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Christmas

People attend a Catholic Christmas Eve mass in St. Antoine Church, in Istanbul, Turkey, December 24, 2025. (AP/Khalil Hamra)
December 25, 2025, 6:13 pm
Turkey nabs 115 suspected ISIS members allegedly plotting Christmas attacks
Authorities say terror group issued call to action against non-Muslims during festivities; police seize weapons in raids at 124 locations
By Agencies
Palestinian parishioners check a recently installed Christmas tree after the previous one was destroyed at the Holy Redeemer Latin Church in the West Bank town of Jenin, December 23, 2025. (Majdi Mohammed/AP)
December 25, 2025, 3:20 pm
3 Palestinians arrested for torching Christmas tree at West Bank Catholic church
Palestinian Authority police say arson was attempt to incite sectarian and religious tensions; Holy Redeemer Church of Jenin hastily finds replacement in time for Christmas Mass
By AP and ToI Staff
Pope Leo XIV looks on as he performs the Christmas mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on December 25, 2025. (Tiziana FABI / AFP)
December 25, 2025, 3:12 pm
In 1st Christmas mass, Pope Leo laments ‘rain, wind, cold’ facing displaced Gazans
Drawing parallels to the birth of Jesus in a Bethlehem tent, pontiff asks: ‘How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza?’
By Agencies and ToI Staff
In this photo taken July 5, 2014, a server hands a small plate to a customer from a variety of dishes on a food cart at Bo Lings Chinese restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri. (AP/Charlie Riedel)
December 25, 2025, 6:14 am
Merry Jewish Christmas: How Chinese food became a time-honored tradition for US Jews
‘Chinese food and a movie’ has long been the trope of American Jewish Christmas, as, like other minority groups, Jews have created ways to adapt to the societies in which they live
By Samira Mehta
An aerial view shows scouts marching during Christmas eve celebrations on Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity (unseen) in Bethlehem, West Bank, on December 24, 2025. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)
December 25, 2025, 12:01 am
Bethlehem sees full Christmas revelry for first time since outbreak of Gaza war
Hundreds parade down Manger Square, thought to be Jesus’s birthplace, as bagpipes and drums return to West Bank city, which hosted subdued celebrations as conflict gripped region
By AFP
Illustrative: Issa Kassissieh, 47, who has dressed up as Santa Claus for 18 years, waves to the people during his annual tour of the Old City of Jerusalem, December 18, 2025. (AP/Leo Correa)
December 23, 2025, 8:30 pm
How the Yiddish-speaking Jews of Europe had themselves a merry little Nittel Nacht
A new book explores how, contrary to popular belief, Christmas was a festive time for Jewish men, who took time off from Torah study to play cards and games
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Children and nuns gather outside the Holy Family Catholic Church before attending a mass ahead of Christmas celebrations in Gaza City, December 21, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)
December 23, 2025, 3:16 pm
‘Holding on’: Gaza’s tiny Christian community tries to capture the holiday spirit
While the ceasefire has eased some suffering in the embattled enclave, Gazans lament the losses of two years of war, friends who cannot celebrate Christmas with them
By MARIAM FAM
A Liturgical Festival concert in Nazareth organized by the city's Polyphony conservatory in December 2022 (Courtesy)
December 18, 2025, 3:44 am
Nazareth’s classical Christmas concerts return home
Polyphony’s Liturgical Festival brings together musical performances by Arabs and Jews
By Jessica Steinberg
A man dressed as Santa Claus sells balloons near Nativity Square during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, on December 6, 2025. (Photo by JOHN WESSELS / AFP)
December 7, 2025, 6:58 am
Christmas festivities return to Bethlehem after 2 years of war in Gaza
Tourism-reliant city sees crowds travel from Israel, West Bank and beyond, seeks to ‘reignite hope’ after celebrations were muted amid war, and before that during COVID
By Agencies and ToI Staff
In 'The Great Christmas Boycott of 1906,' Scott D. Seligman reconstructs how a seemingly local dispute in one Brooklyn school exploded into a test case for religious freedom and civic belonging. (Nebraska University Press via JTA)
November 19, 2025, 4:34 am
How at the turn of the century, American Jews really did wage a ‘war on Christmas’
A new book by historian Scott D. Seligman recalls the ‘The Great Christmas Boycott of 1906,’ when immigrants fought for the separation of church and state in public schools
By Andrew Silow-Carroll
"Oy, Santa" is among the Hanukkah children's books that also deal with Christmas that have come out in 2024. (Collage by Joseph Strauss / JTA)
December 27, 2024, 2:05 am
Hanukkah-Christmas convergence inspires flood of intercultural books for kids
From a ‘Parent Trap’-esque switcheroo to a exploration of traditions around the world, publishers are ringing in the winter holidays with stories for Jewish and interfaith families
By Penny Schwartz
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa leads Christmas morning service at the Christmas morning Mass at the Catholic Church of Saint Catherine, in the Nativity Church Complex, in Bethlehem in the West Bank on December 25, 2024. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)
December 25, 2024, 5:50 pm
Bethlehem marks second subdued Christmas, amid pall of ongoing war
Latin patriarch, after visiting Catholics in Gaza, urges faithful in West Bank city to ‘not give up,’ as pope in Vatican laments ‘bombs on schools and hospitals’
By AFP and ToI Staff
Pope Francis delivers the Urbi et Orbi message and blessing to the city and the world from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica as part of Christmas celebrations, at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican on December 25, 2024. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)
December 25, 2024, 3:26 pm
On Christmas, Pope Francis calls for Gaza hostage-truce deal, Ukraine peace talks
As Hannukah and Christmas coincide, pontiff uses his annual ‘Urbi et Orbi’ address to urge ‘all peoples and nations… to silence the sound of arms and overcome divisions’
By Agencies and ToI Staff
Screen capture from video of a Christmas tree that was set alight in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, near Hama, Syria, December 24, 2024. (X. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
December 25, 2024, 8:23 am
Hundreds protest for Christians’ rights in Syrian capital after Christmas tree burned
Hooded fighters seen in video setting fire to installation in Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, near Hama; interim government representative condemns action; tree repaired
By Agencies and ToI Staff
A liquor store decorated for Christmas in the Christian Quarter of the Jerusalem Old City, December 24, 2024 (Gianluca Pacchiani/Times of Israel)
December 24, 2024, 10:42 pm
Jerusalem’s Christmas dimmed by war, but some Christians see a glimmer of hope
As conflict persists and tourist influx remains limited, public celebrations in the Old City are canceled for the second year in a row, but some refuse to give in to despair
By Gianluca Pacchiani
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