Is This A Recent Video About An Egyptian Judge Demolishing A Church?
On September 1, 2025, an X user claimed that an Egyptian judge alongside his two sons in the company of others attacked a Christian priest, Father Luke Assad, for objecting to an order to demolish a church. The 2 minute, 9 seconds video showed a man dressed in a black priestly attire, being attacked by some group of men and was captioned:
“This is how Christians live in Egypt: Father Luke Assad, a priest, is attacked by a judge after objecting to an order to demolish a church. This is the lived reality of Arab Christians under Islam, a reality of discrimination, intimidation, and systemic persecution that has gone on for centuries. Tucker Carlson, and others like him who romanticize Islam or attack Israel, owe an apology, first, to Arab Christians who have endured centuries of suffering in Islamic countries, and second, to Israel, the only country in the Middle East where Christians are truly free.”
This post had reached over 12,000 people when this report was published. In the comment section @Maurym26 wrote, “The mainstream press is complicit by not reporting on the realities facing minorities living in Muslim countries.” and @rajendrabharga8 said, “Day is not far, when this will happen to Europen Christians too..”
VERIFICATION
NV-A used video verification tools to ascertain the authenticity of the video but due to its blurry nature, the authentication showed no related results for the video. Screenshots from different angles of the video helped to establish that a similar claim was posted on September 1, 2025, from a handle based in Egypt. The IG post and others have been circulating on social media since August 2025.
However, further search using keywords containing names and locations found in the circulating videos led to a report from a 2008 bulletin.
Issue 123 of The British Orthodox Church reported that on October 8, 2008, Mohammad Mostafa Kamel, accompanied by his two sons and other hired men, entered a Coptic church in Rashid (near Alexandria) using a front loader and attempted to demolish part of the altar. No legal demolition order was involved. During the encounter, Fathers Maximos and Luke Asaad intervened, rushing to the police station to report the incident.
The judge and his two sons, who also are judges, alleged in their lawsuit that the church building was originally their ancient home and that the Greek Orthodox community in Rashid only began using it as a church recently. Kamel alleged that the church was sold to him in 1990 because it was abandoned and he registered it in real estate authority of Rashid in 2008 with registration number 514 for the year of 2008.
Kamel and his sons allegedly threatened the two priests and their lawyer. The police confiscated the front loader and did not take legal action against the prosecutor. A police report was also filed regarding the threats.
CONCLUSION
The circulating video about a priest being attacked is MISLEADING. This incident happened in 2008 and is being recirculated at the moment as a recent event.
