are being praised by their fellows in these countries.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson’s comments actively causing divisions<\/p>\n Khalloul, who also runs a coexistence project for youth and is currently working to see an Aramaic village established, said that Carlson<\/a>\u2019s comments on the safety of Christians in Israel weren\u2019t just incorrect, but they were actively creating divisions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe enjoy life, and he\u2019s trying to show the opposite image of us and of our Israel. It\u2019s even destroying our alliance as people here together, and this is something that bothers me,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n \u201cIt also destroys the connection and the beautiful life, the coexistence that we are living here in Israel. And that\u2019s very, very dangerous, and I don\u2019t want to have my children who are living here suffer because this Tucker is pushing only a satanic agenda, propaganda, and lies, and spreading these lies will actually make a wall between the Jewish community and us.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked to clarify how it would impact his children, Khalloul confessed he feared that his Jewish neighbors would begin thinking that his community hated them, and it would create more hate in response.<\/p>\n