Selective Outrage: The WSJ [Margherita Stancati] Distorts the Reality of Christians in Israel

Throughout the past decade, the Christian community across the Middle East has been targeted by hatred, terrorism, and overall persecution. This has resulted in a massive decrease in the Christian population throughout the Middle East, which today constitutes 3% of the region’s population, compared to constituting around 14% in 1900.

In Israel, the opposite trend is seen. In 2025, Christians in Israel accounted for 1.9% of the country’s population, and the population had increased by 0.7% from 2023 to 2024.

Yet when it comes to the international media, stories of Christian hatred in Israel are more frequently the aspects of the Christian experience that makes it to the front page.

The Wall Street Journal‘s “Spitting Attacks Show Rise of Anti-Christian Hate in Israel” exemplifies exactly this obsessive attempt to portray Israel as purposefully targeting the Christian population.

Margherita Stancati’s piece portrays a dark version of Israel, where incidents of anti-Christian hate “are becoming routine in Jerusalem.”

Specifically, these acts are perpetrated by young Jewish Israelis spitting on Christians. When these incidents occur, as they unfortunately do, they are outright condemned by the vast majority of Israelis as well as the government. When caught, the perpetrators are arrested, and the offenses are prosecuted.

Portraying small extreme fringes of any society as being representative of the society at large is misleading and not an accidental oversight when writing an article on the Christian experience in Israel.

More than 200,000 Christians from all walks of life live in Israel with full rights and access to the same services, institutions, and protections as any other group in Israel. It is for this very reason that the Christian population trend in Israel is the exact opposite of the trend seen in the rest of the Middle East.

Among the Christians living in Israel is US Ambassador Mike Huckabee. If The Wall Street Journal was looking for a story that would resonate with American Christians, why selectively exclude one of the country’s most vocal and influential Christian supporters of Israel, if not to reinforce a predetermined and false conclusion about Christian life in Israel?

It is abundantly apparent that Israel continues to invest in protecting minorities, both within the country and, more broadly, throughout the Middle East. With the intention to further strengthen ties between Israel and the global Christian community, the Israeli government appointed its first-ever special envoy to the Christian world in April 2026.

This is in direct contrast to the treatment of Christians throughout the rest of the region.

Even in the West Bank in areas under Palestinian Authority control, the same trends of Christian persecution are seen. In Bethlehem, for instance, the Christian population has declined from 86% in 1950 to 10% today, as a result of Islamic extremism and persecution.

This trend has also been seen outside of Israel’s borders. During the height of ISIS’ reign, Christians were either forcefully converted to Islam, forced to pay taxes, or executed. In Egypt, blasphemy laws are used overwhelmingly against Christians. In Iran, Christians are regularly jailed in an attempt to repress minorities. And in numerous Muslim-majority countries, Christians are regularly harassed, detained, or otherwise unable to legally practice their faith in public.

This dark reality of Christian life in the Middle East is not reflected in Israel.

In a region where Christian communities have been decimated by persecution, Israel stands out as a country where the Christian population is growing, Christians enjoy the same rights and protections as other citizens, and the government is actively working to strengthen ties with the Christian community.

The Wall Street Journal had an opportunity to examine the Christian experience in Israel in its full complexity as a major global religion being practiced openly in a country where it is the minority. Instead, it chose to elevate a false narrative that does a greater injustice to the Christians living in full freedom in Israel.

Israeli Christian leader

Life in Israel as for Christians are the best, actually life that Christian can ever imagine in the Middle East compared with other Christians in Iraq and Syria and Lebanon. Here in Israel, we live in a safe country with order of law with democratic regime and state that allow us equality, freedom of speech, movement of worship of any other movement and and and freedom that we that you actually enjoy in Western societies, we have it here in Israel.

> Our community uh to tell you exactly how it lives here in the gallery is first of all is like any other Arab and non Arab or Jews or non-Jews. We as Aramaic Christians, we live here in a very beautiful life. We enjoy the high education that Israeli system allow us. We have many people involved and integrated within the education system. We have a deacon of the University of Haifa. She's a Maronite Christian. Actually, her name is Mouna Maroun.

We have the first judge of the Supreme Court. His name is Salim Juban is also from our community. We have people uh professors and doctors in high levels and positions in different institutions and uh hospitals and as well as we have many officers ladies and uh females and male in the IDF and in security services that are managing Jews actually and not the opposite as a Christian minority of 2% sent 188,000 Christians. We have so many high level and high rank positions in the IDF as well from the Christians who are willing to defend this state of Israel because it is a freedom and because it allow them the security and safety that they don't enjoy in any other Arab and Islamic regime...

This state is better for Christian than any other state. and polls that we did in the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association show us that 99% of Christians prefer to live under is under Jewish democratic state of Israel than living under Islamic Arab regime or state. This is an evident that the Christians are happy. And by the way, when Christians want to move from an Arab town inside Israel, like Nazareth for example, because of their Muslim neighbors oppression to them, they move to a Jewish towns within Israel like Haifa, like Noagal and other towns because under Jewish they enjoy the life and freedom and not with living with Arabs..

> The challenges are like all Israeli citizen challenges. It's making sure that we have a good future for all of us that the stability in the region is uh guaranteed that no wars will be again and again repeated with maybe Iran with other Arab and Islamic regimes that always threaten the state of Israel. This actually is a danger for all of us as citizens of the state and these are challenges by itself for our future in this region...

>Well, these commentators uh that actually talking about us, about me, about my community, about our society as a Christian native people in the land and the holy land in Israel actually harming us and destroying the beautiful coexistence that we enjoy here in Israel and they are endangering the Christian actually in Arab countries and inside Israel. too because while we are living here in a beautiful life in Israel, thriving Christian community, the other persecuted Christian under is under Arab and Islamic regime are actually needing this voice of Tucker Carlson to speak for them and he's not doing so and he's exposing only so-called people who got paid to speak propaganda and lies against Israel and not exposing the danger and the persecution and the oppression and the silent genocide that Christians are facing under Islamic and Arab regimes in Lebanon, in Syria and Iraq, in Egypt, in Jordan, under Palestinian authority, in Bethlehem and others that are controlled by Arab Islamic regime of the Palestinian Authority. That's what Tucker Carson should expose and that's what they need him to expose if you want to help the Christians in the Middle East.

https://youtu.be/s13aoHOjOH0?si=Sni2xDWMYSbPEBTK

I trained Israeli troops on our equipment for six months and then worked in Israel for essentially a year related to oil/gas development.

I am Catholic. The citizenry was people I worked with in business were very helpful in getting me plugged into a Catholic Church and were very protective of my Sunday’s (a regular workday in Israel; weekend is really Friday/Saturday).

Wonderful country and people.

Literally my only complaint is their permanent bureaucracy is an impenetrable socialist entrenched mess openly hostile to getting anything done. It’s like if the DMV fat butted women from here staffed every government agency. Importing parts (and especially things like explosive torpedoes for oil development) was damn near impossible and couldn’t have been done but for direct orders by cabinet members — and then very grudgingly and with open hostility.

But that had zero to do with being Catholic and everything to do with rank and file bureaucrats being lazy, hostile, asshole communists.

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