American Nun: Hamas is a resistance movement, and Christians suffer under occupation

Palestinian Information Center – August 17, 2025
WEST BANK – An American nun said that Israeli policies have made the lives of both Palestinian Christians and Muslims “extremely difficult,” due to restrictions on movement, land confiscation, and settlement construction. She also stressed that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is a resistance movement that defends its people and land.
Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos, who has lived since 1996 in the Palestinian town of Bethany in the occupied West Bank, appeared in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson on a popular US television program, sparking wide controversy after she spoke about her two-decade-long experience in the occupied Palestinian territories.
She affirmed that Christians there face suffering similar to that experienced by Muslims under Israeli occupation.
She added that the number of Palestinian Christians has significantly declined since the Nakba in 1948 due to restrictions and displacement, emphasizing that “the problem is not religious but national,” as Christians face the same discrimination because of their Palestinian identity.
The nun criticized what she described as the “blind support” of some Christian Zionists in the United States for Israel, saying they ignore the suffering of Palestinian Christians and justify settlement expansion and land confiscation.
Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos also pointed out that churches and Christian institutions in the West Bank and Gaza have been bombed and destroyed, considering this part of a systematic targeting of Palestinians.
She explained that Palestinian Christians live in natural cohesion with Muslims, citing the example of Christian schools in Bethlehem and Jerusalem where the majority of students are Muslims, stressing that coexistence is the prevailing feature of Palestinian society.
The interview, titled “This is How Christians Live in the Holy Land,” received over 12 million views and was considered one of the most prominent episodes shedding light on the conditions of both Palestinian Christians and Muslims under occupation, and the violence and restrictions they face from settlers and Israeli authorities.
No comments yet.


Leave a comment