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The empty Church of the Holy Sepulchre

A video John Kiriakou describes watching during the 2026 Iran war — the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem completely deserted, filmed beside the Edicule that covers the tomb of Christ, with nothing audible but air raid sirens. He offers it alongside Israeli footage he reads as evidence that the country knows it is in trouble.

The empty Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a piece of footage John Kiriakou described unprompted during a broadcast on the 2026 Iran war, immediately after discussing where the Israeli prime minister was hiding.

The footage

Kiriakou is precise about how he came to it and where the camera stood. “somebody posted a video on on um wherever Tik Tok last night that I watched while I was laying in bed and it was inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which cuz was completely empty. They’re standing right next to the Edicule which covers the tomb of Christ and all you can hear are air raid sirens.”[1]

His own comment is four words long: “It was just very sad.”[1]

What he reads into it

Kiriakou treats the video as one item in a body of material coming out of Israel during the war. “there’s a lot of video coming out of Israel where from Israeli sources saying we’re really in trouble. They’re hunkering down.” Asked to characterise the mood, he answered flatly: they are “not dancing in the in the bomb shelters. No sir. No sir.”[1]

He attaches a political reading in the next breath, on information he attributes to someone else: “somebody pointed out to me over the weekend too that you know, there was this spike in support for Netanyahu when when they first started bombing the Iranians, it’s back down to the point where his popularity is nil.”[2]

The church is one Kiriakou knows personally: he has said he went straight to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at six in the morning on his first day in Jerusalem in 2022, which is part of why the emptiness registers with him at all.[1]

See also

References

  1. DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas, 2026-03-1107:14 on YouTube · Transcript
  2. DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas, 2026-03-1107:46 on YouTube · Transcript

Sourced from John Kiriakou's on-record public statements. See his profile for the full body of his interviews, podcast appearances, and short-form video.