Israel destroyed Christian presence in Palestine: Church Affairs committee
The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine says Israel has “destroyed” the Christian presence in Palestine amid ongoing strikes on churches and related institutions in the Gaza Strip, directly refuting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim of protecting Christians.
The committee issued the remarks in a statement published on Sunday on its official Facebook page, which included a photo of an Israeli tank positioned in front of the Church of the Nativity during the 2002 invasion of the West Bank.
The statement came in response to Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations on Friday, in which he claimed that Israel is the only protector of Christians in West Asia.
"In a nearly empty UN General Assembly hall, war criminal and ICC fugitive Benjamin Netanyahu once again spread lies about Palestinian Christians,” the committee said, noting that many delegates walked out in protest as Netanyahu began his address during the 80th session.
“The truth is clear: Israel’s colonial policies of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide have destroyed the Christian presence in Palestine,” the statement added.
The committee noted that “before the Nakba of 1948, Palestinian Christians comprised 12.5 percent of the population in historic Palestine (the West Bank, including al-Quds, Gaza, and 1948-occupied territories). Today, only 1.2 percent remain in historic Palestine, and just 1 percent in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.”
Since October 7, 2023, at least 20 Palestinian Christians have been killed amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
To date, the onslaught has claimed the lives of over 66,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, leaving the besieged Gaza Strip in devastation.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his minister of military affairs, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
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