Israel's Christians lean on faith and allies as harassment fears grow
Christians in Israel, under 2% of the population, face rising harassment. They find resilience through faith and new allies.
In the narrow alleys of Jerusalem's Old City, a Catholic nun now walks to work with a Jewish volunteer by her side. The escort is a new precaution after another sister was violently attacked in the area, a stark reminder of the tensions gripping the region.
Christians make up less than two percent of Israel's population, and many say wearing visible signs of their faith has begun to invite hostility. The harassment has intensified as multiple conflicts have polarized the country since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
Yisca Harani, an Israeli scholar who tracks anti-Christian incidents, recently witnessed a teenager spit behind a nun. She chased the girl and filed a police complaint. "Most of the complaints that I file are an online complaint," Harani said, noting that follow-ups often end with cases closed for lack of a perpetrator.
Despite the incidents, there are signs of progress. Interfaith leaders point to improved policing and prosecution of such cases. They also welcome the appointment of George Deek, Israel's new special envoy to the Christian world, who is himself Greek Orthodox.
"We believe that every incident against Christians is immoral, illegal, and should be prosecuted," Deek said. "But I refuse to let those incidents tell a false narrative of my society at large."
For many, the path forward is one of resilience. Rev. Alberto Pari, secretary of the Custody of the Holy Land, described the shift after October 7 as a turning point. "Everything that we built, we have the feeling that everything was destroyed," he said. His advice: "Try to forget the past and start a new future, because if we continue going back, each one to his past, with their wounds and their sufferings, we will never create a new future together."
In northern Israel, where crime has also plagued Christian communities, continuing faith traditions is itself an act of defiance. For many Christians and Jews, protecting coexistence in the Holy Land is a moral imperative rooted in their own histories of persecution.