Attacks against Christians in Israel have almost doubled this year, according to a new report from an Israeli rights monitor looking at data from the first half of 2026.<\/p>\n
The Israeli Religious Freedom Data Centre (RFDC) and its Hotline for Documenting Harassment against Christians said that between April and June this year, there were 83 attacks against Christians in Israel or Israeli-occupied territories, compared with 44 in the first quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The majority of the attacks took place in Jerusalem and included 46 instances of spitting, four physical assaults, and eight verbal attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs in previous reports, the high number of spitting incidents remains particularly striking. During this quarter, 47 incidents involved spitting, accounting for 56% of all recorded forms of harassment,\u201d the RFDC said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent years, these acts have increasingly taken place openly, in broad daylight, and at times in a deliberately demonstrative manner. In several cases, perpetrators even explained to Hotline volunteers \u2013 and on camera \u2013 why they believed such behavior was justified,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
Dr John Newton, the Communications and Research Manager for the UK office of Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which supports persecuted Christians, told Crux Now that these findings were \u201cdisheartening.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe report that attacks on Christians in Israel doubled in the second quarter of this year makes for disheartening reading,\u201d Newton said, adding that it \u201cechoes findings by the Jerusalem-based Rossing Center \u2013 one of ACN\u2019s project partners in the region \u2013 which found hostilities towards Churches and Christians had been growing since 2023.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir research found these attacks are largely carried out by young, marginalised ultra-Orthodox Jewish men with hardline nationalist views. But even though attacks \u2013 most of which involve vandalism or spitting at priests or nuns \u2013 are growing we must remember that this is the behaviour of a very small minority,\u201d Newton also said.<\/p>\n
Newton went on to emphasise that \u201ceven among the ultra-Orthodox such behaviour is very unusual: most members of the community would never consider vandalizing a church in their wildest dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
A rise in anti-Christian sentiment<\/p>\n
The RFDC report found that there was an increase in attacks during Jerusalem Day and the Flag March, an event that commemorates the capture of East Jerusalem and the Old City during the 1967 Six-Day War.<\/p>\n
The report also said that attacks are frequently taking place in public spaces, such as the widely reported attack on a French nun last April.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile some incidents involved individuals acting alone, moving in groups appeared to encourage spitting and similar acts,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
In light of this, Newton said it was vital that Israeli authorities work with Israel\u2019s Christian communities to come up with a solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would urge authorities to work closely with Israel\u2019s Christian Churches to find a solution to these rising attacks, and encourage people around the globe to pray for all our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land,\u201d Newton said.<\/p>\n
Separately, last April there was also an outcry when an image was circulated online of an Israeli soldier smashing the head of a statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer in Debel, southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Two Israeli soldiers subsequently received 30-day military prison sentences after the Israel Defense Forces launched an investigation, concluding that \u201cthe soldiers\u2019 conduct completely deviated from IDF orders and values.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, expressed both \u201cdeep indignation\u201d and \u201cunreserved condemnation\u201d in a statement signed by him and the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land.<\/p>\n
In another report, the RFDC also found that an estimated 181 incidents of \u201charassment targeting Christians, Christian symbols, and Christian institutions\u201d were committed in Israel in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attacks against Christians in Israel have almost doubled this year, according to a new report from an Israeli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[4212,4213,37,42,4214],"class_list":["post-196534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-catholic","tag-independent","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-vatican"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116885166943540071","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}