Once again, Israel has been falsely accused of persecuting Christians in the Holy Land. This time, when two Catholic priests were denied entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where they planned on leading Palm Sunday services.
The incident happened when Pierbattista Pizzaballa, along with some clergymen, tried to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday. They were stopped by police officers at the site who said that no one was allowed to enter because of precautions during the war. It appears they should have been allowed through, but the police officers did not know this.
It should be pointed out that this was not “Israel” making the decision, it was a police officer who was simply following the rules and made a mistake. Israel has apologised for this incident, and corrected it.
This was not a restriction on Christians; it was for security
French President Emmanuel Macron instantly condemned the “violation,” while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called it an “unjustified attack” on religious freedom itself. Strong words from Macron, an agnostic, and Sánchez, an avowed atheist.
This sort of condemnation was echoed the world over, with many falsely accusing Israel of restricting Christians unfairly, when in reality you could argue that the the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is getting special treatment.
During Ramadan, prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque were closed to Muslim worshippers. As Passover started this week, the Western Wall complex was empty of Jewish worshippers. The same was the case for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. However, now Israeli officials are allowing church leaders to be able to carry out limited services, even as rockets are raining down on Israel.
The real attack against Jerusalem is coming from the Iranian regime, which is firing rockets at Jerusalem. One rocket fragment fell on a building that is part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre complex.
Today, Iranian missiles rained debris over Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Jewish Quarter.
Police officers are currently on the ground securing the scenes and collecting missile debris which targeted our civilians. What we… pic.twitter.com/5BNplM0i85
— Israel Police (@israelpolice) March 16, 2026
Another caused an explosion on the Temple Mount complex.
Meanwhile, British MPs complain Israel is restricting Muslims from praying at Al Aqsa.
If Israel permitted prayer on Temple Mount and the Islamic Republic slammed a rocket into thousands of Muslims, the complaint would be “Why did Israel allow Muslims to pray at Al Aqsa?” https://t.co/oMXr0OwWt3
— Joo (@JoosyJew) March 20, 2026
And as the tweet above notes. People are complaining also about Israel restricting prayers for Muslims.
In reality, Israel is the only country in the Middle East that ensures freedom of religion for all of its citizens. And it also wants to protect Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others, from Iran’s rockets.
The Hypocrisy of Jerusalem’s church leaders is shameful
There are many Christian leaders in Jerusalem who have spoken out against Israel. Shamefully, it has become a custom for these church leaders to immediately go to the press to stir up hatred against Israel, rather than showing grace.
“Israel is seeking to exploit the war… to impose new realities and facts on Jerusalem,” said Greek Orthodox Archbishop Attalah Hanna. “[This] is an attack on Jerusalem, its identity, its history, its heritage as Christian and Islamic holy sites.”
No, it isn’t.
Bishop Atallah Hanna is a long-time anti-Zionist who supports the Palestinian cause and has politically weaponised other Christian celebrations to attack Israel.
This isn’t the first time he has spread hatred against Israel.
In December 2023, just two months after October 7th, and as Israel was in the beginning stages of conducting its just war against Hamas, the leaders of the churches in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) decided to take a political stance and cancel Christmas festivities, such as the lighting of Christmas trees and public celebrations for the birth of Jesus.
Instead, the Churches encouraged people to light their trees in the colours of the Palestinian flags and they put together an artwork comprised of barbed wire and debris to symbolise the destruction of Gaza.
That’s right. Instead of celebrating the birth of Jesus, they chose to turn Christmas into a Palestinian propaganda festival.
Instead of outcry from the Churches, it was instead initiated by them. Bishop Hanna was one of the people who decided to cancel Christmas festivities.
In 2018, they also made a political statement that got in the way of worshipping God
In protest against possible changes of tax rules on businesses and non-Church properties in Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was closed by the patriarchs of Jerusalem from 25-28 February 2018. This meant that the Church was closed completely, even to clergy, on the Second Sunday of Lent.
This decision stopped thousands of pilgrims who were visiting Israel during Lent from entering the Church.
Again, these closures were instigated by the church leaders themselves and as we see now, there were press releases and global headlines that were used to spread hatred against Israel.
So for political attacks on Israel, it’s completely fine to shut down church services and ruin the message of Jesus’s birth. But when Israel protects Christians from Iranian rockets, that’s not acceptable?
As John Haller says, “If hypocrisy was water, the world would drown.”
This all feeds in to the global hatred of Israel.
Israeli police enact the law, which applies equally to all citizens. The clergy were not blocked completely, they were momentarily stopped from entering, before later being allowed in.
Seeing some of the ways church leaders in Jerusalem have stirred up hatred against Israel is really not acceptable. We’ve read reports from secular media outlets and even Islamic sites that are using the words of these priests and bishops to stir up even more antisemitism against Israel.
The bishops and priests know full well that the law is applied fairly to all religions. Passover started this week and the Western Wall is empty. Why? Because rockets are being fired at Israel by the Iranian regime and Hezbollah.
Acting in this way is not honouring God, it is stirring up division.
The Churches in Jerusalem should be the most understanding of the situation. Sadly, because of the sin of Replacement Theology, many of these church leaders do not have a Biblical view of Israel. They don’t understand that the rebirth of Israel and the Jewish return to the land of Israel is a miracle being enacted by God Himself. They are blind to this truth even though they live in the heart of Jerusalem.
We pray that their eyes will be opened.
