On March 16, fragments of an Iranian ballistic missile landed on the rooftop and in the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. More shrapnel landed atop the Temple Mount and near the Western Wall. Less than a week later, another Iranian missile directly impacted the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel quite reasonably applied the same safety guidelines active across the rest of the country (no gatherings over 50 people, and even then only if a suitable bomb shelter is nearby) to Jerusalem’s holy sites. All of them–Jewish, Christian, and Muslim.

BREAKING: Shrapnel from an Iranian missile struck near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/AO8cnGedRJ

— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 16, 2026

But local Christian leaders, like their Muslim counterparts, predictably reacted by accusing Israel of anti-Christian discrimination ahead of the important Christian holidays of Palm Sunday and Easter. The real reason for the restrictions was ignored almost entirely, as was the fact that Jewish holy sites were similarly affected.

To his credit, Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa refrained from lashing out at Israel when he and several other church representatives were prevented by police from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday (yesterday). Pizzaballa said he understood the restrictions, but felt it was an overreach to deny entry to such a small delegation and would work to resolve the misunderstanding with Israeli authorities.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa- absolute class.

After being briefly denied entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday due to wartime restrictions, he didn’t lash out or point fingers.

He recognized the reality, called it a misunderstanding, and kept the focus on… pic.twitter.com/4KkupWelSg

— Stella Escobedo (@StellaEscoTV) March 29, 2026

Others were less scrupulous, and Catholic officials around the world charged Israel with “denial of freedom worship.”

Archbishop of Westminster, +Richard Moth, deplores Israelis denying the Latin Patriarch right to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass. pic.twitter.com/2AsyA7xIxq

— Austen Ivereigh (@austeni) March 29, 2026

Mainstream media quickly took its queue and broadcast headlines declaring that Israel would not allow Christians in Jerusalem to celebrate their holy feasts, headlines that were grossly misleading by omission.

Those omissions, unsurprisingly, fueled outright lies, like that spewed by Spain’s shameless prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who, devoid of all context, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of arbitrarily targeting Christians on their most sacred days.

Netanyahu ha impedido a los católicos celebrar el Domingo de Ramos en los Lugares Santos de Jerusalén. Sin explicación alguna. Sin razones ni motivos.

Desde el Gobierno de España condenamos este ataque injustificado a la libertad religiosa y exigimos a Israel que respete la…

— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) March 29, 2026

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar noted that Sánchez is so liberal he won’t even wish Spanish citizens a “Merry Christmas,” but he hates Israel enough to feign outrage over false allegations that Christians are being kept from prayer in Jerusalem.

Cuando un misil iraní impactó cerca de la Iglesia del Santo Sepulcro en Jerusalén, @sanchezcastejon no dijo nada.
Sánchez, que ni siquiera desea a los ciudadanos españoles “Feliz Navidad”, nunca pierde la oportunidad de incitar al odio contra Israel.
Israel está comprometido con… https://t.co/z6MLo0DKp9 pic.twitter.com/5fSux7Xywh

— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) March 29, 2026

Netanyahu later agreed with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee that denying Pizzaballa and his small delegation entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was an excessive application of Israel’s wartime restrictions, and ordered that the patriarch be granted full access to the holy site.

I have instructed the relevant authorities that Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch, be granted full and immediate access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Over the past several days, Iran has repeatedly targeted the holy sites of all three…

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 29, 2026

President Isaac Herzog called the incident “unfortunate” not least because it provided fuel to those who falsely claim that Israel is trying to remove the Christian presence from the Holy Land.

“The unfortunate incident stemmed solely from security concerns due to the continuous threat of missile attacks from the Iranian terror regime against the civilian population in Israel,” read a statement released by Herzog’s office. “The State of Israel’s remains committed to freedom of religion for all faiths, as well as to upholding the status quo at the holy sites of Jerusalem.”

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