“The evangelical Christian organizations that are active in Israel, who represent the vast majority of Zionists in the world, will receive all the visas they need through a streamlined and efficient application process,” he said.
The issue burst into the news last week when the American ambassador in Israël Mike Huckabee published a letter he wrote to the Israeli Minister of the Interior Moshe Arbel, in which he expressed “great need” during a cessation of the “Routinematige Granting of Visa has been done for tenses”.
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Christian pilgrims who carry wooden crosses walk through the old city of Jerusalem to Saint Sepulcher Church during the Orthodox Good Friday procession on 3 May 2024. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty images)
According to Huckabee, the visa department of the Ministry of the Interior stopped at the beginning of 2025 at the beginning of 2025 after following recommendations from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and he started carrying out his own investigations into each Christian organization to determine whether they should be recognized as “religious institutions” and qualify for Visa.
He mentioned the Baptist Convention of Israel, Christian Missionary Alliance and Assemblies or God as examples, and noted that members of these groups of their A3 spirituals visa were denied and, instead, are obliged to fill in long questionnaires about their religious beliefs. Huckabee said that the status of their applications “is being investigated”.
“When support for Israel around the world – and in the US – it is under pressure, it is extremely important to support our Christian friends”
He also mentioned the international Christian embassy in Jerusalem as a different group whose visa “were held”.
He had threatened that unless changes were made, “I will have no choice than to instruct our consular section to assess options for mutual treatment of Israeli citizens who are visa looking for the United States.”
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“When support for Israel around the world – and in the US – is under pressure, it is extremely important to support our Christian friends,” said ears. “They are due to thick and thin – including when bombs fall on us – and they contribute in so many ways. Whether it is grapes, attend people in hospitals or cook meals for soldiers. We have to do nothing but they appreciate and feel welcome.”
The Ministry of the Interior, responsible for the population and the immigration authority, was led by the Ultraorthodox SHAS party, a member of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration coalition, until it shot from the government last week on the question of the Israeli army of Ultra-Orthodenthodox.
Participants wave Israel and the flags of the United States on the Christen United for Israel Summit on July 17, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty images)
According to the first source, leadership turnover in the population and immigration authority has exacerbated the issue. Amos Arbel, the former head of the authority and the uncle of the departing Minister of the Interior Moshe Arbel, left about five years ago. His replacements quickly run through the position and the role is currently empty.
“The absence of stable leadership has stated a lower-ranking the head of the Visa section-in is to make one-sided decisions,” the source explained. “She ignores routine recommendations, including those of the ministry’s own religious business consultant.”
“It’s a chronic problem and it’s daunting,” said the source. “It should not cost someone as an ambassador Huckabee to resolve what a routine bureaucratic issue should be.”
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In response, Moshe Arbel sent a letter to Huckabee, who re -confirmed his commitment to assessing such applications [for clergy visas] With the greatest efficiency. “He wrote that” immediately after our meeting all relevant professional authorities instructed to act in accordance with the insights we have achieved, and I assigned advisers to my office – under the leadership of the Staff Chef – to guarantee a personal, continuous and effective answer to such requests. “
Orthodox Christians wear wooden crosses along the Via Dolorosa (way of suffering) in the old city of Jerusalem during the Orthodox Good Friday procession on April 14, 2023. (Saeed qaq/sopa images/lighttrocket via getty images)
From the end of 2024, the Christian population of Israel was estimated at 180,300 – about 1.8% of the total population – a reflection of an increase of 0.6% compared to 2023, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics. Israel is the only country in the middle -east where the local Christian population grows.
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“It is a shame that this kind of action experiences when the government and the Minister of the Interior should have been directed in the head of the Visa section and corrected her wrong decisions,” he said.
