Are there many Christians in Israel?

Question

Are they mostly Arab Christians? How many are Russians or Americans? Can Christians become citizens? Are they mostly Catholic? How are they treated by Jewish Israelis?

Answer 1

Mostly Arabs, but many Ethiopians and Russians.

They can become citizens automatically if they have Jewish family members, or they can be naturalized.

Some are Catholic, mostly Maronite. They are treated very well by their Jewish neighbors, much better than the Muslims treat them in the Palestinian Authority, like in Bethlehem.

Bethlehem (which is not in Israel but is part of the Palestinian Authority) had been primarily a Christian city, but in recent years the "friction" with the Muslims there has resulted in many Christians leaving.

A death threat in Bethlehem came on simple white fliers blowing down the streets at dawn. A group calling itself "Friends of Muhammad" accused a local Palestinian Christian of selling mobile phones carrying offensive sketches of the Muslim prophet.

The message went on to curse all Arab Christians and Pope Benedict XVI, still struggling to calm Muslim outrage from his remarks on Islam.

While neighbors defended the merchant -- saying the charges in the flier were bogus -- the frightened phone dealer went into hiding, feeling less than satisfied with authorities' conclusion that the note was probably a harmless rant.

Now the dealer is thinking of going abroad.

Call it part of a modern exodus, the steady flight of the tiny Palestinian Christian minority that could lead, some predict, to the faith being virtually extinct in its birthplace within several generations -- a trend mirrored in many dwindling pockets of Christianity across the Islamic world.

Answer 2

The poster above cites a low-ball estimate of the number of Christians in Israel. Due to immigration of Christian Russians of partial Jewish ancestry and of the Falshamura from Ethiopia, the estimated Christian population (not including several hundred thousand Christian foreign workers) is ~250,000.

Christians here are mostly Eastern Orthodox or Protestant, but you will find some Catholics too.

Christians, to my knowledge, cannot become citizens (at least not easily). It's not about the Israeli government being racist so far as it is about preserving Israel as a democratic Jewish homeland.

I think it depends on the Christians. Most Christians- so long as they don't prosletyze- are treated very well by Jewish Israelis, although, there Russian and Ethiopian Christians who took advantage of loopholes in Israel's immigration laws, whom I sense are viewed with quite a bit of disdain.

EDIT: To the poster below, Ranjeeh. No other country in the world has to contend with the same existential issues as Israel does. Most reasonable, non-bigotted people would understand Israel's dilemma and not make a stink about it. A more appropriate question would be, how are Christians treated by the Arabs? In Saudi Arabia? In Egypt? In the Palestinian territories? In Iraq?

Answer 3

A total of 144,000 Christians live in Israel, of whom, 117,000 are Arab and 27,000 are new immigrants, according to a report released recently by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) ahead of Christmas. In 2003, Christians constituted 2.1 percent of Israel's population.


information like this can easily be found online.
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Answer 4

The Christians are native Palestinians they lived in the holy land before the creation of the state of Israel and most are part of the Palestinian refugees.

Answer 5

It doesn't look like they will have much opportunity for equality or emancipation, at least according to one of the respondents to your question:

"It's not about the Israeli government being racist so far as it is about preserving Israel as a democratic Jewish homeland."

I suppose its ok to talk about homeland, but taboo to talk about the fatherland!

Answer 6

Many.