Day 658 - Lazar Berman on why Israel is misfiring its ties with Christians
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.4 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
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Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.
The vast majority of the Zionists in the world are Christian. Israel’s closest allies are majority-Christian or officially Christian countries, and the world’s largest Christian denominations have many of their holiest sites in Israel.
At the same time, there’s no adviser for Christian Affairs in the Prime Minister’s Office, no minister tasked with outreach.
On today's Friday Focus, we discuss three recent difficult incidents with the Christian world, which official Israel was diplomatically unprepared for.
Berman discusses the need for a point person, an office or even a ministry in the Prime Minister's Office who will be tasked with liaising with the Christian world -- just like what is found in the governments of our Muslim neighbors.
Friday Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.
For more on this topic:
Causing strategic, moral harm, Netanyahu lets others dictate Israel’s ties with Christians
Friday Focus with Lazar Berman: Attacks on Christians in Israel are national stain
IMAGE: Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, censes during Sunday morning mass at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City on July 20, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's Friday Focus. I'm your host, Deputy Editor Amanda Borschelle |
| 0:06.8 | Dan, here with our diplomatic correspondent, Laser Bearman. Hey, Laser, how are you doing? |
| 0:12.2 | Hi, Amanda. Glad to be here. I'm always glad to see you, and I see you are wearing a blue kippa right now, |
| 0:18.7 | but I want you to wear a different hat today, and that's your |
| 0:22.1 | hat of being our correspondent to the Christian world. I will do that with my same blue kippa. |
| 0:28.6 | That's fine. I'll let you keep your same blue kippa. And of course, the vast majority of the |
| 0:34.3 | Zionists in the world are Christian, and Israel's closest allies are also |
| 0:39.8 | majority Christian or officially Christian countries. And the world's largest Christian denominations |
| 0:46.5 | have many of their holiest sites in Israel. But at the same time, if I'm not mistaken, |
| 0:52.6 | there's no advisor for Christian Affairs in the prime |
| 0:55.5 | minister's office, and therefore, events like we've seen in the past week can occur and spiral |
| 1:03.6 | out of control. So what are these events that we saw in the past week? Sure. So there was three |
| 1:10.6 | ostensibly unrelated incidents, |
| 1:13.8 | but as we'll get to, |
| 1:15.2 | I think they come from a common, |
| 1:17.5 | I wouldn't say source, |
| 1:18.4 | but a common mistake |
| 1:20.5 | that the Israeli government is making |
| 1:22.7 | and has always made. |
| 1:23.9 | There was a, |
| 1:25.9 | earlier this month on July 7th, there was a fire set in Taiba, |
| 1:31.5 | which is a Palestinian Christian town in the West Bank. Well known, there's a historic church there |
... |
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