For 2,000 years, Christians have called the Holy Land home. CNN’s Clarissa Ward travels from Jerusalem to the occupied West Bank to examine how Israeli ultranationalist extremism is reshaping that reality.

 The quiet erosion of Christian life in the Holy Land

0:00 Losing Ground: Christians in the Holy Land  

3:32 Anti-Christian Incidents in Jerusalem are rising  

8:01 Christian Palestininans are leaving faster than most

13:24 A confrontation with the Israeli army

"The headline is incredibly misleading. It completely reverses the point I was making. Rather than highlighting my explicit distinction between Zionist organizations and Jewish partners in justice, it collapses that distinction and leaves readers with the false impression that I accused British Jews collectively of complicity in Israel’s crimes. This is precisely the kind of framing that has made speaking about Palestine so difficult for so many years. It is not only manipulative; it fuels the false narrative that criticism of Israel is criticism of Jews." Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac - Jul 23, 2026

 When Headlines Distort the Truth

What The Telegraph Got Wrong About My Response

Munther Isaac

Jul 23, 2026

“Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac is Director of the Bethlehem of Institute for Peace and Justice and co-author of Kairos Palestine II.

I was recently approached by The Telegraph, a newspaper in the United Kingdom, to comment on the Church of England’s recent decision to receive and engage with Kairos Palestine II, among other Palestinian Christian documents. I was also asked to respond to the criticism directed at the Church by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. 

 

READ THE LETTER 

Now notice something important. I clearly distinguished between those promoting Zionism and the many Jewish voices working for justice. In fact, I explicitly called on churches to listen to and amplify those Jewish voices. That distinction was not incidental—it was central to my response.

So what did The Telegraph do with it? It published the following headline: “British Jews complicit in Israel crimes, say Palestinian Christians.”

That is simply not what I said. It is not what Kairos Palestine II says. It is not what Palestinian Christians are saying.

The headline is incredibly misleading. It completely reverses the point I was making. Rather than highlighting my explicit distinction between Zionist organizations and Jewish partners in justice, it collapses that distinction and leaves readers with the false impression that I accused British Jews collectively of complicity in Israel’s crimes.

This is precisely the kind of framing that has made speaking about Palestine so difficult for so many years. It is not only manipulative; it fuels the false narrative that criticism of Israel is criticism of Jews.

Our position has been clear and consistent. The problem is not Jews. The problem is not Judaism. The problem is support for oppression, occupation, apartheid, and now genocide—whether that support comes from Jews, Christians, Muslims, or anyone else.

Likewise, those standing for justice include Jews, Christians, Muslims, and people of no faith. As I said in my response, and as Kairos Palestine II explicitly affirms, we welcome and encourage partnership with Jewish voices committed to truth and justice.

Perhaps most troubling of all, this kind of reporting distracts attention from the real issue. Instead of engaging with the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, or with the overwhelming evidence presented by international legal, human rights, and medical bodies, the conversation is redirected toward a manufactured controversy... READ MORE https://bipj.substack.com/p/when-headlines-distort-the-truth?r=62vmcy&triedRedirect=true

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Tent of Nations (ToN) is an educational and ecological family farm committed to nonviolent resistance, environmental stewardship, intercultural education, and connecting people with the land. It serves as a living model of nonviolent action and faith-based community building, within the context of Palestine and the world.

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 https://tentofnations.com/ 

The Tent of Nations is an educational and ecological family farm southwest of Bethlehem, Palestine. Our mission is to build bridges between people and between people and the land. Through creative resistance, organic farming, and educational programs, we seek to transform despair into hope and promote understanding, respect, and sustainability. 

What we do

 – Educational Programs: Children’s summer camps and women’s empowerment initiatives. 

– Volunteer Opportunities: Join short-term or long-term projects caring for the land and community. 

– Environmental Learning: Workshops in sustainability, organic farming, and renewable energy. 

Please note that we are not an NGO. We are a small educational and environmental family farm that welcomes individuals and groups to visit, to volunteer and to be encouraged to hear our story of hope in the middle of this darkness. We are not affiliated with any organization and we are supported by church groups and other international private friends of ToN.

Our Philosophy

In the face of injustice, we refuse to be enemies. We transform pain into positive action and work for justice and peace from the ground up. We believe every person can help shape a better future by caring for one another and for the earth. 

