Israel creates special envoy role to strengthen ties with Christian world

JERUSALEM, Israel: In a move praised by many Christian leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government recently announced that it has appointed a new ambassador to the Christian world, with the goal of better and smoother relations with the Christian world.

In an exclusive interview in Jerusalem, Ambassador George Deek told Fox News Digital about the importance the Netanyahu government attaches to its stance.

“We are seeing ethnic cleansing in the region from Christians, who today have fallen from 20 percent of the Middle East population to less than 2 percent,” Deek said. he said. “All these places that used to have thriving Christian communities have been reduced to nothing today.”

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300 churches are counted in Israel; this figure is twice the number in 1948; The Christian population increased from 34,000 in 1948 to over 180,000 today.

Deek talked about his role. “My hope is to build strong bridges between the State of Israel and Christian leaders by telling a more comprehensive story of the State of Israel, which I think is overlooked in much of the narrative we hear in the world today,” he said.

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, as of December 2025, Israel’s Christian population was approximately 184,200, representing 1.9% of the country’s total population. The community grew by 0.7% compared to the previous year.

Deek, who served as Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan for six years before taking on his current role, said most people know Israel only through their Jewish identity and are unaware of the complexity and diversity of Israeli society.

Deek said the decision, announced by the State Department in April, to appoint him to the post was motivated by three factors: First, the special connection between Christians and the land of Israel, the birthplace of Christianity.

Christian pilgrims carrying wooden crosses walk through the Old City of Jerusalem towards the Church of the Holy Sepulcher during the Orthodox Good Friday procession on May 3, 2024. (Ahamd Garabli/AFP via Getty Images)

The second is the deep historical bond reflected in the churches of the Holy Land and in Christians and Jews living under common Biblical values ​​from which Christians and Jews derived social principles such as democracy, individualism, freedom of conscience and thought.

Third is the importance Israel attaches to relations with people of all sects and religions.

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“It has a special relationship with Christian people abroad and with the Christian community in Israel, which is the only Christian community in the entire Middle East that is growing in number and is essentially developing as part of Israeli society,” Deek said. he said.

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) President Dr. “As the only country to appoint a special envoy to the Christian world, Israel has demonstrated its deep appreciation for the support of Christians and its long-term interest in preserving Christian-Jewish relations. This is especially vital at this time when antisemitism is spreading like wildfire in the poorly regulated digital space,” Jürgen Bühler told Fox News Digital.

The city of Nazareth in northern Israel and the Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation on December 18, 2021. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)

The organization has been operating in Jerusalem for 46 years and has branches and representatives in 95 countries, with a presence spanning approximately 185 countries worldwide.

It recently held an emergency summit on antisemitism that brought together more than 200 theologians, pastors and ministry leaders from more than 30 countries, as well as nearly 3,000 participants who joined online.

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Israel, he says, has the potential to serve as both an inspiration and a partner in the region and beyond, helping to ensure that people can freely practice their faith and remain in the land of their ancestors.

The annual Christmas parade in Nazareth, Israel, on December 24, 2025. (Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS-IL)

However, Deek noted that there have been a few isolated incidents in recent months involving attacks on Christian symbols and, in one case, an attack on a Christian nun.

“First of all, this was an attack on the values ​​on which this country was founded – the values ​​of tolerance and acceptance – where no one has the right to attack anyone or use violence against anyone for any reason, especially to attack a symbol of Christianity, Islam or Judaism,” he said.

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“This is absolutely unacceptable, and that is why all the leaders of the State of Israel, from the prime minister to the foreign minister and others, have unequivocally and unanimously condemned it.”

The pastor of the House of Jesus the King church in Nazareth says one of the biggest challenges facing the Christian community in Israel is the low birth rate. (Pastor Saleem Shalash)

The Israeli soldier who desecrated a cross in southern Lebanon and the man who pushed a nun to the ground and attacked her in Jerusalem are in prison. Deek said these cases show that the State of Israel takes such incidents very seriously and fully enforces the law.

At a time when antisemitic incidents have increased in Europe and elsewhere following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, Deek said the hatred that begins with Jews never ends with them, and that the same hatred that drove Jews away from Arab countries in the 20th century has been directed against other minorities in the region over the past two decades.

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“We even see this in Hamas’s expulsion of the Christian population from Gaza, which has completely disappeared from the area,” he added.

In this environment, the only place where these minorities can live safely and practice their beliefs without fear is Israel. In fact, Deek said, they not only survived but thrived in the State of Israel.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem III. Theophilos holds a ceremony at the baptismal site of Qasr al-Yahud near Jericho on January 18, 2025, as part of the Orthodox Feast of the Nativity. (Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images)

Still, he noted a well-crafted campaign by forces on the left and right, as well as Islamic extremist groups, to manipulate the Christian faith and promote alleged mistreatment of Christians in Israel.

“I see this as a personal mission to bring as many Christians as possible to visit the land of Israel, not as a political campaign…. I want them to come here and connect with their Bibles. I want them to connect with their Scriptures, I want them to connect to the roots of their values ​​by just going to these places,” Deek said.

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“And, under the protection of Israel as the custodian of the holy places of Christianity…to reconnect to these values ​​and to remember that these are the Biblical values ​​that bind Jews, Christians and all people of the book in this world,” he added.