Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs Condemns Netanyahu’s False Claims on “Protecting Christians”
The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs Condemns Netanyahu’s False Claims on “Protecting Christians”
The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine unequivocally condemns the recent statements and publications issued by the Prime Minister of the occupation government, which advance misleading claims and seek to distort reality by portraying Israel as a “protector of Christians.” These assertions constitute a deliberate attempt to whitewash a well-documented record of grave, systematic violations against the Palestinian people—particularly Palestinian Christians and their holy sites.
Claims of “freedom of worship” and the “flourishing of Christian life” are nothing more than hollow propaganda. They stand in stark contradiction to verified facts on the ground, the testimonies of local churches and clergy, and the findings of the United Nations and international human rights organizations.
Palestinian Christians, like all Palestinians, endure daily repression: arbitrary permit regimes that bar access to Jerusalem and its churches—especially during holy seasons—forced restrictions on religious rites and processions, and violent suppression of celebrations, including assaults in Jerusalem’s Old City and the banning of religious marches, as witnessed in Nazareth. These are not isolated incidents; they reflect an entrenched policy of intimidation.
Occupied Jerusalem has become the epicenter of escalating, organized attacks by settlers against Christian clergy, including spitting, threats, physical assaults, and the desecration of religious symbols—carried out under the protection of occupation forces and met with near-total impunity. Arbitrary arrests and summonses targeting clergy and Christian activists persist, alongside the desecration of Christian cemeteries, particularly in Jerusalem, in flagrant violation of human dignity and universal values.
Beyond these abuses, the occupation continues to strip Palestinian Christians of basic civil rights through discriminatory laws that deny family reunification and residency, compounded by legal and institutional discrimination against Arab Christians within Israel. Systematic incitement and media targeting of churches and clergy further fuel hatred and normalize attacks.
On the ground, violations continue unabated: the demolition of Saint Barbara’s Church and the refusal to rebuild it; land confiscations in Khallet Sama’an and the al-Makhrour area of Beit Jala; and the deliberate geographic and economic strangulation of Beit Sahour, Bethlehem, and Beit Jala. In the town of Taybeh, repeated arson attacks on Christian-owned properties directly threaten the safety and presence of the community. In Gaza, the targeting of churches resulted in the killing of Christian civilians who sought refuge within their walls during Israel’s ongoing genocidal war—an atrocity that cannot be ignored.
The imposition of unjust taxes and financial pressures on churches and their properties constitutes a blatant breach of the historic status quo and international agreements. This is accompanied by systematic discrimination in education and services, particularly against Christian schools in Arab cities—part of a broader, organized policy of repression, dispossession, and discrimination.
The painful decline in the Palestinian Christian population—especially in Bethlehem—is not the result of vague “regional circumstances,” as claimed. It is the direct outcome of occupation policies: land theft, home demolitions, economic suffocation, and the denial of fundamental rights—policies that force Christians and Muslims alike into displacement and forced migration in a clear attempt to empty the land of its indigenous people.
The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs categorically rejects the exploitation of religious holidays—foremost among them Christmas—as propaganda tools to legitimize occupation and its crimes. There is no genuine religious freedom under occupation. Christmas in Palestine will remain a message of truth, justice, and peace, inseparable from the suffering of our people and their inalienable right to freedom, independence, and an end to occupation.
We call on churches and church institutions worldwide, religious leaders, human rights organizations, and all people of conscience to reject these false narratives; to listen to the voice of the local churches in Palestine; and to fulfill their moral and legal responsibilities to protect the Palestinian Christian presence, safeguard holy sites, and hold the occupation authorities accountable for ongoing violations.
Truth cannot be erased by statements, and justice is not achieved through rhetoric. Justice requires ending the occupation, holding perpetrators accountable, protecting holy sites, and preserving the authentic, indigenous Christian presence in Palestine. Israel’s attempt to present itself as a “protector of religious minorities” while instrumentalizing Palestinian Christians before the international community is a discredited narrative—exposed by facts and lived reality.