By: Aryeh Savir
Israel strongly pushed back against allegations presented by the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem about a threat to their existence in the Holy Land, saying they are “baseless, and distort the reality of the Christian community in Israel.”
The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem released last week a “Statement on the Current Threat to the Christian Presence in the Holy Land,” stating their supposed concern that Christians in Israel have “become the target of fringe and radical groups.”
“Since 2012 there have been countless incidents of physical and verbal assaults against priests and other clergy, attacks on Christian churches, with holy sites regularly vandalized and desecrated, and ongoing intimidation of local Christians who simply seek to worship freely and go about their daily lives,” the statement alleged.
“These tactics are being used by such radical groups in a systematic attempt to drive the Christian community out of Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land,” the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem claimed.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the claims and stated Monday that the Christian population in Israel “enjoys full freedom of religion and of worship, is constantly growing, and is part of the unique fabric of Israeli society.”
The Christian population in Israel and one of a few in the Middle East that is flourishing and not shrinking.
The Foreign Ministry noted that since the day it was established, the State of Israel has been “committed to freedom of religion and worship for all religions, as well to ensuring the freedom of access to holy sites.”
“The statement by Church leaders in Jerusalem is particularly infuriating given their silence on the plight of many Christian communities in the Middle East suffering from discrimination and persecution,” the Foreign Ministry noted.
“Religious leaders have a critical role to play in education for tolerance and coexistence, and Church leaders should be expected to understand their responsibility and the consequences of what they have published, which could lead to violence and bring harm to innocent people,” the statement cautioned.
The Heads of Church released their contentious statement days after Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal visited the city of Nazareth ahead of Christmas. The two toured the Nazareth town hall and met with representatives of the Christian Orthodox community.
In his remarks in Arabic, Herzog said that “I stand here as the President of the State of Israel and call on all our brothers and sisters of faith around the world, and especially in the Middle East—Christians, Muslims, Jews, Druze, and Circassians. May we always remember that we all pray to the same God and that we all want lives of peace and partnership based on understanding and fraternity. Only thus, out of our deep shared faith in the Creator, and no less so, out of our faith in humankind, shall we manage to create for ourselves, for all of humanity, the good and promising future that we deserve.”
(TPS)
