Last night we held another parliamentary talk, one that left me deeply unsettled. What began as a routine discussion on Christians in the Holy Land quickly transformed into one of the most sobering conversations I’ve had within these walls about the systematic and worsening persecution of Christians in the Holy Land.
The speakers assembled were formidable: the Lord Bishop of Norwich Graham Usher brought his theological gravitas and pastoral concern, Sir Edward Leigh MP delivered his characteristic blend of conservative politics and humanitarian principle, while top journalist Melanie McDonagh provided the sharp analytical edge that cut through political niceties to expose uncomfortable truths.
Sir Edward opened the talk, delivering perhaps the evening’s most striking intervention. He acknowledged what many in Westminster prefer to avoid: the situation has deteriorated markedly, with Christian communities, particularly in the West Bank, facing daily violence and attacks, while the Israeli state consistently fails to intervene.
“Christians are no longer viewed as part of their ancestral lands, but are subjected to harassment and worsening violence,” Leigh stated bluntly. His words carried extra weight, given his wealth of parliamentary experience and as the Father of the House, having first been elected in 1983.
Leigh drew on his experience of visiting the Holy Land and “many conversations” with those on the ground. He told the well-attended meeting that “We cannot ignore the pattern to the violence,” adding that the Government and FCDO had “catastrophically failed Christian minorities time and again.”
The Bishop of Norwich opened with a powerful mix of statistics and personal stories that silenced the room. In 2024 alone, more than a hundred documented incidents targeted Christians in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. These weren’t minor disputes: they ranged from verbal harassment to physical assaults on clergy and systematic vandalism of churches and holy sites. Thirty-five attacks specifically targeted religious properties, sacred spaces that have stood for centuries.
The Bishop’s voice cracked slightly when he talked about the decline of the Christian minority in the Holy Land, pushed and hounded out.
The meeting heard that many young Christians are seriously considering leaving the region entirely. “We’re witnessing a exodus of Christianity from its birthplace,” he said quietly, “in Gaza the Christian population has fallen to just 650-750”.
McDonagh brought the evening’s sharpest analysis, dissecting the perpetrators behind these attacks. Her investigations revealed that most identified attackers are ultra-Orthodox Jewish men associated with religious nationalist groups. More troubling still, her sources within various church hierarchies describe a systematic shift rather than isolated extremism.
“The climate has fundamentally changed,” she said, “it’s not individual extremists anymore. There’s a growing sense that the state is either looking the other way or, worse, setting the tone.”
She documented specific incidents that chilled the room. In one incident Jewish settlers targeted Taybeh, the Christian town east of Ramallah. They set Palestinian cars ablaze, spray-painted racist graffiti, and torched both the ancient Christian cemetery and the fifth-century St. George Church.
The Taybeh attack exemplified the systematic nature of this persecution. McDonagh’s reporting revealed that the Orthodox Patriarch and Latin Patriarch issued a rare joint statement describing such attacks as the primary threat to continued Christian presence in the region.
The Bishop added that another shocking incident occurred when Israeli forces bombed Gaza’s only Catholic church, the Church of the Holy Family, killing three people who were sheltering from the conflict. This attack contradicted assumptions that religious sites would be protected by diplomatic convention or international law.
Bishop Usher also highlighted international responses, including the Lutheran World Federation Assembly’s public statement calling for accountability from Israel regarding human rights violations and international law breaches. The Assembly demanded an end to illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and equal rights for all inhabitants.
Beyond direct violence, McDonagh revealed subtler persecution methods. Property disputes involving the Custody of the Holy Land: overseeing many Christian religious sites: remain embroiled in legal battles with municipal authorities over taxes, land rights, and zoning laws.
While synagogues often benefit from broader tax exemptions, Christian institutions struggle under deliberate administrative pressure. This bureaucratic harassment serves as economic warfare against the Christian presence.
The evening’s most uncomfortable moment came during our discussion of Westminster’s response: or lack thereof. Despite documented evidence of systematic persecution, parliamentary action remains limited to occasional debates and strongly-worded letters, with the panel all agreeing that this was unlikely to change without pressure from President Trump, “the only person that Benjamin Netanyahu cares about, outside his cabinet,” said McDonagh, as she highlighted the “extreme” nature of the Israeli Government due to the electoral system, which had squandered the cautious optimism and hope after the Oslo Accords had been signed
The Bishop went on to emphasise the theological implications. He said that we’re witnessing the potential elimination of Christianity from its birthplace. This isn’t merely about religious freedom adding that it’s about preserving two millennia of continuous Christian presence in the Holy Land, not just the buildings and holy sites, but the “living stones” of Christian faith.
As the evening concluded, we grappled with practical next steps. McDonagh suggested only pressure from the Whitehouse or a change of Government would improve the situation.
The Bishop advocated for increased Church of England engagement with Middle Eastern Christian churches, providing moral and material support to besieged communities. He urged all those in attendance to pray for peace in the region, to support groups like Embarce the Middle East and lobby their MPs about the issue.
The meeting revealed uncomfortable truths about Western silence on the persecution of the Christian minority through inaction and challenged the absurd binary idea as McDonagh put it, “That you are either for the State of Israel or against it – for Hamas, or against them,” adding it is possible to deplore the actions of Hamas, a terrorist organisation, while condemning the actions of Israel.
Last night’s discussion crystallised a stark reality: Christianity faces potential extinction in its birthplace while Western governments, including our own, fail to do more to challenge the “systemic” persecution and settle violence.
The voices raised in that parliamentary room: episcopal, political, and journalistic: converged on one conclusion: immediate international intervention is required to preserve Christian communities that have maintained a continuous presence in the Holy Land since Christ’s time.
Without decisive action, we risk witnessing the final chapter of a two-thousand-year Christian story in the very land where it began. The question remaining is whether Westminster possesses the political will to act before that story reaches its tragic conclusion.