Israelis spit on Christians in this Jerusalem Video.
Israeli Jews have a long documented history of spitting on Palestinian Christians, and Western Christian tourists. The victims have been clergy, tourists and churches in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Since the Jewish extremists have become part of the Benjamin Netanyahu government, Christian leaders and human rights organizations have reported the spitting has increased.
In June, a Catholic friar was assaulted in public by three Jews who spit at and verbally attacked him.
Bystanders intervened and forced the Jews to flee once the physical violence began. Calls to the police during the attack went unanswered.
The Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC) has been monitoring violence against Christians through an incident hotline operated by volunteers and activists.
RFDC documented at least 201 incidents of violence against Christians, between January 2024 and September 2025, primarily committed by Orthodox Jews targeting international clergy or individuals identified as Christians.
Harassment, including spitting, verbal abuse, vandalism, assaults and more incidents were documented. Most cases were centered in Jerusalem's Old City, located in occupied East Jerusalem.
In Beit Sahour, a predominantly Christian town just east of Bethlehem, Israeli settlers, backed by the Israeli military, bulldozed the historic Ush al-Ghurab hilltop in November to establish a new illegal settlement outpost.
In June, the Armenian Monestery and Christian holy sites was filmed being attacked by Israelis during their attack on the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of East Jerusalem, which has been attacked repeatedly.
Israel is imposing municipal property taxes on commercial properties owned by churches, while Christian leaders say this violates long-standing, historic tax-exempt status.
Israeli officials say it's a financial matter, but churches say it goes against a centuries-old tradition and shows a mounting intolerance for the Christian presence in Israel and the West Bank.
"We believe these efforts represent a coordinated attack on the Christian presence in the Holy Land," wrote the heads of the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox churches. "In this time, when the whole world, and the Christian world in particular, are constantly following the events in Israel, we find ourselves, once again, dealing with an attempt by authorities to drive the Christian presence out of the Holy Land."
On December 25, 2025, Palestinian Christians gathered at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for the first time since the war in Gaza began in 2023. Palestinian Christians are the direct descendants of the Christian community in the Holy Land dating back approximately 2,026 years.
For Christian tourists from the West, the pilgrimage to Bethlehem today is very difficult due to Israeli checkpoints, separation wall and illegal settlements.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes across the West Bank, and have been prevented from returning to their homes in the West Bank by Israel. Human Rights Watch says this amounts to war crimes and a crime against humanity.
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