JERUSALEM (RNS) — This past spring, a case of a Jewish man assaulting a Catholic nun in Jerusalem made international headlines. And earlier this month, the Religious Freedom Data Center reported 88 incidents of anti-Christian harassment in Israel so far in 2026 — 63 of them between April and June.
The Israeli nongovernmental organization, which runs a hotline documenting such incidents targeting Christians, recorded 180 incidents in all of 2025 — up from 107 in 2024, putting this year on track for a continued spike in anti-Christian harassment. The majority of cases recorded involved vandalism and graffiti at Christian cemeteries, crosses and statues, as well as spitting and verbal abuse against Christians in Jerusalem, especially in the Old City.
For Christians living in the country who spoke with RNS, these types of incidents, almost always perpetrated by young Jewish extremists, are becoming increasingly normalized. While Christian clergy and the Israeli activists who track such harassment said the vast majority of Israelis consider such behavior abhorrent, they also accused law enforcement of largely ignoring victims’ complaints until they turn into an international scandal.
The Rev. Firas Abedrabbo, a Roman Catholic priest of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said he was the victim of such an incident on June 2. He recalled that as he was leaving the Old City “three young religious Jewish men approached, spat in my direction, made insulting gestures, shouted remarks and walked away laughing.” The harassment continued …