“‘I’m not spreading propaganda,’ George Stephanopoulos’ orthodox-nun sister vows, but Israeli soldiers last week ‘defecated’ on the floors of a West Bank medical clinic they raided,’” was the first sentence from a 2002 article from investigative journalist Paul Sperry.
Long-time anti-Israel propagandist Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos is in the spotlight yet again through her August 11, 2025 appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show. And she is still spewing the same inflammatory and unverified venom.
Born Anastasia Stephanopoulos in Massachusetts to the late Greek Orthodox Priest Robert Stephanopoulos and his wife Nikki, who served on the governing board of the far-left National Council of Churches, Agapia Stephanopoulos is the sister of George Stephanopoulos. Her brother is the famous left-wing commentator and former member of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s “inner circle“.
Mother Agapia has established herself as a Russian Orthodox nun and a vocal anti-Israel critic.
Her outrageous accusations against Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) include claims of deliberate oppression of Christians, an “apartheid system,” and a fantastical “greater Israel” plot.
A Trail of Debunked Accusations
Stephanopoulos undermines her credibility by spreading baseless, inflammatory claims against Israel. In 2002, during IDF operations in the West Bank to counter suicide bombings, she circulated emails claiming Israeli soldiers “defecated” on the floors of a Bethlehem medical clinic, leaving it in “shambles” with “bullet holes all over the walls” and equipment “damaged”.
She further alleged soldiers looted Palestinian homes, asserting that in one case, Israelis entered the home of a Palestinian couple:
…entered their new home in the middle of the night three times in the last month, once stealing all the money from the house, and another time strafing the house with gunfire, miraculously only slightly wounding one of their daughters…
Most shockingly, Sister Crazy Eyes accuses Israeli soldiers of raping Palestinian girls, a claim that was “quickly discredited” according to a Jewish Press article from 2005. Author Jason Maoz noted, “nearly all of [her] reporting comes from Palestinian sources. She has not herself witnessed the alleged Israeli atrocities”.
These emails, peddled on anti-Israel websites, lacked any corroboration, revealing her reckless willingness to spread unverified lies that demonize Israel.
Outrageous Claims on a Toxic Platform
Stephanopoulos’s 2025 appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show, titled “Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos calls for Christians to stand up against Christian Zionism,” doubles down on her anti-Israel rhetoric with sensational claims that crumble under examination. She asserted that Israel’s policies make life “very difficult” for Palestinian Christians, claiming:
A Christian who lives in Bethlehem cannot go to Jerusalem to the Holy Sepulchre without a permit from Israel. They don’t usually give those permits, especially now…
The policy of having to get a permit from Israel, Mother Agapia anguished, is “an apartheid system”. Much like Israel’s security wall, Israel’s permit system is justified to counter Hamas’s terrorism. If Hamas and its allies stop attacking Israel, Israel might not need such a system.
The West Bank Barrier
Mother Agapia, the mustached nun, asserts that Israel built its security wall to expand its borders, claiming it “shattered” Christian communities. This take ignores the wall’s documented role in slashing suicide bombings.
Before the Israeli West Bank barrier’s construction began in June 2002, Palestinian terrorist attacks, including the Passover massacre in Netanya that killed 30 civilians and injured 140, underscored the urgent need for a security barrier to protect Israeli citizens. After its initial completion, the barrier reduced suicide bombings by over 80%.
Watch this clip from a 2011 documentary which discusses the Passover massacre (5:15 time stamp):
The ‘Greater Israel Project’ Lie
Mother Agapia’s most egregious claim is that Israel is pursuing a “greater Israel project” from “the Nile to the Euphrates”. “I think that’s part of the whole greater Israel project… targeting Christians”, she said. This wild assertion, lacking any evidence, veers head first into conspiracy theory territory, accusing Israel of orchestrating a vast regional plot to eradicate Christians. No Israeli government document, leader, or policy in 2025 – or anytime – endorses a territorial plan spanning Egypt to Iraq.
Stephanopoulos frames the “greater Israel project” as a deliberate effort by Israel to reduce Christian populations in the region, connecting it to the decline of the Christian population in Palestine and Israel, which she states dropped from “over 10% before 1948” to “less than 2%”. She further asserts that this project contributes to the broader destabilization of Christian communities in neighboring countries, specifically mentioning Syria and Iraq.
The Decline of the Christian Population
Mother Agapia blames Israel for the decline of the Christian population. But in Israel, the Christian population is growing. In 2023, approximately 187,900 Christians (about 2% of the population) and 1.782 million Muslims (18.1% of the population) live in Israel, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
In the West Bank and Gaza, however, the Christian population has indeed declined significantly. There is a reason for this, but it is not because of Israel. The Christian exodus is from Palestinian-controlled areas.
