Netanyahu sends Christmas greeting to Christians: ‘We have no better friends’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday extended Christmas greetings to Christians in Israel and around the globe celebrating the holiday.

In a video released by his office on Christmas Eve, Netanyahu said: “Merry Christmas to all our Christian friends in Israel and around the world.

“The State of Israel is the culmination of so many prophecies and our deepest held values. We share the common civilization, the Judeo-Christian civilization, that has given the world the values of freedom, individual liberty, the sanctity of life and the belief in one God. We are proud of our traditions. We are proud of our Christian friends,” he said.

“The State of Israel would not have come into being if it weren’t for the avid support of Christians in the 19th century, in the 20th century as well and in the 21st century,” Netanyahu continued. “We know that we have no better friends around the world than our Christian friends. So thank you. Thank you all for standing up with Israel, standing up for the truth. Merry Christmas.”

Some 177,000 Christians live in Israel, or roughly two percent of the population, according to figures released this week by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Christmas festivities are particularly prominent in Jesus’s childhood hometown of Nazareth in the northern Galilee region, where some 21,900 Christians live alongside an estimated 55,000 Muslim residents.