7/20/2025–|Last update: 18:06 (Mecca time)
The Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” in Washington Bin Samwalese shed light on the crisis that Israel is going through with the base of the conservative evangelical current in US After the Israeli shelling, which affected the Church of the Catholic Holy Family, one of the most prominent places of worship in the city, and caused the martyrdom of 3 Palestinians in the church complex.
The report touched on the escalation of prominent religious and political criticisms in the United States of Israeli policies towards Palestinian Christians, and targeting places of worship in the West Bank And Gaza StripIn addition to increasing restrictions on Christian pilgrims entering Israel.
The author of the report believes that there is an “unusual development, as the American ambassador to Israel, Mike Hakapi – from the Evangelical current known for its public support for the settlement project in the West Bank – has directed strong public criticism of the Israeli policies that he said harmful to Palestinian and foreign Christians.”
According to the report, Hakapi’s anger “reflects a widespread restlessness within the American Evangelical current from the behavior of the Israeli government, which may have direct political repercussions on Tel Aviv’s support inside Republican Party“.
Hakapi’s criticism, as mentioned by the report, mentioned only days after his visit to the village of Al -Tayyiba in the West Bank, where settlers set fire to a local church. Hakapi described what happened as “a terrorist act and a crime against sanctities.”
The report pointed out that this is not the first time that Hakapi condemned the actions of the settlers, as his statements came days after the martyrdom of the young man who holds American citizenship, Saifallah Maslh (20 years), after settlers assaulted him, on Friday, near a city Ramallah The West Bank.
warning
Bin Samwales revealed Hakapi, a strongly worded message to Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Erbil, in which he expressed his disappointment due to the failure of a previous meeting in addressing the crisis of granting visas to Christian organizations.
Hakapi said that the continued restrictions on Christian groups will push the American embassy to issue a public statement that “Israel no longer welcomes Christian organizations,” expressly threatening that the embassy will consider the same treatment for Israeli citizens who want to enter the United States.
The report quoted Hakapi warning that the continuation of these policies “may threaten Israel’s membership in the visa exemption program, which it joined just about two years ago.”
The Israeli correspondent indicated that the anger of American Christians increased after the Israeli attack on the only Catholic Church in Gaza, which prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a rare apology after contacts with US President Donald Trump and Papa Vatican Liu 14.
In a remarkable development, the Cardinal Bayeratista Pescala, the Apostolic Director of the current Catholic Latin Patriarchate, entered into JerusalemAnd he is the highest Catholic official in the Holy City, to Gaza on a rare humanitarian visit, questioning the Israeli novel, which was claimed to be a “accidental incident.”
“They say it was a mistake, even if everyone here believes that it is not,” Petsbala said in an interview with an Italian newspaper.
Republic criticism
The Israeli newspaper correspondent believes that “the influence of these developments began to appear within the Republican Party,” and the conservative American commentator Michael Nol was quoted as saying.
He was also reported by Republican Republican Riley Moore, his call to Israel to “ensure the protection of churches and Christian sites,” considering this a rare criticism issued by Republican members in the House of Representatives.
The correspondent pointed out that the most severe reaction was from the Republican Representative of Georgia Margori Taylor Green, the most prominent critics of Trump at the base of his supporters.Let’s make America great againAnd, which made an amendment to the US Defense Bill, and called for the abolition of additional military aid to Israel, at a value of $ 500 million, citing the Israeli shelling of the Church in Gaza.
She said in her speech, “An entire people will be annihilated while Israel continues its aggressive war,” and added, “They have nuclear weapons, a health care system and a funded high education, while the debts of Americans are 37 trillion dollars.”
The correspondent also pointed to the political transformation within the stream “Let’s make America a great again”, saying that “it has become more clear, with some of its symbols open to a more critical discourse of Israeli policies, such as what the journalist Taker Karlson expressed when the Palestinian priest Monter Isaac hosted to talk about the persecution of Christians.”
Samwales concluded his report by emphasizing that what is going on “does not represent a passing crisis, but rather reflects a deeper shift within the conservative evangelical current in support of Trump, as many personalities began inside him calling for a reconsideration of the United States’s unconditional support for Israel, especially in light of its violation of the rights of Palestinian Christians and ignoring warnings.”
It is noteworthy that the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip is long Hundreds of mosques Since the start of the war in October 2023, when the Ministry of Awqaf in Gaza has documented the destruction of more than 966 mosques in the Strip in whole or in part during the past year, and these violations were not met with international criticism.