In 2022, Raymond Ibrahim reported at the Middle East Forum that Palestinian Christians face relentless religiously motivated attacks, including church desecrations and physical assaults, while the Palestinian Authority suppresses reports of this persecution to maintain a false image of tolerance, driving the Christian population down.
Hamas is ‘fighting for their people’
Led by Tucker Carlson, Stephanopoulos also defends Hamas, claiming they are “not religious fanatics” but “people fighting for their people, trying to protect their land”. This whitewashing dismisses Hamas’s documented history of terrorist attacks, including rocket barrages and suicide bombings, which have targeted Israeli civilians. It is difficult to imagine how victims of Hamas and their loved ones could stomach such vile, ignorant statements.
Here is a part of the exchange (54:53-56:17):
Agapia Stephanopoulos: But, to get back to the thing, though, is that people don’t always see the whole story, and we’re-we’re just flooded with this message that those terrorists are coming to get us next, which is absurd. Has any member of Hamas or anybody of a Palestinian come and threatened America as an American? No. That’s not their—that’s not what they’re about. The thing is that, but that’s the tactic that’s used is that we have to plaster them as being these jihadists when they’re nothing like that.
Tucker Carlson: Are they—I mean, I’m sure you’ve dealt with Hamas or know people who—are they religious fanatics? Are they jihadis?
Agapia Stephanopoulos: Not the people that I know. Like I said, when I was again at the school, we had a couple of teachers, Muslim men, and there were some elections going on, and it wasn’t Hamas then. It was—it was the social party or something, but it was definitely a Muslim religious party. I would have voted for those guys because they weren’t corrupt. They wanted to serve their people, and that’s what it was about. So, I’m not saying it doesn’t happen anywhere. I’m not totally ingrained in the community, but I don’t—it doesn’t—the vibe there isn’t one of wanting everybody to convert to Islam and forcing it upon them at all, at all. And the purpose of Hamas is primarily to resist and to protect their people and their land.
Agapia Stephanopoulos’s defense of Hamas as “not religious fanatics” but rather people focused on “resisting and protecting their people and their land” flies in the face of Hamas’s history of violence, including on October 7, 2023.
Unverified Anecdotes Fueling False Narratives
Stephanopoulos’s reliance on uncorroborated anecdotes amplifies her reckless narrative. She claims to have been “spit on” in Jerusalem, stating, “I’ve been spit on… of course,” to suggest systemic hostility toward Christians. Yet, she provides no evidence or context for these incidents, using them to broadly indict Israeli society in a manner reminiscent of her debunked 2002 emails.
Her inflammatory rhetoric extends to unverified claims about unresolved incidents, such as the burning of a Christian cemetery in Tayibe, where she asserts, “They burned the area around there,” and the death of Palestinian-American Sayfollah “Saif” Musallet, whom she claims was “beaten to death by settlers”, are flung with reckless abandon to stoke outrage.
Similarly, her claim that Israel confiscated Christian land in Tayibe – “over a quarter of it has been confiscated either by settlers and the army” – lacks any substantiating details, rendering it a hollow provocation.
A Tainted Advocate with a Biased Agenda
Stephanopoulos’s background as a nun associated with the Convent of Saint Nicholas in New York, established in 2009 under the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, lends her a veneer of moral authority. However, Mother Agapia’s history of falsehoods and selective storytelling overshadows her advocacy for Palestinian Christians.
Her claim that “Israel is destroying the local Christian community” echoes her 2002 emails and remains unsupported by firsthand evidence. As Jason Maoz concluded, her reliance on “Palestinian sources” without witnessing alleged atrocities makes her “a dubious source”. Her failure to address the role of Palestinian governance, Hamas’s actions, or broader regional dynamics reveals a deliberate bias that prioritizes anti-Israel rhetoric over truth.
Conclusion: A Dangerous Distortion of Truth
Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos’s anti-Israel crusade, marked by outrageous and discredited claims, renders her an unreliable voice. Tucker Carlson’s latest interview further solidifies his track record of hosting polarizing and one-sided discussions.
Stephanopoulos’s accusations of a “greater Israel” plot, defenses of Hamas, and uncorroborated anecdotes about Israeli atrocities are clearly designed to harm Israel.
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The post The Hateful Nun: Agapia Stephanopoulos is a Reckless Propagator of Anti-Israel Lies appeared first on RAIR.
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Author: Renee Nal
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