There are many positive lessons the Middle East could learn from Israel's treatment of its Christian population

The Israeli embassy responds to an article by Mira Bar Hillel

Dear Sir,

Mira Bar Hillel claims that the percentage of Christians in Israel has fallen since 1948.  Clearly, immigration since Israel's independence has boosted the percentage of Jews in relation to other faiths. Yet such a focus on percentages distorts the fact that Israel today is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population is actually growing, due to freedom of worship in the region's only stable democracy. At a time when Christians sadly are fleeing many parts of the Middle East (450,000 have fled Syria, and 900,000 have fled Iraq), their numbers continue to grow in Israel, where the Christian population has more than quadrupled from 34,000 at the time of Israel’s independence, to 158,000 today. There are many positive lessons that the region could learn from Israel's treatment of its Christian community, and we hope this will be possible in the future.

Kind regards,

Yiftah Curiel

Spokesperson

Embassy of Israel