Orthodox Christian worshippers attend the Holy Fire ceremony amid eased coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, May 1, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Israel has rebuffed accusations by Church leaders that “fringe, radical groups” are attempting to drive Christians out of the Holy Land as “baseless” and a distortion of reality.

In an op-ed in the UK’s Sunday Times, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem Hosam Naoum called a statement by Church leaders in Jerusalem about frequent attacks by fringe, radical groups on Christians an “unprecedented and urgent alarm call” and the steady stream of Palestinian Christians leaving the Holy Land “a historic tragedy unfolding in real time.” In the joint opinion article, the archbishops urged governments and authorities to take immediate action to “reverse the trend.”

In a statement late Monday, the Israel government said that the allegations made by Jerusalem’s Church leaders “distort the reality of the Christian community in Israel.”

“Religious leaders have a critical role to play in education for tolerance and coexistence, and Church leaders should be expected to understand their responsibility and the consequences of what they have published, which could lead to violence and bring harm to innocent people,” stated Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lior Haiat.

According to the Dec. 13 statement by patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem, local authorities and law enforcement agencies have failed to curb the “countless” physical and verbal assaults against priests and other clergy by fringe, radical groups. They also cited incidents of vandalism and desecration of holy sites and church properties.

Meanwhile, the archbishops noted that overall the number of Christians in Israel has been growing.

“The imminent reopening of St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Jaffa, which has been closed for more than 70 years, is encouraging. But in east Jerusalem, the central place for pilgrimage and the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — where Christ is believed to have been crucified — there is a steady decline,” they stated.

About 182,000 Christians live in Israel, of whom about 77 percent are Arab Christians. Christians make up 1.9 percent of the country’s population, according to preliminary estimates by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics published on Tuesday. The Church leaders said that they believe that fewer than 2,000 Christians are in the Old City of Jerusalem.

“The Christian population in Israel — including in Jerusalem — enjoys full freedom of religion and of worship, is constantly growing, and is part of the unique fabric of Israeli society,” Haiat said.

“The statement by Church leaders in Jerusalem is particularly infuriating given their silence on the plight of many Christian communities in the Middle East suffering from discrimination and persecution,” he added.