“In Israel, the number of Christians is solid because there is freedom of religion,” Pastor Petra Heldt, a prominent Christian scholar who has lived in Israel for 40 years, told Fox News Digital. “This is the case in Muslim-majority countries. in the region. “
A rite of baptism at Qasr al-Yahud on the Jordan River, Israel. According to biblical tradition, this is the place where Jesus baptized. (Shalev Shalom/TPS)
CHRISTIANS IN AFGHANISTAN SUBJECTED TO TORTURE AND PERSECUTION BY RELATIVES: WATCHDOG GROUPS
Christian communities throughout the Greater Middle East have disappeared or even disappeared. Before the U. S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, a Christian population of 1. 5 million lived in the country. The old Christian network now shrinks to approximately 200,000 to 300,000 out of a total population of more than 40 million.
Fox News Digital recently reported on a British report that “just being a Christian is enough to get you arrested” in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Iranian regime has undertaken a persecution of evangelical and Catholic Christians.
IRAN HAS THE FASTEST GROWING CHURCH IN THE WORLD, EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE NO BUILDINGS, AND IT’S RUN MOSTLY BY WOMEN: DOCUMENTARY
He argued that there is “absolute freedom of worship” in Israel and that this is another from countries like Turkey, where Christians are “persecuted and go through difficult times. The same thing is happening with Iraq,” he said.
A rite of baptism performed in the Jordan Valley, Israel. (Shalev Shalom/TPS)
The picture is not entirely rosy in Israel, but observers say it is nothing compared to neighboring countries. In January, two suspected teenagers vandalized a Christian cemetery in Jerusalem. The attack was condemned by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which called the attack “immoral. “act” and an “affront to religion”.
The Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem, Hosam Naoum, called it a “manifest hate crime. “The British consulate called it the latest in a series of attacks on the Christian network in the holy city of Jerusalem.
Heldt said the Israeli government is targeting criminals for desecrating tombstones.
“In Muslim-majority countries, this [prosecution] would be the case,” he added.
Israeli police announced Monday that fees were charged to two teenagers for smashing 28 headstones at Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery.
Heldt said that “the killing and persecution of Christians in Nigeria and Egypt occurred in Israel. “Radical Islamists have sought to annihilate Egypt’s long-suffering Coptic Christian network and Nigerian Christians in Nigeria’s Muslim-dominated northern region.
IRAN REPRESENTATIVES INVOLVED IN ‘INVISIBLE JIHAD’ AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN MIDDLE EAST, REPORT WARNS
Pastor Saleem Shalash of Jesus the King Church House in Nazareth echoed Pastor Heldt’s importance of freedom in Israel.
“As an Arab pastor, I would rather live in Israel,” Shalash said. “The freedom we have in Israel, we don’t have in the most productive Arab countries.
Pastor Saleem Shalash at the house of Jesus the King Church in Nazareth, Israel. (Pastor Saleem Shalash)
“We can practice our confidence without persecution. And if there is persecution, we can call the police and they will attend to us. “
Pastor Shalash serves a congregation of a hundred others in Nazareth, which is home to Jesus’ formative years.
Nazareth has the largest Arab Christian population (21,000), and Haifa follows with 16,700. Jerusalem ranks third with 12,900 Arab Christians.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SUMMIT ILLUSTRATES BIPARTISAN EFFORTS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
Reacting to a report that the Christian population has grown in Israel, Shalash said, “This is news.
The challenge facing the Christian network in Israel, he noted, is a lower birth rate than other communities.
“They [Christians] don’t have large families,” Shalash said. Normally, Christians have two or three children. “
Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jews) in Israel have a fertility rate of 6. 64 young people consistent with women, according to Israeli government figures. Secular Jewish Israeli women have a fertility rate of 1. 96 young people.
Shalash said one of the demanding situations facing Israel’s Christian network is the low birth rate. (Pastor Saleem Shalash)
Although there are radical tendencies among some Jews and Muslims, Shalash said that in Israel “they can live together. They can locate Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze and live in harmony without persecution and practice their faith. “
In a report released Tuesday through Open Doors, a foreign NGO committed to rescuing persecuted Christians, several countries in the Middle East and North Africa were ranked in the maximum 10 sensible countries “where Christians face the utmost persecution and severe discrimination,” according to the report.
Iran ranked eighth, while Yemen ranked No. 3. North Korea’s communist state named the worst offender and Somalia ranked No. 2.
The Palestinian territories have been included in the Open Doors review list of 76 countries where Christians are persecuted. The Palestinian territories ranked 57th. Israel is not on the list.
Lisa Pearce, interim executive director of Open Doors US, told Fox News Digital in a statement: “The ongoing political and socioeconomic crisis makes things difficult for many others in Gaza and the West Bank. There is great pressure on Arab Christian families, and many will leave if given the opportunity. Being treated as second-class citizens with poor employment prospects, many Christian parents will feel they have few options if they need their children to have a future.
The decline in the number of Christians in Palestinian-controlled territories in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has been documented over the years.
In October, Edy Cohen, an Israeli expert on Arab affairs, tweeted a video of a Palestinian attack on a church in eastern Bethlehem in the West Bank.
Tourists at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, November 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Jerusalem Post Palestinian Affairs reporter Khaled Abu Toameh reported on the March arrest of evangelical pastor Johnny Shahwan through the Palestinian Authority (PA) for normalization with the “Zionist entity” (Israel). The PA detained Shahwan for 40 days because he met with a member of the Knesset and closed his ministry, Beit Al-Liqa in Beit Jala.
FAITH GROUP TO MARCH IN WASHINGTON TO RAISE AWARENESS OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
Fox News Digital sent questions to the press that the Palestinian Authority got no reaction at the time of the press.
Israel’s colorful Christian history has attracted the visit of American Christian scholars. On Jan. 9, Passages, a program that brings Christian university scholars to Israel, celebrated its 10,000th participant.
“We are at an exclusive moment in history, where Jews and Christians can combine for the first time and create positive and impactful experiences,” said Rivka Kidron, co-founder of Passages.
“Now, more than ever, Jews and Christians will have to unite around our not unusual values and stand up for what is right in this world. Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is on the rise, and I think we love each other more than others. never. Very fortunate to be here and live here right now, and share it with you. “
Passages is a program that brings Christian university scholars to Israel. (Mattanah DeWitt)
Passages said it “offers Christian scholars with leadership potential a new, cutting-edge technique for finding Holy Land. “
Passages said it had 450 participants from Hillsdale College, Florida State University and Oklahoma Baptist University.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Participants find the roots of their biblical religion firsthand and come face-to-face with the modern miracle that is Israel and have the opportunity to develop their reports with more leadership training, with the goal of building their Christian religion and bridges of friendship with the Jewish community,” Passages said in a press release.
Andrew Mark Miller of Fox News contributed to this report.
Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe for Fox News Digital. Benjamin has written articles for the Wall Street Journal, The Jerusalem Post, Foreign Policy, Haaretz, Forbes, and the New York Post. You can Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal.