The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has rejected a Wall Street Journal report alleging that anti-Christian attacks are increasing in Israel, arguing that Christians generally live and worship freely in the country. Huckabee, who said he has worshiped in Israel since 1973, pointed to the nearly 200,000 Christians living there, including senior military officers, diplomats and other prominent professionals, as evidence of Israel’s religious diversity. Israel’s Foreign Ministry similarly accused the Journal of exaggerating isolated incidents and portraying the views of a small number of extremists as representative of Israeli society.
Huckabee acknowledged that incidents of Christians being spat on in Jerusalem’s Old City do occur, but described them as rare and condemned the behavior. Israeli police recently arrested six people following an incident at an Armenian church. The Wall Street Journal, however, reported that its journalists and witnesses documented roughly a dozen spitting incidents during a May march through the Old City. Researchers cited by the newspaper also recorded 107 anti-Christian incidents during the first six months of 2025, more than double the number during the same period in 2024. The report further cited survey data showing a growing number of Israelis view entering a church as forbidden or Christianity as a form of idolatry. Rights advocates argue that such trends demonstrate a broader problem that cannot be dismissed as the actions of a few individuals.
