Israel blocks Easter celebration as Christians ‘increasingly unwelcome in Jerusalem’: report

(LifeSiteNews) — Once again Israeli forces turned parts of occupied East Jerusalem into a militarized zone, drastically impeding Eastern Orthodox Christians from accessing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to observe the Holy Saturday blessed fire ceremony which attracts Christian pilgrims from the region and the world.

According to Dr. Jerry Pillay, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the event was “marked with violence against Christian worshipers, as Israel security personnel once again denied Christians their right to worship freely in Jerusalem.”

“Worshipers who managed to enter Jerusalem’s Old City found themselves trapped between checkpoints placed a few meters from one another. Access to the Holy Sepulchre Church was denied,” he explained.

“The plaza area inside the Patriarchate remained empty except for approximately 100 Christians who endured beatings and checkpoints before they managed their way through.”

Israeli human rights group Ir Amim also reported that Israeli police “violently assaulted scout groups marching in the Old City of Jerusalem, disrupting processions, making arrests, and attempting to forcibly remove Palestinian flags from scouts’ uniforms.”

“Israeli police also restricted access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, preventing many worshippers from taking part in one of the most sacred ceremonies of the year,” stated the organization which focuses specifically on human rights in the city of Jerusalem.

“This is yet another violation of Palestinians’ religious and cultural rights in Jerusalem, part of a broader pattern of targeting Palestinian identity and erasing national symbols from public life,” they concluded in their video post on X which shows Israeli police violently arresting Christians, some of whom appear to be wearing scout uniforms.

This week, as Palestinian Christians marked Holy Saturday in Jerusalem, Israeli police violently assaulted scout groups marching in the Old City of Jerusalem, disrupting processions, making arrests, and attempting to forcibly remove Palestinian flags from scouts’ uniforms.… pic.twitter.com/LEtsHVkaX5

— Ir Amim English (@IrAmimAlerts) April 13, 2026

READ: New Israeli policy targeting Christian schools in Jerusalem could threaten their future existence

For centuries, Orthodox Christians have gone on pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem for the Holy Fire Saturday event where a supposed miraculous fire proceeds from within the empty tomb of the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and is spread on candles throughout the shrine, to those outside and throughout Jerusalem, Palestine, and even to locations around the world.

A Catholic priest who is a long-time resident in the city told LifeSiteNews that restrictions have become progressively tighter and more violent over the last 10 to 15 years. Citing sources, he explained how the Israeli policy reflects an intentional effort “to limit church apostolic activity as much as possible without raising international alarm bells.”

With regards to security personnel, the priest who spoke on condition of anonymity described the Israeli police as seeing themselves not “as servants of the public,” but rather “as owners of the public.”

And while there are legitimate security issues relating to thousands of people filing through the narrow streets of Jerusalem’s Old City and assembling in the ancient church which only has two doors, the police use “a very heavy hand in their application of law,” the priest said. “And this is creating a great deal of anger.”

Affirming a Jewish Israeli cultural tendency of treating Palestinians in general with great hostility, the priest who is well-known to LifeSiteNews said, “The way they deal with Arabs is the way they are going to deal with pilgrims.” And, thus, “they need to soften their policy considerably. The safety issues are real, but they need to create a different framework because it used to not be like this.”

Footage from Jerusalem’s Old City on Holy Fire Saturday.

Palestinian Christians faced aggressive restrictions, and harsh treatment by lsraeli police while trying to participate in the ancient Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. pic.twitter.com/iKhd69pTI6

— Ahmad Ali Baltistani (@AAliBaltistani) April 12, 2026

READ: Christian leaders decry Easter worship crackdown under Israel’s radical Zionist regime

During Easter celebrations last year, prominent prelates of Holy Land churches decried an increased intensification of Israeli police forces obstructing their worship in the Old City of Jerusalem on the solemnity of Easter utilizing barricades, checkpoints, along with regular verbal and physical harassment.

A press release from the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem at the time called the actions of the Israeli police “reprehensible,” explaining how they “deprived thousands of believers of their divine right to prayer and worship.” These policies “stand in direct contradiction to Jerusalem’s eternal vocation as a city of peace for all the children of God,” the ancient church condemned.

And in a February address to diplomatic officials last year, Patriarch Theophilos III of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem lamented the Israeli government’s tightening restrictions on Christians’ freedom of worship in Jerusalem, including limitations on Holy Week observances, particularly of the Holy Fire Saturday celebration.

The Greek patriarch stressed that access to the holy shrines is a sacred right rooted in centuries of faith and Status Quo agreements.

Theophilos called out unprecedented restrictions on the numbers of worshipers permitted to attend such liturgical events, accompanied by aggressive police enforcement, ostensibly to maintain safety, as unacceptable violations of freedom of worship and human dignity.

Pillay echoed these sentiments in his weekend statement complaining that the oft-repeated call of Christian organizations demanding the Israeli government protect the status of Jerusalem remain “unheeded.”

And thus, the “World Council of Churches is asking the government of Israel, once again, to allow unimpeded access to Jerusalem’s holy sites as per the Status Quo, and to refrain from violence against worshipers who simply want to exercise their faith,” he said.

Christians “are feeling increasingly unwelcome in Jerusalem, and this message needs to reach the entire world.”

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