| THE LIE The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Jews in Israel spit on and harass Christians in the streets, making Israel a hostile and dangerous place for Christians to live or worship. |
| THE TRUTH Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population is growing, from 34,000 in 1948 to nearly 185,000 today. The spitting incidents highlighted by the WSJ are fringe criminal acts condemned by Israel’s Prime Minister, President, and Chief Rabbi, and perpetrators were arrested and punished. |
| BACKGROUND In August 2026, the Wall Street Journal published a piece spotlighting a surge in spitting incidents against Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City – framing Israel as a threat to Christian life in the region – while making no mention of the collapse of Christian communities across the rest of the Middle East. Wall Street Journal The Israeli Foreign Ministry pushed back immediately, stating the WSJ ‘took radical voices and extreme cases and turned them into the story’ – ignoring that Israel is the only country in the region where Christians are legally protected, growing in number, and free to worship. Israel National News On August 6, 2026, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee – an evangelical Christian who has visited Israel regularly since 1973 – said on X that the WSJ never contacted him before publishing a story about Christian life in Israel, despite his being America’s ambassador and one of the most prominent Christians with firsthand knowledge of the country. |
| TRUTH EXPLAINED Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population has grown since 1948 – rising from 34,000 to nearly 185,000 today, a more than 400% increase. Every one of Israel’s neighbors has seen its Christian population collapse or disappear. Fox News – Israel’s Christian population grows as church numbers dwindle in region Israel has formal institutional protections for Christians found nowhere else in the region: Christian ecclesiastical courts have full legal jurisdiction over personal status matters; the Protection of Holy Places Law (1967) guarantees free access to all holy sites; and the Israeli Foreign Ministry appointed Ambassador George Deek as the first full Ambassador to the Christian world – a position no other nation in the Middle East has created. The Jerusalem Post confirmed Netanyahu pledged Israel’s commitment to defending persecuted Christian communities globally in January 2026. Jerusalem Post In Bethlehem – under Palestinian Authority rule since 1995 – the Christian population collapsed from 86% in 1950 to under 10% today. When Bethlehem was under Israeli administration, Christians were the majority. The PA took over and the Christian community was effectively driven out. Fox News – Bethlehem’s Christian population dwindles In Gaza, only roughly 1,300 Christians remain among nearly 2 million Muslims. The U.S. State Department found Hamas ‘continued neither to investigate nor prosecute Gaza-based cases of religious discrimination, including reported anti-Christian bias.’ In Iraq, the Christian population fell from about 1.4 million before 2003 to fewer than 250,000 today after ISIS destroyed ancient monasteries and carried out public executions. Jewish Virtual Library Syria’s Christian population collapsed from 1.5-2.5 million in 2011 to roughly 300,000 today under Islamist pressure. Saudi Arabia bans Christianity outright – it is illegal to import or own Christian religious materials. Iran’s Christian population is 0.4%; printing Christian literature is illegal and converts from Islam can be killed. Open Doors ranks these countries among the most dangerous on earth for Christians. Open Doors The spitting incidents the WSJ highlighted are perpetrated by a small fringe – neither sanctioned nor tolerated by the Israeli state. Prime Minister Netanyahu stated Israel is ‘totally committed to safeguard the sacred right of worship and pilgrimage.’ President Herzog called the attacks ‘a true disgrace.’ Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Lau said such conduct is ‘unwarranted and certainly should not be attributed to Jewish law.’ Jewish Virtual Library – Christian Communities of Israel |
| QUOTES “The @WSJ should have contacted me about Christians in Israel. I am one. Been coming here since 1973. Israel is the ONLY country in the region where Christian population has grown from 34K to almost 200K. @IsraelMFA just appointed a full Ambassador to the Christian world @GeorgeDeek. No other nation has done that. Christians work, worship, and pray freely here. I know of no place where there is much religious diversity as there is in Israel.” – Mike Huckabee, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, August 6, 2026 |
| TAKEAWAY The WSJ focused on fringe criminal acts in Israel, acts condemned at the highest levels of the Israeli government and followed by arrests, while missing the far more important story: Christians in Israel are safe, free to practice their faith, and part of a growing community. Israel’s Christian population has grown more than 400% since 1948. Meanwhile, across much of the rest of the Middle East, Christian communities have been driven out, decimated, or severely restricted, including in Syria, Iraq, Gaza, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. The real regional story is not the persecution of Christians in Israel. It is that Israel is the striking exception. |
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