Christians in Israel are experiencing rising levels of aggression towards them according to an organisation that tracks harrassment.
The Religious Freedom Data Center says there has been an increase in cases of believers in the Holy Land being abused, although the incidents do not amount to persecution.
Christians make up a small minority in the country's population, around 2%. The main religious split is between Jews, which account for 73% of citizens and Muslims at 18% .
The Religious Freedom Data Center operates a 'hot line' to capture cases as well as employing a bank of 200 volunteers to help maintain it's records. Its founder Yisca Harani told Premier Christian News why she began the work: "It is not that we did not know about the existence of an anti-Christian sentiment, but what bothered especially me as an activist, as an inter-religious activist and a Jewish faithful person, things like that would happen in my country."
The Christian scholar says that because the episodes are not always violent, the police are often willing to ignore them.
"When the authorities said, 'Look, it is so marginal, please don't make it an issue,' then I say, 'Well, it is an issue, because every day there is something happening'. It could be a spitting incident, could be bad words, could be vandalism of a sign just directing to a church.... Turning a blind eye is basically encouragement."
The organisation has been recording these incidents for 3 years and issue reports each quarter. This year there have been 70 recorded cases of harassment towards Christians so far putting it on track to be higher than last year's tally.
When asked why these incidents are escalating Harani said: "There's a lot of tension in the last years in Israel. Definitely after October 7, people who see things black and white just see everybody who is not Jewish/Israeli as a potential threat...this is very simplistic."
She is at pains to point out that what is happening is not reflective of the spirit of the Jewish people towards believers in the Holy Land.
"I have about 150 tour guides that are shattered by the notion that their beloved tourists and pilgrims can be abused by someone like that, so they're the first to go on my volunteering line."