Christian groups to obtain ordered visas from Israel after diplomatic dispute

A diplomatic dispute caused by a low-level clerk at the Israeli Ministry of Internal Affairs over a visa application for Christian organizations on Monday through “fruitful cooperation”,-said Kalev Maers Fox News Digital.

“Evangelical Christian organizations operating in Israel representing the vast majority of Zionists in the world today will receive all the visas they need through a streamlined and effective application process,” he said.

The question fell in the news last week when the US ambassador to Israel Mike Hakabi He published a letter he wrote to Israel’s Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, in which he expressed a “great trouble”, stopping at “ordinary visas for Christian organizations and workers, as practiced for decades.”

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Christian pilgrims carrying wooden crosses pass through the Old Town of Jerusalem to the Church of the Holy Hrabi during the Orthodox procession of Great Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)

According to Hakobi, since the beginning of 2025, the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stopped after the recommendations of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and began to conduct its own investigations in each Christian organization to determine whether they should be recognized as “religious institutions” and remain the rights to visas.

As examples, he referred to the Baptist Convention of Israel, the Christian Missionary Union and the Assembly of God, noting that the members of these groups refused the renewal of the A3 clergy and instead required to fill out long questionnaires about their religious beliefs. Hakobi said the status of their applications remains “under investigation”.

“If Israel’s support around the world – and in the US – under pressure, support from our Christian friends is extremely important”

He also called the International Embassy Christian in Jerusalem another group whose visas “held”.

He threatened that if there were no changes, “I will not have a choice than to entrust our consular section to view the options for mutual treatment of Israeli citizens looking for visas in the US.”

Ambassador to Israel Mike Hakabi talks to digital Fox News during an interview at the US Embassy to Jerusalem. (Yoav Dudkevitch/ TPS-IV)

The source said Fox News Digital that the issue arose with a low-level clerk at the Israeli Ministry, who was “not particularly friendly” to the applicants of Christian Visa. As a result, the visa process for the clergy and volunteers has become “increasingly problematic” and filled with “barriers over the years.”

The second source told the digital Fox News that the elements in the Israeli Interior Ministry “do not sympathize, they do not evaluate relations” with the Christian world.

Former Israel Ambassador to USA Michael Oren Fox News Digital said he was engaged in a visa helping for Christian organizations that do “extraordinary and important work”, and there is no reason to be handed over.

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“If the support of Israel around the world – and in the US – under pressure, support from our Christian friends is extremely important,” Oren said. “They are there through thick and thin – including when bombs are served – and they contribute to so many ways. Whether it will choose grapes, visiting hospitals or culinary dishes for soldiers. We should do nothing but appreciate them and make them feel welcome.”

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is responsible for the population and immigration administration, headed the farmstead of the far-Orthodox Shace, a member of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coalition management until she spoke from the government last week about the issue of the principle in the Army of Israel.

Visitors are waving Israel, and in the US in Arlington, Virginia, Arlington, Virginia, Arlington, Virginia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

According to the first source, the public turnover and the immigration department has deteriorated this issue. Amos Arbel, former head of the administration and uncle of the Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, left the post five years ago. Its replacements were spinning through the position in the rapid continuity, and the role is currently vacant.

“The lack of a stable leadership allowed the official with a smaller rating-head of the visa section to make unilateral decisions,” the source explained. “She regularly ignores recommendations, including the Ministry of Religious Affairs Advisor.”

“This is a chronic problem and it is worried,” the source said. “It should not take the intervention of someone like Hakobi’s ambassador to decide what should be a normal bureaucratic affair.”

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In response, Moshe Arbel sent a letter to Hakabi, confirming his “commitment to consideration of such applications (for the clergy visas) with maximum efficiency.” He wrote that “immediately after our meeting, I instructed all the relevant professional bodies to act in accordance with the understanding we have achieved, and I appointed advisers from my office – led by the chief of staff – to provide a personal, continuous and effective response to such requests.”

In a statement by Arbel in his statement, Fox News Digital: “No fear of diplomatic consequences. The issue is resolved in good and friendly.”

Orthodox Christians carry wooden crosses along the dollar (a way of suffering) in the old city of Jerusalem during the Orthodox procession on Good Friday, April 14, 2023. (Saeed QAQ/SOPA Images/Lightrocket via Getty Images)

Speaking to Fox News Digital, the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem refused to comment.

As of the end of 2024, the Christian population of Israel was estimated at 180 300 – approximately 1.8% of the total population – reflecting an increase by 0.6% compared to 2023, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the local Christian population grows.

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David Parsans, Vice President of the International Embassy of Christian Jerusalem, said Fox News Digital that “very grateful that the US ambassador intervened on behalf of all Christian organizations.

“It is a shame that it requires such actions when the government and the Minister of Internal Affairs had to rely on the visa section and corrected its wrong decisions,” he said.

Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman Fox News Digital said he was talking to people on both sides and believed that “there was a misunderstanding, and Christian groups would get what they need. It does not say with a very important relationship that is Israel with the Christian community,” he said.