(LifeSiteNews) — Catholic and Orthodox bishops, as well as other Christian ecclesial community leaders have issued a joint condemnation against Israeli government officials for enabling and facilitating radical Zionist settler attacks upon Christians in the West Bank, and demanded “an immediate transparent investigation” as to why Israeli police do not respond to protect Christians when such egregious attacks occur.

Assembling in Taybeh, these leaders—including Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa—condemned “radical Israelis” from illegal “nearby settlements” who have intensified their “systemic and targeted attacks” against this ancient Christian community and their very presence in the region.

“We ask for the prayers, attention, and action of the world, particularly that of Christians globally” in coming to their defense, implored the prelates in their formal “Statement of the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches of Jerusalem” issued Monday (emphasis in original).

Last week, on “7 July 2025, radical Israelis from nearby settlements intentionally set fire near the town’s cemetery and the Church of Saint George, which dates back to the 5th century,” the statement recalls.

“Taybeh is the last remaining all-Christian town in the West Bank,” the prelates continued. “These actions are a direct and intentional threat to our local community first and foremost, but also to the historic and religious heritage of our ancestors and holy sites.”

“[W]e join voices with the local priests – Greek Orthodox, Latin, and Melkite Greek Catholic – issuing a clear plea for support in the face of repeated, systematic attacks from these radicals, which are only growing more frequent,” they wrote in reference to a statement issued last week by these local priests.

READ: Catholic leaders in Holy Land decry escalating Jewish attacks against Christians, shrines

These radical religious Zionist settlers have used agricultural land privately owned by Christians with impunity to graze their cattle, “rendering them inaccessible” and damaging olive groves for which families depend for their livelihood, the statement describes.

“Last month, several homes were attacked by these radicals, lighting fires and erecting a billboard that said, translated into English, ‘there is no future for you here,’” the Christian leaders recalled.

“The Church has had a faithful presence in this region for nearly 2,000 years. We firmly reject this message of exclusion and reaffirm our commitment to a Holy Land that is a mosaic of different faiths, living peacefully together in dignity and safety,” the prelates said.

Accountability demanded, Israeli authorities ‘facilitate and enable’ settler violence

The Council of Patriarchs and Heads of Churches went on to demand “these radicals” be “held accountable by the Israeli authorities” who instead of fulfilling their duties to protect and defend fundamental human rights and the rule of law actually “facilitate and enable” the presence of radical Israeli terrorist groups around the Christian town of Taybeh.

Similar to the lack of investigation and prosecution when it comes to the crimes of leftist terrorists in the United States — whether they be part of the Black Lives Matter terrorist crimes of 2020, or the pro-abortion terrorist acts in 2022 — crimes against Christians and other Palestinians in Israel and in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories are virtually never prosecuted.

“We call for an immediate and transparent investigation into why the Israeli police did not respond to emergency calls from the local community and why these abhorrent actions continue to go unpunished,” the prelates demanded.

“Furthermore, we ask diplomats, politicians, and church officials worldwide to provide a prayerful and outspoken voice for our ecumenical community in Taybeh, that their presence may be secured and that they can live in peace to worship freely, grow crops without danger, and live in a peace that seems to be in far too short of supply,” the statement implored.

READ: ‘Pro-life’ GOP starving 1 million children to death in Gaza, USCCB remains silent

Religious Zionist settler violence common in Israeli occupied West Bank

Such violence perpetrated by Israeli terrorist settlers is in no way rare in the West Bank. During the calendar year of 2024, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) logged about 1,420 incidents of Israeli settler violence. “These incidents include settlers reportedly killing five Palestinians, including a child, and injuring 360 other Palestinians, including 35 children, and vandalising more than 26,100 Palestinian-owned trees.”

Last night, settlers, backed, escorted, and with full cooperation with the Israeli army, attacked Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

In Sabastiya, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed by soldiers. In Sinjil, six Palestinians were injured by Molotov cocktails, and in… pic.twitter.com/I4iEVqqiSv

— B’Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) January 20, 2025

Amnesty International had described these attacks as “part of a decades long state-backed campaign to dispossess, displace and oppress Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, under Israel’s system of apartheid.”

“Israeli forces have a track record of enabling settler violence and it is outrageous that once again Israeli forces stood by and in some cases took part in these brutal attacks,” states an April 2024 report.

Colonial ‘settlers’ espouse ideology of Jewish supremacy, ethnic cleansing, building of third Temple

Jewish “settlers” in the West Bank are most often associated with the influential international heresy of religious Zionism which embraces an ideology of radical Jewish supremacy and thus a justification for the horrendous violent crimes of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people as a means of taking over the Holy Land and building an exclusive Jewish ethno-state.

READ: Israeli extremist rabbis instruct soldiers heading to Gaza: ‘Kill all their children’

With the takeover of the land complete they aim to build a third temple for animal sacrifice in Jerusalem and welcome their Moshiach (Messiah) of whom their expectations share a close alignment with what Catholic authorities expect from the Antichrist. And from Jerusalem, these religious Zionists anticipate this figure to subject all other peoples under Noahide Laws, vanquishing Christianity as “idolatry,” and even executing the death penalty against Christians for this supposed crime.

The illegal settler communities also enjoy indirect financial support from billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars which support Israel’s military forces and thus serve to assist settlers and settlements to effectively expand in the West Bank. Private American interests also provide significant funds to further develop illegal settlements, paramilitary groups and IDF units which operate in Gaza and the West Bank as well.

A Channel 4 News report reveals how Israeli settlers, protected by the military in the occupied West Bank, are using intimidation and violence to drive Palestinians from their villages before taking them over. pic.twitter.com/U1YhEJHz0f

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) July 13, 2025

In July of last year the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s 58-year military occupation of internationally recognized Palestinian territory was illegal under international law. The United Nations General Assembly followed up on this ruling in September overwhelmingly passing a resolution demanding Israel end its illegal occupation of these territories, including the evacuation of their settlements on the West Bank, within 12 months.

The unanimous and constant voices of the Catholic and Orthodox bishops in the region have characterized Israel’s illegal occupation of these Palestinian territories as the “root” aggression of the conflict, an ongoing “sin,” that must be resisted and remedied should there be any hope of peace in the region.

‘Hope in the face of a persistent threat’

The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches include representatives from Catholic rites including Latin, Greek, Syrian and Armenian, along with Orthodox churches including Greek, Armenian, Coptic, Syrian, Maronite, and Ethiopian. Also included is the Franciscan head of Custody of the Holy Land, along with the heads of the local Anglican and Lutheran ecclesial communities.

“We join our fellow clergy in Taybeh in reiterating this of hope in the face of a persistent threat: ‘truth and justice will ultimately prevail’,” the prelates continued in their Monday statement.

And appealing to their hope in God, they concluded, “we recall the words of the Prophet Amos, which become our prayer during this challenging time: ‘let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream’.”

Illegal Israeli settlers committed a pogrom in the outskirts of Ramallah in the West Bank on April 12. While unhindered settler attacks are not new in these areas, they are growing increasingly in frequency and violence. pic.twitter.com/bJwaNx22Dp

— Mondoweiss (@Mondoweiss) April 27, 2024

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