Across the Middle East, Islamic regimes or terrorist groups are stamping out Christian communities and Christian influence from cities that appeared in the Bible. There is one exception: the democratic Jewish nation of Israel.
Between the Islamic civil war in Syria and the current dictatorship under the genocidal Syrian President Abu Mohammad al-Golani (also known as Ahmed al-Sharaa) and his terrorist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, the Christian population of Syria has almost vanished. Within living memory, Lebanon was Christian; now it is mostly Muslim. In Iran and Iraq, ancient communities of Christians have shrunk almost to nonexistence. In Turkey, where Constantinople was once a glory of the Christian world, the Muslims have stolen Christian heritage and Christian lands. In Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and numerous other countries in the Middle East, Christians have disappeared or are barely hanging on. Gaza’s and Bethlehem’s Christian populations have dropped under Palestinian Authority control. This is the legacy of Islamic takeover. Israel stands out in the Middle East because its Christian population is actually growing. Christians can visit the holiest sites of our religion because of the Israeli government.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, 2023. Have a blessed Holy Thursday https://t.co/Xro6kCdfD7
— Catherine Salgado (@CatSalgado32) April 2, 2026
Israel’s Foreign Ministry shared an article in August investigating the phenomenon of the Christian population shrinking everywhere in the Middle East except Israel. “Terrorism and regional conflicts, persecution, extremism and political instability have dramatically induced emigration and reduced historic Christian communities across much of the region,” the ministry explained. “While Christians made up about 14% of the total population across the wider Middle East region (from Egypt to Iran) 120 years ago, today Christians account for just 3% of the Middle East's population and the erosion continues even more intensely.”
From the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Mary of the Resurrection in Abu Ghosh, in Israel’s Judean Hills, we wish Christians around the world a peaceful Sunday. The abbey played an important role in the revival of Hebrew-speaking Catholic life in Israel through Abbot Jean-Baptiste Gourionor its remarkable 12th-century frescoes.
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) July 26, 2026
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The Israeli Foreign Ministry then provided some statistics on a few countries:
Lebanon, established under the French Mandate as a state in which Christians, particularly Maronites, would play a leading political role, has undergone a serious demographic change. Christians now comprise approximately 28% of the population, while Muslims account for roughly 68%.
Before Syria's 2011 civil war began, around 1.5 million Christians, roughly 10% of the population, lived throughout the country. Recent estimates suggest that only one third or 450,000 remain.
In Iraq, one of Christianity's oldest continuous communities has suffered an even steeper decline, falling from approximately 1.5 million before 2003 to fewer than 150,000 today.
That is the legacy of Islamic conquest. In contrast, the Jewish reclamation of ancient Israel from the Arab colonizers was a boon for Christians, too. Israel protects both Jews and Christians from the dozens of hostile Muslim countries across North Africa and the Middle East.
On Easter, thousands gather inside Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the Holy Fire ceremony. Every December, Christmas fills the streets of Nazareth with worshippers and pilgrims from around the world. Throughout the year, believers from every continent are baptized in the waters of the Jordan River, renewing a tradition that stretches back to the baptism of Jesus.
These are not museums, they are living communities.
Across much of the Middle East, churches have watched their congregations shrink.
In Israel, churches remain filled with worshippers.
According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, approximately 184,200 Christians now live in Israel, with the community continuing to grow through natural increase.
Read More Here: Exclusive: War in Israel and Healing at Christmas in Nazareth
Some Christians will talk about how much better it would be if Christians were in charge of Israel. Leaving aside the fact that God promised Israel as a perpetual possession to the Israelites from the river to the sea (Joshua 1:4, Genesis 17:8), this is, practically speaking, a terrible idea. Just look at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where control is divided between multiple different factions of Christianity, including Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Armenians. They never stop fighting with each other, and sometimes the Israeli government has to intervene. I am Catholic, but I acknowledge that the current Vatican would never have the determination against terrorism that the Israeli government has to have. It is actually better for Christians to have Jews in charge of Israel.
Christians have called the Middle East home for thousands of years. Their future here matters. ✝️ As ancient Christian communities across the region shrink, @GeorgeDeek shares why he believes Israel tells a different story, and why it’s one he is proud to represent. Swipe through. 🇮🇱➡️ #christiansinisrael
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) August 11, 2026
And leaving aside a few random and extremely over-reported altercations between Orthodox Jews and Christians, the main thing Christians in Israel really need to fear is Islamic violence. Read here about an Arab Christian in Israel afraid of Muslim retaliation. And that is a problem that Western nations fuel by constantly siding with and funding the Palestinian terrorists who keep encroaching on more and more Israeli land. If Israel kicked all the Palestinians out of Gaza, Judea, and Samaria, a lot of these problems would dissipate.
Israeli Jews have just as much to fear from Muslim terrorism, if not even more, than Israeli Christians do. And only the Israeli government stands against the unending Islamic terrorism that Middle Eastern Christians face.
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