Israel is the only country in the region where Christians are thriving, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday as he addressed the annual Christians United For Israel summit in Washington DC via video link.

“Israel is also the only country for thousands of miles where Christians not only survive, they thrive. Christian holy sites are protected and Christian worship is done without fear,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said Christians had achieved “incredible heights” in Israel, standing out in every field but that in other countries in the region the rights of Christians are not respected and that in Iran they are “brutally persecuted.”

Israel, Netanyahu told the summit “stands in complete solidarity with persecuted Christians in Iran,” adding that unlike many countries in the world, it would not be silent on their plight.

“Why are so many people silent as Christians are jailed and tortured in Iran?” the prime minister asked before adding: “We in Israel will not be silent, and I will continue to raise the plight of the long-suffering Iranian people—Christians, Baha’i, students, journalists. Iran’s regime is a point of darkness in the Middle East. Israel is a point of light.”

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Written by TPS  |  Photo by Hillel Maeir/TPS