Anti-Christian Sentiment and Persecution in the Holy Land

Ever since the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, the West has been constantly exposed to the rise of anti-Semitism. While this is tragic, equally displeasing has been the increase of Christian persecution in the Holy Land at the hands of Israeli nationals. 

One would think in the State of Israel, the only country in the Middle East where democracy reigns, our Christian brothers and sisters would be free from any religious hatred. Yet, under the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the exercise of individual freedom has subtly and steadily been curbed for those who are not Jewish.

Christians have seen a “disturbing rise” in attacks, including spitting, physical harassment, damage to property and cemeteries, and disruption of services, especially in the Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. Last year, for instance, of the acts of violence against Christians that made headlines were the desecration of the Protestant cemetery at Mount Zion and the vandalization of a statue of Jesus inside the Franciscan Church of the Flagellation on Via Dolorosa. This year, the most notable incident occurred on February 3, when Fr. Nikodemus Schnabel, Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition, was attacked by two young Jewish nationalists.

In July 2015, after the Benedictine Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes was severely damaged by a fire set by Jewish fundamentalists—for which one Jew was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison—Christians still enjoyed some sort of protection from Israeli state officials.

Now, however, as Fr. Schnabel said, 

We monks have to live under a government, one of whose members is an extreme Christian hater. I want to make this very clear: The Minister of National Security [of Israel] was the defense lawyer of the Jewish terrorists who carried out the arson in [the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes]. He did not behave like a professional lawyer. It was a really traumatizing experience. How should I feel secure and safe under this government?

Part of the rise in anti-Christian sentiment, if not the reason, as reported by The Times of Israel, has been the fervent growth of Israeli ultra-nationalism, which calls for a theocratic Jewish state. And, I would argue, such bigotry is sustained by the Talmud, which has a contempt for Jesus Christ and His followers.

The Talmud, the Hebrew word for “learning,” is a collection of writings that covers the full spectrum of Jewish law and tradition, compiled and edited between the 3rd to 6th centuries A.D. They are essentially the oral traditions of the Torah, that is, the Pentateuch—the first five books of the Old Testament. 

The principal text of the Talmud is the Mishnah, a gathering of succinct teachings written in Hebrew, redacted by Rabbi Judah the Prince in the years following the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in  A.D. 70. This is the Judaism that is practiced today by Jews, contrary to the observances before and during the time of Christ. The latter focused on the offering of the Karbanot (sacrifice) in the Temple. Per the discourse with the Samaritan woman, the Lord prophesied that the time would come when worship in the Temple would ultimately cease (John 4:21-26). Likewise, as explained by Dr. Matthew A. Tsakanikas, “in no way can the establishment of a modern State of Israel be confused with the fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham because Jesus is the true fulfillment of those promises.” 

The Talmud has nothing but ridicule and antipathy toward Christianity. For example, it  not only states that the Blessed Mother was a prostitute who conceived our Lord Jesus Christ out of wedlock, it sees Jesus as a magician who “performed sorcery…incited the masses, and subverted the masses, and caused the Jewish people to sin.” Even worse, it details how He is punished in Hell “with boiling excrement.” 

Judaism of course rejects Jesus as the Messiah, who, as “proudly” stipulated by the notable Professor Peter Schäfer in his book Jesus in the Talmud, was “rightly and legally executed because he was a Jewish heretic.” As attested by Scripture, His early followers, like St. Stephen (the protomartyr) and the apostle St. James, were also murdered by the Jews:

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (Acts 12:1-3)

It is a historical fact that many Jews, during the Middle Ages, were horribly oppressed by Christians—both Catholics and Protestants—as with the blood libel allegations, by which Jews were wrongly accused of sacrificing children during the Passover “to obtain blood for unleavened bread.” It is, however, at least understandable in the historical context of the time why Pope Gregory IX, in 1239, when alerted to the intolerable material in the Talmud by a convert from Judaism to Christianity, ordered the ecclesiastical and secular authorities of Europe to confiscate, examine, and, if the apostate’s charges proved true, burn the Talmud. 

It is unbecoming, to say the least, of a people who historically almost faced extinction during the Holocaust to behave in such a discriminatory manner toward Christians—and not just Christians. They should remind themselves of how Catholic priests, nuns, and laypeople played a role in the rescue of hundreds of thousands of Jews from being murdered by the National Socialists. Yet, like Christian converts from Islam in Muslim regions in Israel, Jews who follow Christ equally risk rejection, social pressure, and occasional violence from ultra-Orthodox Jews and organized anti-missionary groups.

The Holy Father, in a message sent to Madagascar’s National Eucharistic Congress, which took place last week, said: 

Once we have encountered Christ in adoration, once we have touched and received Him in the Eucharistic celebration, it is no longer possible to keep Him to ourselves; instead, we become missionaries of His love to others.

This invitation—to experience the fullness of who God is—is our mandate, even at the expense of our own well-being, just as it was for our Lord. In the end, Christianity will triumph. But it will come at an even heavier price.

[Image: Face of desecrated statue of Jesus in the Church of the Flagellation (Old City of Jerusalem)]