Christian leader in Israel explains how Bethlehem, the birth city of Jesus, was emptied of Christians by Palestinians:
“Christians were 80-90% of the population in Bethlehem under Israeli rule until 1995.
After the Oslo agreement, Palestinian Authority took over. The Christian… pic.twitter.com/Q7gqmoOwXg— Dr. Maalouf (@realMaalouf) March 5, 2026
JCFA The Christian population in areas governed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas has plummeted drastically by up to 90% in some communities, a new study suggests, attributing the decline to violence, discrimination and economic hardships that threaten the survival of Christianity in its historical heartland.
In Bethlehem, Christians frequently face violence and intimidation. Muslim clans use force to resolve disputes, leaving Christian families defenseless.7 In 2022, a Muslim man was accused of harassing young Christian women at the Forefathers Orthodox Church in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem. Soon after, the church was attacked by a mob of Palestinian men who hurled rocks at the building while congregants cowered inside, with several injured in the attack.8
In April 2022 Palestinian evangelical pastor Johnny Shahwan was arrested by the PA on charges of “promoting normalization” with Israel. PA security forces did nothing to counter this. In October 2022 an unidentified gunman shot at the Christian-owned Bethlehem Hotel after a video on social media associated the hotel with a display that included cardboard cutouts of a Star of David and a Menorah. No arrests were made in connection with the shooting.9
Added to this is the institutional persecution committed by PA police against Christians. As one member of the Protestant clergy under the PA explained: “Christians feel unprotected due to the failure of the PA police to intervene on their behalf in confrontations with Muslims.”10 When subjected to harassment and worse by Muslim extremists, Palestinian Christians usually opt not to report incidents to the PA police.
Christian Palestinians also face significant bias when seeking justice in local courts. Discrimination within the legal system leaves them vulnerable to exploitation, perpetuating their marginalization. Christians encounter obstacles in accessing justice for crimes committed against them, leading to a culture of impunity. This lack of legal recourse discourages reporting of abuses and perpetuates victimization.12 Christian women are especially vulnerable to legal discrimination.13
Besides the physical property desecration of Christian religious sites in the Palestinian territories including incidents of graffiti and arson attacks,14 Christians in Gaza and the West Bank also frequently face personal harassment for practicing their religion. Muslim extremists often disrupt Christian religious celebrations, public festivities face threats, and participants fear for their safety. Christmas trees are often burnt by Islamists, as was the case, in the village of Zababdeh in 2015.15
Christian families are leaving Bethlehem due to systemic socio-economic hardships and instability, discrimination, and harassment (including of clergy) by Muslim Palestinians and the Islam-dominated Palestinian Authority. The mass exodus of the Christians risks undermining the survival of Christianity in its birthplace. 6
Personal religious freedom is also curtailed. Converts from Islam to Christianity in the West Bank face threats and extreme pressure to give up their new faith. In Gaza, their situation under Hamas rule is so dangerous, that they practice their Christian faith in utmost secrecy,18 with some Christian men growing beards to blend into the general Muslim population.19
On the flip side, Palestinian Christians have reported being forcibly converted to Islam and abducted, raising serious concerns about religious freedom violations. In 2012, the Orthodox Christian Church in Gaza claimed that armed Muslims kidnapped five Christian Palestinians to compel their conversion to Islam. In 2016, Bishop Alexios of Gaza “confirmed that the Christians who converted to Islam did so under threats, coercion, compulsion, and force.” His church submitted a formal petition to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to investigate matters, which received no response.20
Christian businesses are systematically boycotted and extorted, marginalizing Christian families and pushing them toward financial ruin, with many leaving for survival.35
As early as 2000, in a Friday sermon broadcast live on PA TV from a Gaza mosque, Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya declared: “Allah the Almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them.”39 This type of institutionalized social ostracization and harassment against Christians by segments of the Muslim majority creates a hostile environment, compelling many to leave.40
Palestinian Christian leaders are often pressured to adopt anti-Israel rhetoric to fit the broader political narrative, deflecting attention from their own discrimination. They have also encouraged Western Christians to abandon post-Holocaust theology and adopt a supersessionist (replacement theology) view that blames Jews and Israel.41 Palestinian Christians are pressured to blame Israel for their plight, while Muslim leaders deny their role in persecution.
that is were the old saying comes from, it goes like this…stop the thief then he has my knife in his back.
The fact Tucker Qatarlson and Candace Owens express ZERO concern over the issues of Christians living under the PA boot heel, much less the 100,000 Nigerian Christians butchered by moslames this century only serve to show their corruption by islamic petrodollars as well as their selective, and dishonest sanctimony over Israel’s treatment of Christians.
Here’s my big FU to the both of them.
As I think a lot of us know that Islam is Satanic, Satan the father of lies, it is hard for them to tell the TRUTH.
Liberals need to learn history before opening their mouths.
The life of Dhimmis ain’t pretty, to say the least.