Israel’s Christians rely on faith and allies as they fear rising harassment

MOUNT TABOR, Israel (AP) — Sister Mayela wears her black veil and habit as she walks to work near where another Catholic nun was violently attacked in Jerusalem’s Old City — but she’s now accompanied by a Jewish volunteer for protection.

Many Christians in Israel, who make up less than 2% of the country’s population, are worried visible signs of their faith will draw harassment, which has increased as multiple conflicts grip the region.

“I’m scared after the sister was beat up,” said Sister Mayela, a Mexican nun who’s lived in Jerusalem on and off for more than two decades. “Before, one could live with more confidence. Some people spat, some said hi. Now we have to live trusting in God.”

She finds resilience in her faith — and in support from Israelis like the volunteers. Even that, though, didn’t prevent a teen from spitting right behind her as they passed a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews recently. The teen said she was only clearing her throat, but the volunteer reported it to police.

Incidents like that are among the challenges for Christians in Israel, particularly since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, plunged the country back into war and polarization. But interfaith leaders and researchers are encouraged by better policing and prosecution as well as the recent appointment of a government envoy to the Christian world, who is Greek Orthodox.

In northern Israel, many Christians say they feel the state isn’t doing enough to protect them from crime because they’re not Jewish. But those concerns didn’t stop groups of Catholics from joining a recent joyous pilgrimage on Mount Tabor, where the Gospels say Jesus appeared transfigured alongside the Jewish prophets Moses and Elijah.

“In a world where darkness is filling the hearts of people, we need to diffuse God’s light to other people,” said Sister Muna, the nun who led one youth group.

For many Christians and Jews, protecting coexistence in the Holy Land is a moral imperative after their own long histories of religious persecution.

“I don’t want Christians to go out of their house in Jerusalem … and have fear,” said Yisca Harani, the Jewish Israeli educator and activist who escorted Sister Mayela. “I’ve gone through this 2,000 years in my Jewish history. I’m not going to let that happen.”

In the Old City, Jewish men in black hats and tzitzit tassels, Muslim women in hijabs and Christian priests in flowing robes walk past each other daily in the maze of stone alleyways. Many are headed to pray at the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. These are some of the most sacred sites respectively for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and they are close to each other.

“If you stroll around in your habit, sooner or later you’ll get some spitting next to you,” said the Rev. Alberto Pari, who leads interfaith dialogue and Christian-Jewish relations as secretary to the Custody of the Holy Land, the Catholic order ministering to holy sites across the region. “But it’s important not to generalize, because that unleashes antisemitism.”

Religious Freedom Data Center, the organization that Harani founded to track harassment of Christians, has recorded a near-tripling of incidents in Jerusalem from four years ago to the last three months recorded — about one a day now — virtually all by Jewish religious nationalists.

A Jewish man from a settlement in the occupied West Bank was indicted in the violent attack on the nun in April. The French Biblical and Archeological School of Jerusalem where the nun is a researcher expects “effective prosecution at the criminal and civil levels,” said the school’s director, Friar Olivier Poquillon.

Among those reaching out to Catholic leaders to denounce the attack and offer support was Ambassador George Deek, Israel's new envoy tasked with building what he calls the “special relationship” between Christians and the country, to both keep Christians safe and partner on issues like fighting antisemitism.

“We believe that every incident against Christians is immoral, illegal and should be prosecuted. That’s exactly what we are going to do,” Deek told The Associated Press. “We want to make sure that Israel continues to prosper and grow as a place where Christians can not only survive, but they can thrive.”

Around the time that the nun was attacked, two other incidents drew global condemnation. An Israeli soldier smashed a crucifix in a family garden and another stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon, where the military is fighting Hezbollah militants. The soldiers involved received military prison sentences.

Most Israelis find harassment unacceptable. But Jewish religious nationalists, particularly uneducated young men, remain a threat, said John Munayer of the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue, an interreligious organization in Jerusalem.

Their hostility to Christians is grounded in the history of persecution of Jews in Christian-majority European countries, in faith practices they see as idol-worshipping, and in a “general intolerance” for anyone who’s not Jewish near sacred areas like the Western Wall, Munayer said.

Then there’s the overhanging trauma of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, since most local Christians in Israel and the occupied West Bank are Palestinian.

In Taybeh, the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank, Jewish settlers recently cut through house fences and destroyed fruit and vegetable gardens, said the Rev. Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church.

“All the people here are afraid,” he said. “Settlers come and go every day.”

Israel’s army declared the village a closed military zone earlier this week to curb the attacks. But concerns about Israel’s ability and willingness to rein in the settlers remain even among evangelicals, who are among the staunchest Christian supporters of Israel.

“What happens in Taybeh is really troubling,” said David Parsons, spokesperson for International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. “Israeli leaders have realized for some time that Christian support for their nation is not only vital, it’s a strategic interest.”

And yet since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, “generalized fear and skepticism” pervaded all interreligious work, Pari said. The interfaith music institute he directs, Magnificat, was invited to play at a peace march in Jerusalem. But when the Palestinian members saw that the stage had been set up by an Old City gate flanked by Israeli flags, they refused to play.

“I felt a real failure,” Pari said. “We think that as Christians, we have a very important role to patch things back together. ... It will be difficult, but we can do it.”

That faith-grounded resilience prevailed among the Mount Tabor pilgrims, who gathered on the mountain to celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration last week. Rising interfaith tensions and crime have driven many of the area’s Christians to emigrate, several said.

“It’s very difficult that we keep our identity as Christians in the Middle East, but it’s the most important,” said John Akleh, 20, who came with Sister Muna’s group.

