The Wall Street Journal printed a very long, and, in my view, very embarrassing, story about anti-Christian “spitting attacks” in Israel. It seems that a fairly small minority of unruly and undisciplined Israeli teenagers labor under the misimpression that spitting at or toward Christians is some sort of religious duty. The Journal’s reporter, Margherita Stancati, reports that there were “at least a dozen” spitting incidents on a recent afternoon when thousands of Israelis assembled in the Old City of Jerusalem for a national celebration marking the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967.

The Israeli government is embarrassed by these incidents, as am I. This is not proper behavior for anyone, especially not anyone who, by engaging in such reprehensible actions, brings dishonor upon the Jewish people and nation. The article reports that the Israeli government has appointed a new Arab Christian ambassador to improve relations with Christian communities, but that critics say that it isn’t doing enough.

The Journal notes that the anti-Christian behavior is a relatively recent phenomenon. But it appears to be growing, according to Yisca Harani, an Israeli scholar who monitors anti-Christian behavior. Her organization registered 107 incidents in the first half of 2026, more than double the 52 incidents two years earlier. The most common abuse appears to involve spitting on the ground.

The reporter suggests that the spitting problem involves only a small number of extremists, but may represent a broader problem because younger Israelis, lacking knowledge about Christianity, have become increasingly intolerant. They know about events of violence by European Christians toward Jews, they oppose Christian proselytizing, and they are resentful of Christian criticism of Israel. The reporter also reports a single instance in Lebanon where a soldier damaged a statue of Jesus (The story fails to note the facts that the soldier was incarcerated for 30 days in a military prison, an additional six soldiers who were present but did not interfere were disciplined, the IDF, Chief of Staff, and Prime Minister publicly condemned the act, and the IDF delivered a new replacement statue to the village–just a minor oversight, I’m sure–or maybe there wasn’t sufficient space.)

The story goes on to discuss Mike Huckabee’s successful efforts to overcome resistance in the Ministry of Interior to granting visas to visiting Evangelical groups that support Israel, as well as an encouraging anecdote about a woman who reported a spitting incident involving nuns to the head of the yeshiva whose students had committed the offense. On the next visit, the nuns were greeted with a warm “Shabbat Shalom!” by the students.

[The print version of the story in the Journal omits both the mention of the soldier’s actions and the anecdote about the change in the students’ behavior, also omitting the conclusion that the nuns are no longer afraid.  More space limitations, one must assume.]

What follows is not an attempt to minimize the nature or impact of the repulsive behavior described above. We need to do better. The fact that we do way better than others does not mitigate the shame of such actions or diminish the need to improve our moral education. I offer no excuse.

But . . .

Last year, 3,490 Christians were killed in Nigeria in a nearly continuous program of village raids, abductions, and displacement. Christian communities in Sudan experienced armed attacks in which churches were burned to the ground. Mali, one of three African countries with maximum violence on the World Watch List, experienced numerous jihadist attacks and rural massacres. Leaving Africa for the moment, North Korea, which imprisons, tortures, and executes Christians, has ranked at the top of the list of persecuting countries for more than 20 years. In Pakistan, 84% of Christian women report sexual harassment and pressure to convert; more than 1,000 girls per year are forced into conversion and marriage. That is in addition to the periodic mob violence, harsh enforcement of blasphemy laws, and sexual violence.

I could go on about India, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Myanmar, and China (10,000 churches attacked or closed in one year), but I think you get the point. About 375,000,000 Christians face high levels of persecution or discrimination worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 93% of Christians killed for their faith in the latest reporting period. In Nigeria alone, where the death toll is highest, over 2,000,000 Christians were displaced from their homes. In Asia, 40% of Christians experience persecution.

Obviously, the horror that goes on in Africa and Asia is not a sufficient, or any kind of, answer to the problem in Israel described in the Journal, but, given the exponential difference in degree of intensity and transgression, one must question the prominence that the Journal provided to this story. Viewed from here, the damage caused by its conspicuous and sensational placement, and its prejudicial headline, is almost incalculable. If there is a story to be emphasized about the persecution of Christians, and there most certainly is, this is not it.

I really do understand that journalists like being posted to Israel, where they are free to roam about and find news stories. Given the choice among Nigeria, Mali, Pakistan, and the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem, who wouldn’t opt to live among the Jews, notwithstanding their occasional spitting rampages?

And I really do understand that an experienced journalist like Ms. Stancati, who has reported from over a dozen countries and is currently stationed in the Middle East, will write about a wide range of topics. But she knows what a real news story is and she must know what an impact a story like this could have. She covered the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, part of a team that was a 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist in international reporting; she was cited for excellence in reporting on women’s issues.

One hundred seven spitting incidents in six months? How the mighty have fallen.

Perhaps this article was newsworthy; it is well-written and reasonably balanced, describing the negative activity in the context of government disapproval and attempts to address it, and finishing on a positive note (in the online edition, at least). But the headline, beyond which many will not read, was “Spitting Attacks Show Rise of Anti-Christian Hate in Israel.” That is inflammatory, given the small number of people and incidents involved. And to the extent that the article even suggests that Christians fare better or would prefer to be in any Asian or African country other than Israel, the notion is risible.

I offer no defense for our bad behavior, but some context about the actual status and freedom afforded Christians in Israel would have been nice. Or maybe some editorial discretion.