Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat denied the accusations made in a statement by church leaders in Jerusalem, in which they warned of the “threat to the Christian presence in the Holy Land” by Israeli extremist groups.
In Twitter remarks, Haiat said that the accusations “are baseless and distort the reality of the Christian community in Israel.”
A statement issued by the Archdiocese of Jerusalem last week, on behalf of the patriarchs and heads of churches in the city of Jerusalem, warned of the “current threat to the Christian presence in the Holy Land.” It also denounced extremist groups that seize property in the Christian quarter “with the aim of curbing the Christian presence.”
The statement of church leaders in Jerusalem, published by The Times of Israel, said that such groups “often use covert dealings and intimidation tactics, to expel residents from their homes,” reducing the Christian presence and disrupting the pilgrimage routes between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
In the statement, the church leaders called for an “urgent dialogue” with the authorities of Israel, Palestine and Jordan.
In response, Haiat said: “The State of Israel has been committed, since the day it was established, to freedom of religion and worship for all religions, as well as to guaranteeing freedom of access to holy sites.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the statement of church leaders in Jerusalem “is particularly infuriating given their silence on the plight of many Christian communities in the Middle East suffering from discrimination and persecution.”
“Religious leaders have a critical role to play in education for tolerance and coexistence, and Church leaders should be expected to understand their responsibility and the consequences of what they have published, which could lead to violence and bring harm to innocent people,” it added.
In Great Britain, Father Francesco Patton, Custodian of the Holy Land of the Catholic Church and Custodian of the Christian Holy Places in the Holy Land, wrote in an opinion piece for the British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph: “Our existence is shaky, and our future is in danger.”
Patton wrote that in recent years, the lives of many Christians have become “unbearable because of radical local groups with extremist ideologies.”