Ten pilgrims from nearby Nazareth — where Jesus grew up — started the climb at 4:15 a.m. led by the Rev. Fadi Shallufi in a yearly tradition they’ve maintained even in wartime.

“We will have a lot of sacrifice, but you will be sure in this land something will change,” Shallufi told them as he celebrated Mass in the mountaintop basilica.

Associated Press journalists Ibrahim Hazboun and Moshe Edri contributed from Jerusalem.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Tents of Christian pilgrims who spent overnight in the forest next to the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, northern Israel, on Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Religious souvenirs for sale are placed on a stand for Christian pilgrims who climb to the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, northern Israel, on Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Nuns pose for photograph with the view from the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, northern Israel, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Priests and nuns make their way to the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, northern Israel, on Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Rev. Fadi Shallufi leads Catholic pilgrims on a Eucharistic procession climbing to the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, northern Israel, on Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A priest enters the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, northern Israel, on Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A Christian pilgrim attends a Mass in the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, northern Israel, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

LONDON (AP) — Nigel Farage beat trash-can wearing comic candidate Count Binface to regain the seat in Parliament he quit a month ago to trigger the widely mocked special election.

Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party who some see as a possible next prime minister, abruptly quit his seat in July amid an investigation into whether he failed to report a 5 million pound ($6.7 million) gift from a crypto billionaire overseas.

He said he would run for the open seat to prove he had voters’ support, and regained it with 63% of Thursday's vote. Binface, who finished in second, won about 27%, according to the results announced Friday. The election, held on the hottest day of the year so far, had turnout of 44%.

Binface, a serial candidate who has challenged prime ministers past and present, became the default challenger in a field of 34 candidates after the major parties boycotted the campaign as a political stunt by Farage.

Farage hailed the result as an “overwhelming win” with 1,000 more votes than he earned when first elected two years ago with 46% of the vote share. Turnout during the 2024 general election was nearly 60% and he faced a more robust field of mainstream candidates.

“Today the voters in Clacton have stuck up two fingers to the entire political establishment,” Farage said, referring to the British equivalent of a crude gesture that employs the middle finger in other cultures.

The victory by Farage showed his strong support in his conservative constituency on the east coast of England but it doesn’t ensure he’ll be able to keep the seat. An investigation by a parliamentary watchdog that was suspended when he stepped down is likely to resume and could still lead to Farage being forced out of Parliament to face yet another election.

Farage declared victory in the early morning and did not attend the official declaration where he would have had to stand alongside the other candidates, many of them running joke campaigns.

“I’m damned if I’m going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory ... and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies,” Farage told supporters at a victory party.

Farage said he didn’t attend because police told him about an “organized campaign to disrupt and degrade the result.” A spokesperson for Reform said there was a credible threat against him, though police disputed that.

Binface, who ran on a wacky platform that included a vow to “cut your taxes, and raise everyone else’s,” build one affordable home and nationalize singer Adele, celebrated his best-ever result. It was a massive increase from the votes he received in a special election two months ago against now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham, in which he won 95 votes.

“So against Nigel Farage compared to Andy Burnham, I am 1,000 times more popular,” he quipped. "Does that have anything to do with why he isn’t here tonight?”

Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said the election was no victory for Farage and he needs to come clean over his finances and relationship with a convicted fraudster.

“The mountain of sleaze and scandal he and Reform are now engulfed in has grown and grown while he’s been trying to distract the public by fighting a by-election against a bin,” Phillipson said. “Farage’s distraction by-election doesn’t clear his name — it just shows he likely has so much more to hide.”

Parliament’s standards watchdog is investigating an undeclared donation to Farage in 2024 from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire. Farage says he didn’t need to declare the money because it was a personal gift he used to fund his security and was made before he was elected.

However, newly elected lawmakers must declare gifts worth more than 300 pounds ($400) received in the previous year if they are related to political activities.

When he resigned on July 7, he described the scrutiny as an “establishment hit job” and a media-driven “witch-hunt.”

Farage also faces an investigation into his financial relationship with George Cottrell, an aristocratic crypto-gambling entrepreneur who served eight months in a U.S. prison for fraud a decade ago after offering to launder money for undercover agents posing as drug traffickers.

Cottrell, 32, remains close to Farage and has reportedly given him money for security and staff.

Farage, who was a major player in getting Britain to vote to leave the European Union a decade ago, has had strong polling nationally though his numbers have slipped during months of scrutiny of his finances.

Farage’s gambit to resign and run again backfired when other parties refused to participate and he was left facing a massive field of independent and small-party candidates, including novelty acts such as Howling Laud Hope of The Official Monster Raving Loony Party and Marcus White from the Everyone is God Party.

Binface, who was already a running joke in British elections, drew the most attention because of his satirical spin on politics and persona as a space alien from the planet Sigma IX.

By winning at least 5% of the vote, he's earned a refund of the deposit of 500 pounds ($675) candidates pay to run.

Under the black cape, trash can helmet and ample body armor straight out of a low-budget sci-fi film, Binface’s alter-ego is Jon Harvey, a middle-aged comedian who has spent much of the campaign trying to keep his cool during a sweltering summer.

He said his repeated candidacies were aimed at promoting the beauty of Britain’s centuries-old democracy where even the most high-profile politicians are above no one — including someone from outer space.

Candidate Count Binface poses for the media during the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, England, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Ballot papers sorted for Farage and Binface are collected in boxes during the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, England, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Ballot papers sorted for Farage and Binface are collected in boxes during the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Count Binface, center, stands among other candidates during the result announcement after the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, England, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Count Binface, center, stands among other candidates during the result announcement after the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, England, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Britain's Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage arrives at a polling station in Walton on the Naze, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026 to cast his vote for the Clacton on Sea by-election.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)