We want to help the oppressed and marginalized realize that they are powerful and can do something positive, even if they live under challenging conditions. We all have the task of creating the future with our own hands and not waiting for others to do it for us. At the ToN, we aim to collaborate with others and lay the groundwork for a better future, believing that justice and peace should emerge from the grassroots. At ToN, we connect people with the land and to our shared environment. We need them to appreciate this wonderful gift that GOD gave to humanity, and to help protect it for the generations to come.

Vision for the land

We continue to strive for self-sufficiency in food, water, and energy, building an Environmental Education Center where young people can learn about sustainability, tolerance, and community responsibility. 

 https://tentofnations.com/about-us/

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About Us: Rooted in the Land Since 1916

The Tent of Nations stands on a 100-acre (about 400 dunams) family farm named Daher’s Vineyard, located about six miles (about 10 km) southwest of Bethlehem in the West Bank. The land was purchased more than 100 years ago by the Nassar family, and the family holds original registrations and deed documents dating from the British Mandate (registration in 1924-25), and Jordanian administration. 

In 1991, the Israeli authorities declared the Nassar family farm (and surrounding lands) as “state land”. Since then, the family has engaged in protracted legal proceedings in the Israeli Military courts, the Appeals Committee, and the Israeli Supreme Court to re-register and protect their land. 

The farm is surrounded on all sides by Israeli settlements, including those in the Gush Etzion settlement block. the farm has faced repeated road encroachments, bulldozing and burning of orchards, and access restrictions.... READ MORE https://tentofnations.com/about-us/

Who We Are

Tent of Nations (ToN) is an educational and ecological family farm committed to nonviolent resistance, environmental stewardship, intercultural education, and connecting people with the land. It serves as a living model of nonviolent action and faith-based community building, within the context of Palestine and the world. 

We host international visitors, volunteers, and local partners who come to learn, share, and participate in our work. Together, we transform despair into hope through environmental education, organic farming, empowerment programs for women and children, and global solidarity.

Our Mission

Our mission is to build bridges between people and between people and the land through creative resistance, education, and environmental stewardship. We strive to cultivate understanding, respect, and sustainability by working in harmony with the land and with one another. 

We live by four guiding principles: 

1. We refuse to be victims
2. We refuse to hate
3. We act on our faith
4. We believe in justice

These principles shape every act of cultivation, teaching, and welcome that happens on the farm encompassed by the slogan We Refuse to Be the Enemy. 

Our Vision

We envision the Tent of Nations as a beacon of hope and sustainability – a place where individuals and communities learn to live in harmony with the environment and each other.... READ MORE https://tentofnations.com/about-us/ 

https://www.facebook.com/tentofnations

 

"The Nasser family are a Palestinian Christian family who have owned this farm for over 100 years. But 35 years ago, the Israeli authorities declared his farm and the surrounding area to be State land. Ever since then, the family have been engaged in a struggle to register and protect their farm. And with each passing year, settlements encroach on more and more of their land. But the Nassars continue their Tent of Nations work with steadfast nonviolence and faith, living their message every day: “We refuse to be enemies.” They are an example of creative, hopeful, Christian resistance to injustice and they need the support of Christians around the world. During my visit today I had the honour of planting an olive tree on the Nasser farm. At a time when many Palestinian Christians are leaving, olive trees are a symbol of their deep roots in this land..." Sarah Mullally, Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop Sarah visits the Tent of Nations in Bethlehem. Photo credit Andrea Krogmann/Lambeth Palace

Rock commemorating the olive tree planted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Photo credit Andrea Krogmann/Lambeth Palace

Archbishop of Canterbury 

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Today on our pilgrimage we met with the Nasser family on their farm, now commonly known as the Tent of Nations - located south of Bethlehem in occupied Palestine.

 

The Nasser family are a Palestinian Christian family who have owned this farm for over 100 years. But 35 years ago, the Israeli authorities declared his farm and the surrounding area to be State land. 

 

Ever since then, the family have been engaged in a struggle to register and protect their farm. And with each passing year, settlements encroach on more and more of their land. 

 

But the Nassars continue their Tent of Nations work with steadfast nonviolence and faith, living their message every day: “We refuse to be enemies.”

 

They are an example of creative, hopeful, Christian resistance to injustice and they need the support of Christians around the world. 

