Hell no, Israel is not the "guardian of Christianity!"

Israeli forces suppress Bethlehm's 'Santa Claus march' with tear gas. Photo credit: egyptindependt.com

Crime Minister Netanyahu told the UN recently that Israel is the only place in the Middle East where Christians feel safe. He even asserted that. He even has the nerve to claim that Israel is the guardian of Christianity. "No, Israel is not the guardian of Christianity," and Netanyahu is a habitual liar. He denied the IDF has thousands of children in Gaza even though the IDF admitted recently that over 83% of people killed in Gaza were civilians. And who can forget in 2015 when he suggested it was not Hitler's idea to slaughter Jews, but it was rather the idea of Jerusalem’s then-Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini who met with the Nazi leader in Germany in the early 1940s. A bird flies and Bibi lies!

Yesterday, Israeli Police attacked Christians celebrating Christmas in Haifa's Wadi Nisnas neighborhood. On Monday evening, the Police broke into a cultural center where a Christmas show was on based on a "noise complaint," destroyed musical equipment and arrested 3 participants, including one dressed as Santa Claus.

Middle East reported yesterday that "Christmas should be the busiest time of the year for the shopkeepers of Manger Square but the birthplace of Jesus is now a ghost town."

The Giacamans own Christmas House, one of the main shops on Bethlehem's Manger Square selling Nativity figurines, festive ornaments, rosaries, crucifixes and other religious paraphernalia, all ornately carved in their nearby workshop from local olive wood.

But for the past two years, the doors of Christmas House have remained closed, Jack Issa Giacaman told Middle East Eye. “You don’t see anybody around. Unfortunately, during the last years Israel converted Bethlehem to a big prison,” said Giacaman, who currently manages the family business.

USA Today reported that US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, an outspoken and dedicated Christian supporter of Israel, fired off a threatening letter to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel recently, threatening to publicly announce that Israel no longer welcomes Christian groups to Israel.

He further added Israel “is instead engaging in harassment and negative treatment toward organizations with long-standing relationships and positive involvement toward Zionism and friendship to the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” the US envoy wrote in a missive that was leaked to Hebrew media, quite possibly by Huckabee’s office.

Huckabee also said he would encourage American Christians to reconsider any plans to visit Israel if VISA issues were not resolved and that he would take reciprocal action against Israelis seeking VISAs to the US.

Christians constitute 1.9% of Palestine’s total population

The Christian population in Palestine is one of the oldest in the world and was once composed of large numbers of Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and Protestant Christians.

As of 2022, Christians constituted approximately 1.9% of Palestine's total population, numbering around 185,000 individuals.

Christian populations in the West Bank have nearly disappeared for many of the same reasons they are disappearing due to harassment, violence, discrimination, and a lack of economic opportunities. Christians face harassment and violence from Israelis, both settlers as well as the IDF and the Israeli police in the West Bank.

Pope Francis was ‘furious’ over anti-Christian attacks by Israelis.

In 2023, Pope Francis was reportedly ‘furious’ amid a spike in anti-Christian attacks by Israelis this week. According to Middle East Eye report, "Israelis were spotted spitting in the direction of Christians in occupied East Jerusalem and elsewhere in Palestine." Days later, Itamar Ben Givr, the national security minister defended the attacks as "not criminal."

It is even more disturbing that Ben Givr, who oversees the police, said in an interview with Army Radio that spitting at Christians was “not a criminal case” and that not everything “justifies an arrest”. He further said that spitting on Christians is "Jewish tradition." Basically, no condemnation or expression of outrage about the humiliating treatment or dignity of Christians in Palestine.

Shamefully, despite the aforementioned facts, Evangelical Christians continue to be a key supporters of Israeli Crime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his policies.

Mahmoud El-Youseph is a Palestinian freelance writer and retired U.S. Air Force veteran. He writes on U.S. foreign policy, Middle East affairs, and justice. Email: elyousseph6@yahoo.com

Sources:

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/christmas-christians-bethlehem-existe...

https://facebook.com/reel/25044522185230839

https://facebook.com/verdi.harb/posts/pfbid02RkhzfbLrGSX3zwBdiRRLxR8oqC9...

https://facebook.com/mohamed.slam.14/posts/pfbid0PDPGAek9Aa3eJxzjVqbfuWo...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/10/senate-confirms-...