Christians in a northern Galilee village lean into their faith as they fear for the future
In times of peace or war, church bells sound in Fassuta every day, giving some residents a sense of hope while others worry about the next generation and a return to war
FASSUTA — It was a bright, clear Sunday morning when the bells of Mar Elias Church pealed across the hilltop. Since well before the recent conflict with its northern neighbors, Hezbollah, residents of the Melkite Christian village of Fassuta, 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) south of Lebanon, have daily pulled their church bells — in peace and war.
“Even during the war, the church bells rang every day,” said Rima Khoury, co-founder of Beit Rima, a cultural center in the village. “They rang in the morning, at noon and in the evening. It was a strong reminder that we are really protected, and we are here, safe.”
However, the day before The Times of Israel’s March 23 visit, six rockets fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel underscored the fragility of the peace treaty between Hezbollah and Israel.
Fassuta’s 3,400 residents had lived under rocket fire for 14 months since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets in support of its ally Hamas in the war in Gaza. That war began on October 7, 2023, when more than 5,000 Hamas-led terrorists stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 civilians and taking 251 people captive amid rapes and brutality.
The residents of Fassuta were not evacuated for the duration of the war, but the village became a closed military zone. After the peace treaty was signed on November 27, 2024, visitors started trickling back to Fassuta, touring its narrow, charming streets.
Yet the Saturday attack caused cancellations and made residents question their sense of security once again.
A tenuous future
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, approximately 180,000 Christians live in Israel, 1.8 percent of the country’s population.
“What is the future of our children and grandchildren?” Sharif Eseid asked this reporter rhetorically as he stood near Fassuta’s church. Eseid works in the EMMS Nazareth Hospital as an operating room nurse. He gestured to his son Wadea, a 12th grader who wants to study engineering. “If he leaves to study in Europe, he will not return.”
That was a message The Times of Israel heard repeatedly: The next generation is ambivalent about its future in the village — or in Israel at all.
“Everyone knows someone who has moved away,” said Khalil Khoury, 25, who graduated from architecture school and is currently looking for a job.
“People aren’t building in the north since the war began,” he said. While he’s looking for work, he’s helping his father, Walied, a blacksmith.
According to a new survey, 36% of Christians in Israel and East Jerusalem are considering leaving the country, a number that rises to 48% for people under 30.
The preliminary results of the study were released on March 27 by the Israeli NGO Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue in conjunction with its 2024 Annual Report on attacks on Christians in Israel and East Jerusalem.
Almost half of the survey’s respondents mentioned security as one of the factors influencing their aspiration to emigrate, with another third citing the socio-political situation.
Fassuta witnessed one of the 35 incidents of vandalism against church property that was documented in the Rossing report, eight of which occurred in Galilee.
In December, a statue of the Virgin Mary at the entrance of the village was vandalized, its protective glass and some of its decorations shattered. The perpetrator appeared to be a religious Jewish man. The statue has since been repaired.
At the same time, according to the survey, Christians in the Galilee are less likely to have experienced harassment because of their religious identity.
One of the survey’s findings also highlighted how the church plays an important role in over eight out of 10 Christians in Israel and East Jerusalem, with 33% of the respondents saying that they regularly participate in church activities and 52% occasionally involved.
Worshipers leave Mar Elias Church in Fassuta on March 23, 2025. (Diana Bletter/Times of Israel)
Melkite Catholic priest — and his wife
In Fassuta, Father Michael Assi, pastor of the Mar Elias church, led services for more than 100 worshipers in the sanctuary. Afterward, he spoke to this reporter.
“We hope peace comes,” he said. “We need peace. We want to live in peace.”
The Melkite Church is officially affiliated with the Catholic Church but shares the Byzantine rite of many Eastern Orthodox churches. And, as in Eastern Orthodox churches, Melkite priests are allowed to marry.
Father Assi’s wife, Lina, talked about the difficulties during the war.
She said the most frightening thing was driving under rocket fire to the other Melkite Christian village of Mi’elia in the Galilee, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) away, where she teaches Hebrew at an elementary school. In the afternoon, she commuted back to Fassuta along empty roads and organized church activities for the village youth.
Lina said that from their house on the Fassuta hill, they had a view of Lebanon and they could see “the bombs and smoke.”
“It became a routine,” Lina said, almost matter-of-factly. “Sirens, enter the shelter, booms, wait and then leave.”
During the war, mass was held as usual on Sundays and holidays, but there was a limit on the number of worshipers in the church by the Home Front Command.
“All of us in the village got used to the routine of war: alarms, explosions, gunshots, fires,” she said. “Faith in God and prayers helped me cope.”
She said that she is afraid that the war will start again and “break out more brutally, with revenge killings.”
“I hope that a peace agreement will be signed in the region and that we will have quiet and calm days,” she said.
The Times of Israel Community.