This is the third post in the Peoples of Israel series. Israel holds some of the most important sites in Christian history, and its own Christian community — small, diverse and deeply rooted — is part of what makes visiting places like Nazareth and Jerusalem so memorable.
A small, historic community
The Christian community of Israel numbers around 184,000 people, approximately 1.9% of the country’s population, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. About four out of five are Arab Christians, while the remainder includes non-Arab Christians from a variety of backgrounds.
Christianity has been rooted in this land since its very beginning, and Israel today contains some of Christianity’s most important religious centers. The largest Arab Christian communities are found in Nazareth, Haifa, Jerusalem and Nof HaGalil, alongside historic communities in places such as Acre, Jaffa and the Galilee.
A diversity of traditions
Israeli Christians belong to numerous traditions, including Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Roman Catholic, Maronite, Armenian and Protestant churches, creating considerable diversity within a relatively small population. Although the Christian population continues to grow slowly in absolute numbers, its percentage of Israel’s population has declined over the decades, partly because of its relatively low birth rate and faster growth among other population groups.
A visible role in public life
Christians are highly visible in Israeli education, medicine, law and professional life. Salim Joubran became the first Arab judge to receive a permanent appointment to Israel’s Supreme Court, while George Karra, an Arab Christian from Jaffa, later also served as a Supreme Court justice and received the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honour. Israel’s Christian community is small in numbers, but deeply connected to both the history of the land and the modern social and professional life of the country.
Planning your visit
Many of the sites most closely tied to this history — Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem’s Old City — are the heart of my Religious and Spiritual Journey tour, which is a great way to see this heritage firsthand.
See Also
Religious and Spiritual Journey: walk through Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem’s Old City — the heart of Christian heritage in Israel.