 

During my visit today I had the honour of planting an olive tree on the Nasser farm. At a time when many Palestinian Christians are leaving, olive trees are a symbol of their deep roots in this land. 

 

As this tree grows, I pray that peace grows too in Palestine and Israel. Please pray for the Nasser family, Palestinian Christians and all those working for a just peace in the Holy Land.

 

Archbishop Sarah with the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, the Most Revd Hosam Naoum, at St George’s Anglican Cathedral in East Jerusalem. Photo credit Lambeth Palace  https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/node/32/pastoral-letter-archbishop-sarah-mullally-and-archbishop-hosam-naoum

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https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1614819453347626&set=pcb.1614820073347564 

In a political wasteland dominated by billionaires, war criminals and mega-corporations, the head of the Catholic church is a rare figure of moral leadership

Pope Leo presides over mass at Vatican City, 29 June 2026. Photograph: Maria Grazia Picciarella/Shutterstock

Simon Tisdall: "Leo is not just talk. He has a plan. Presiding over a “consistory” – a rare gathering of all the Catholic church’s cardinals – in Rome last weekend, he sought to tighten up the just-war theory of St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas that is frequently hijacked to legitimise so-called preventive wars of choice. Leo argues war is only morally justified for “proportional self-defence”, and only after all peaceful options are exhausted. “War is never worthy of humanity, and it is never blessed by God,” he told the cardinals. “War is not merely a conflict between states”, but originates in “a culture of power”. The world must “rebuild a culture of cooperation”.

This struggle for the soul of today’s newly adversarial world order has drawn in Islamic and Jewish religious leaders and thinkers as well as other Christian denominations. Sarah Mullally, the newly enthroned archbishop of Canterbury, defiantly urged “faithful resistance” to Israel’s expanding occupation when meeting Palestinian Christians in the West Bank last month. The international community had a “moral responsibility” to relieve profound suffering there and in Gaza, she wrote in a pastoral letter – and the time to act was now. Middle East conflicts were “symptomatic of a deeper political and spiritual crisis – an abandonment of international law and an increasing recurrence of military force”.

It’s not necessary to be a person of faith to value truth, justice and human decency" .... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/05/world-leaders-immorality-pope-leo-war-criminals-corporations-catholic-church

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The immorality of world leaders is contagious. Thank heavens for the pope

"At a moment when Islam is framed as a source of division, it is worth recalling that on his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, Malcolm X encountered Muslims of all races, worshipping as equals together, an experience that transformed his understanding of race and human dignity. It revealed an Islam grounded not in fear, but universality, exposing the poverty of racial hierarchies and the distortions that sustain them." Kenneth Mohammed in The Guardian

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Muslim worshippers perform dawn prayers at the Grand Mosque before the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage Photograph: Saudi Press Agency/APAImages/Shutterstock 

The real danger of Islamophobia? It rarely announces itself as hatred yet shapes how millions think

Kenneth Mohammed

 

 The difference in framing around antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred distorts public understanding, inflames tensions and makes both Jewish and Muslim communities less safe

The horrific terrorist attack on the Islamic Centre of San Diego in California has been reported by many news outlets over the past few days. Yet as the story travelled across screens and news feeds, something more subtle unfolded: the language of reporting. Some outlets spoke of “teen suspects” and “three deceased” rather than murdered worshippers or a terrorist attack on a mosque. Words matter. They shape sympathy, urgency, and influence how violence is understood. Too often, the vocabulary of terror and extremism appears unevenly distributed; sharpened for some perpetrators but softened for others.

There is a growing sense that the world is slipping backwards – not through dramatic rupture, but through the steady normalisation of hate, the coarsening of public discourse and politicians increasingly fuelling division and racism.

Across the world... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/may/25/danger-islamophobia-antisemitism-hatred-anti-muslim-abuse

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"...More troubling still is how sections of the media shape perception through selective framing and omission. A recent arson attack was widely reported as targeting a “former synagogue”, implying antisemitism while omitting that it was the subject of a fundraising effort by local young Muslims, who had already put down a hefty deposit to tranform the building into a mosque and community centre.

The problem is not whether antisemitism or anti-Muslim hatred exist – both plainly do. It is that selective framing distorts public understanding, inflames tensions and ultimately makes both Jewish and Muslim communities less safe. Today, where perception increasingly shapes reality, omission can be as powerful as misinformation itself..."