Rossing Center presents report on life of Christians in the Holy Land

By Roberto Cetera – Jerusalem

The annual report on attacks against Christians in the Holy Land was presented on Monday evening in Jerusalem.

It was prepared by the Rossing Center, the organization for peace and interreligious dialogue that for years has monitored the escalation of violence against Christians living in Israel and Palestine through its JCJCR program (Jerusalem Center for Jewish Christian Relations).

There were 111 attacks or acts of violence recorded in 2024 against Christians, including but not limited to attacks against clergy. Most attacks targeted individuals, but 35 cases involved vandalism against churches, monasteries, and public religious signs.

In nearly all cases, the perpetrators identified were young, ultra-Orthodox Jews belonging to circles of religious-nationalist extremism.

The growing influence of religious-nationalist extremism in Israeli government policy has fostered an environment of constant threat for religious minorities, and particularly for Christians.

In a survey conducted by the Rossing Center, 48% of Christian youth under the age of 30 interviewed said they were considering leaving the region and migrating.

Around 77% of them stated that the main reason was the escalating discrimination and violence suffered by Christians, along with the overall deterioration of the socio-political situation.

One section of the report analyzes general statistics from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. In 2024, Israel’s population reached 10 million. Of these, 7.7 million are Jews, and 2.1 million are Arabs.

Christians living in Israel number just 180,000—80% of whom are Arab. Arab Christians make up 7% of the total Arab population in Israel.

The city of Jerusalem hosts 591,000 Jews, accounting for 61% of the population, while Arabs number 385,000. Of these, only 13,000 are Christians—meaning the ratio between Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem is 96% to 4%.

Compared to the previous year, the Jewish population grew by half a percentage point, while the Arab population declined by the same margin—consistent with the ongoing “Judaization” of the city promoted by the government.

The Israeli government is currently approving a plan for new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem, which includes the construction of around 11,500 new housing units.

At the same time, 29% of the inhabitants of the Holy City identify as “Orthodox Jews,” meaning they now represent more than half of Jerusalem’s Jewish population.

These trends, highlighted by analysts at the Rossing Center, point to a deliberate and progressive Judaization of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

The trend found its legal framework in the so-called “Basic Law” (Israel does not have a constitution but around twenty fundamental laws known as Basic Laws), specifically the 2018 Basic Law on “Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People.”

This law marked a regression in terms of interreligious inclusiveness compared to the 1992 Basic Law, which was notably titled “Human Dignity and Liberty.”

The 2018 Basic Law has had limited effects, but it provides a worrying framework of division among the population—dividing citizens into first- and second-class—which may be inspiring the climate of violence perpetrated by extremist factions.

Another issue concerns the tax system applied to “minority” religious denominations, which are granted exemptions only for places of worship, though not for schools, youth centers, or pilgrim guesthouses.

Numerous legal disputes are now open between municipal authorities and Christian communities, above all the Custody of the Holy Land. The same is true regarding property rights.

A final issue that places Christians in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee and the north, in a position of extreme difficulty is the spread of violence linked to organized crime, rooted in parts of the Arab population.

Last year alone, the mafia-related activity resulted in about 230 murders. Christians in these areas, who are peaceful and law-abiding by nature, are thus subjected to yet another source of tension and hardship.