Sheila Kufert: Christian populations are small in the Middle East

To The Daily Sun,

Jon Paul was right, there are Christians in Lebanon; they refused to fight for Hezbollah against Israel. Paul and Janet Simmons do not differentiate Gaza from Israel. There are Christians in Gaza but not many, Hamas pushed them out or killed them. No places they mentioned are in Gaza. Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem, Nazareth in the Galilee, at-Tawani south of Hebron, Beit Sahir and Sderot are Jewish. Bethlehem's Christian population has fallen to less than 20%. Nazareth's to 10%. Christianity declined in Lebanon from 53% in 1932, to 32% in 2024; Syria went from 14% in 1943, to 1% in 2024; Jordan from 20% in 1930, to 2% in 2024; Iraq from 12% in 1950, to 2% in 2024.

In 2009, Palestinian territories had about 50,000 Christians mostly in the West Bank, and about 3,000 in the Gaza Strip. In 2022, only 1,100 Christians remained. In the West Bank, they're concentrated in and around Jerusalem.

Israel’s Christian community grew by 1.4% in 2020, with 84% satisfied with life in Israel per the Central Bureau of Statistics. Christians make up 7% of Israel’s Arab population, and 76.7% of Christians in Israel are Arab. The largest Arab Christian population centers are Nazareth (21,400), Haifa (16,500) and Jerusalem (12,900). Christianity is the third largest religion in Israel, after Judaism and Islam. At the end of 2022, Christians were 1.9% of the Israeli population, approximately 185,000.

In Iran, most Christians are not citizens. Muslims who become Christian are subject to fines, lashing, and prison terms — judges can impose the death penalty. Iran was No. 9 on Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List, annual ranking of 50 countries where Christians face most extreme persecution.

In 2023, the country scored 0 out of 4 for religious freedom, ranked as eighth worst in the world to be Christian.

Sheila Kufert

Sanbornton