The lands where Christianity was born are becoming its graveyard. Across the Middle East and North Africa in 2025, Christians now comprise just 3% of the population, according to new research from the Pew Research Center. A century ago, they made up 13%. In Iraq and Syria, ancient communities that survived Roman persecution, Islamic conquest, and Ottoman rule have been decimated in a single generation. In Lebanon, once the crown jewel of Arab Christianity, young believers no longer ask whether to leave but where to go. Egypt’s Copts, the largest Christian population in the region, watch their share of society shrink year after year. From the Tigris to the Nile, the faithful who trace their heritage to the apostles themselves are disappearing.
Yet there is one place in the Middle East where this story runs in reverse. One nation where Christian numbers are rising, where churches are built rather than bombed, where believers thrive in freedom rather than flee in terror. That nation is Israel.
Since Israel’s founding in 1948, the Christian population has increased from approximately 34,000 to more than 185,000 in 2025. Christians in Israel enjoy full citizenship, serve in parliament, hold government positions, and live in economic prosperity. They have among the highest educational attainment rates in the country. Churches operate freely. Christian holy sites are protected. Nazareth, the town of Jesus’s upbringing, is a thriving city where Christians and Muslims live under Israeli sovereignty, not under siege.
The contrast with Israel’s neighbors could not be starker. In the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria, the Christian population has plummeted. Bethlehem, once 86% Christian in 1948, is now less than 12% Christian. Intimidation, land seizures, and Islamic pressure have driven thousands away. In Gaza, under Hamas rule, the Christian community has collapsed to fewer than 1,000 people. Persecution is systematic. Churches are attacked. Conversions are coerced. In 2007, a Christian bookstore owner was murdered by terrorists. The message was clear: Christians are not welcome.
Across the broader Middle East, the pattern repeats with numbing regularity. In Iraq, sectarian violence and the rise of the Islamic State drove Christians from Mosul, Qaraqosh, and the Nineveh Plains—lands they had inhabited since the first century. Syria’s civil war scattered ancient communities from Aleppo to Damascus. Lebanon’s demographic collapse, accelerated by the Syrian refugee crisis, has turned Christian political influence into a memory. Even Egypt, where Coptic Christians number in the millions, sees church bombings, forced conversions of girls, and legal discrimination that makes building a church nearly impossible.
The Gulf states present a different picture, but not a hopeful one. Christian populations in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have grown, but only through the importation of labor from Asia and Africa. These believers worship under sufferance, not right. They cannot proselytize. They cannot become citizens. They exist as economic tools, not members of society. When oil prices fall or politics shift, they will be expelled without ceremony.
The regional death of Christianity extends to Nigeria in West Africa, where Christians comprise nearly half the population but face systematic slaughter. A 2025 European parliamentary briefing documented over 7,000 Christians killed in targeted attacks in just the first seven months of the year by Boko Haram, Islamic State affiliates, and local militias. Nigeria ranks among the world’s largest Christian populations and simultaneously among its deadliest places to practice the faith.
When anti-Israel activists claim that Israel is an apartheid state or oppresses minorities, they reveal either ignorance or malice. The facts demolish their claims. Christians vote in Israeli elections. They serve in the Israel Defense Forces voluntarily in growing numbers. They attend Israeli universities at rates higher than those of the general population. They own businesses and property. They celebrate religious festivals publicly.
The disappearance of Christians from the Middle East represents more than demographic decline. It marks the erasure of living memory connecting the modern world to Christianity’s birthplace. When the last Christian leaves Mosul or Bethlehem falls entirely to Islamic control, something irreplaceable vanishes. Israel alone has prevented this catastrophe within its borders.
The Christians of the Middle East are vanishing. But not in Israel. Not in the land that remembers what oppression looks like and refuses to inflict it on others. This is not an accident. This is the fulfillment of an ancient commandment meeting modern necessity. It is tzedek—righteousness—in action. And it stands as a rebuke to every nation in the region that claims tolerance while practicing persecution.
