The Lie:

• Israel’s Christian communities face growing violence from Jewish settlers, and Christians are no longer safe in the Holy Land.

The Truth:

• Christians live and worship freely in Israel — but Christians living under the rule of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, their communities are collapsing.

Background:

• A Catholic News Agency report alleged rising danger for Christians in Bethlehem due to Israeli “settler” attacks. Yet multiple studies and firsthand accounts show that the real crisis facing Christians in the Holy Land is occurring under Palestinian and Hamas rule — not in Israel.

Truth Explained:

• Christians suffering in Bethlehem live under Palestinian Authority rule, not Israeli rule — and under that rule their population has collapsed from 86 % in 1950 to about 10 % by 2017 (AllArab News, Dec 24 2024).
  
• In Gaza, Christianity shrank from 5,000 practicing Christians, before Hamas rule to roughly 1,000 by October 2023 (Jerusalem Post, Dec 23 2024).
  
• The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs describes this as “Christian demographic erasure,” citing discrimination, harassment of clergy, and forced conversions under Islamist leadership (JCPA Report, 2024).
  
• In contrast, Israel’s Christian population continues to grow steadily, reaching 180,300 citizens (1.8 % of the population) in 2024 — a 0.6 % increase from the previous year, with most Arab Christians living peacefully in Nazareth, Haifa, and Jerusalem (JNS, Dec 25 2024).
• While Western outlets blame Israel for “endangering Christians,” Christian leaders inside Israel — including Arab Christians like Yoseph Haddad — publicly refute that claim, noting that Israel is the only country in the region where Christianity is growing (Yoseph Haddad, X, Oct 2025).
  

Quotes:

• “I’m a Christian Arab Israeli and son of a priest from Nazareth. While you spread ridiculous conspiracies about my country, I live in the only country in the region where Christianity is growing.” — Yoseph Haddad, X (Post), Oct 2025
  
• “Demographics don’t lie. We are witnessing a significant 80–90 % decline in the Christian population in major cities.” — JCFA Research Team, Jerusalem Post, Dec 23 2024
  
• “The ongoing neglect of Christians under PA rule could lead to the disappearance of Christianity from the place where it emerged.” — Dr. Edy Cohen, BESA Center, May 27 2019

Takeaway:

• Israel protects Christians — Hamas and the Palestinian Authority persecute them.

Sources:

Jerusalem Post – “Christian population declined 90 % under Palestinian Authority and Hamas” (Dec 23 2024); AllArab News – “New study on why Palestinian Christians are abandoning Bethlehem” (Dec 24 2024); BESA Center – “The Persecution of Christians in the Palestinian Authority” (May 27 2019); https://www.jns.org/israels-christian-population-grows-to-180300-on-christmas-2024/