ANCA welcomes Sen. Van Hollen’s call to protect Armenian Christians in Jerusalem
Maryland Senator urges U.S. ambassador to Israel to defend religious freedom and property rights of Christian communities
WASHINGTON—The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomed U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) strong advocacy for the Christian presence in Jerusalem, praising his recent letter to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee calling for urgent American engagement to protect at-risk Christian communities—including the Armenian Apostolic, Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchates.
In a detailed and documented letter, Senator Van Hollen highlighted escalating threats facing these historic institutions, including settler violence, unjust foreclosure actions and legislative efforts to strip churches of their property rights. Referring specifically to the Armenian Patriarchate, he wrote: “In February, the Jerusalem municipality initiated foreclosure proceedings against the Patriarchate’s properties, a move that threatens not only the institution itself but also the broader Christian presence in Jerusalem.” He expressed deep concern that these developments “remain unresolved” despite public and diplomatic pressure, noting that local church leaders have described “growing challenges” to their safety, autonomy and survival.
“Senator Van Hollen’s strong leadership comes at a pivotal moment for Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “His call for urgent U.S. engagement speaks to the existential threats facing this ancient Christian community—threats that include dispossession, discrimination and the erosion of religious and cultural rights. The Armenian presence in Jerusalem has endured for over 1,700 years. Preserving the Armenian Christian Quarter is not only a matter of religious freedom, but of protecting a central pillar of Christendom and the very spiritual identity of the Holy Land.”
Senator Van Hollen’s appeal also underscored the devastating consequences of inaction. He referenced repeated settler attacks—including those on the Christian town of Taybeh—and warned that “the lack of accountability not only threatens Christian communities but also weakens the moral and legal foundations that uphold peace and justice for all.” He criticized recent Israeli legislation, such as the so-called “Fair Leasing Bill,” that would enable long-term control over church lands without consent, effectively stripping religious institutions of their autonomy. He also condemned a surge of aggressive taxation targeting Christian schools, churches and charitable institutions—policies that violate long-standing legal exemptions.
The full text of the Senator’s Letter to Ambassador Huckabee is provided below and available here.
The Senator’s concerns mirror those raised by legal experts and Armenian community advocates and supporters who warn that the current pressure campaign against the Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate is part of a broader effort to dismantle the Christian presence in the Holy Land. Among the most alarming cases is a secretive, controversial and contested 99-year lease allegedly signed in 2021 with a private developer tied to Israeli settler organizations. The deal, which includes roughly 25% of the Armenian Quarter’s land, has triggered widespread outrage and legal action from within the Armenian community.
Leading opposition to this deal is Save the ArQ, a grassroots movement founded by Jerusalem Armenians to defend the Armenian Quarter’s religious, legal and cultural integrity. The group has played a central role in documenting settler aggression, mobilizing legal challenges and rallying international support for the community’s right to remain on its ancestral lands.
“This is more than a bad financial deal,” Save the ArQ co-founder Hagop Djernazian told Congressional staff during an ANCA-sponsored Capitol Hill briefing held in January. “It is an attempt to sever our historic and cultural ties to Jerusalem, a place we have called home for centuries.” His colleague, Setrag Balian, emphasized the spiritual and geopolitical stakes of the moment, stating, “We are fighting not just for land, but for the soul of Jerusalem. The Armenian Quarter embodies the coexistence and cultural harmony that has defined this city for millennia. Losing it would disrupt the fragile balance of the Old City and forever alter its historic identity.”
The Armenian Quarter, established in the early centuries of Christianity, stands as one of the oldest and most resilient Christian communities in the Holy Land. Since Armenia’s adoption of Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD, Armenian pilgrims and monks have maintained a continuous presence in Jerusalem. The Quarter’s institutions—centered around the 7th-century Patriarchate of St. James—have served as a refuge for pilgrims, a center of learning and culture and a sanctuary for survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Today, its churches, schools, libraries and homes remain under siege by legal and physical threats that risk erasing this ancient legacy.
The ANCA continues to call on the U.S. Administration to take immediate and meaningful action to protect Jerusalem’s Armenian Christian Quarter from mounting legal, political and physical threats. Specifically, the ANCA urges U.S. officials to press the Israeli government to uphold fair and transparent legal proceedings concerning the Armenian Patriarchate’s property rights; to publicly condemn violent attacks and intimidation targeting Armenian institutions and individuals; to oppose unilateral actions—legal or territorial—that disrupt the delicate cultural and religious balance of the Old City and to engage in sustained diplomacy with Israeli authorities to ensure the long-term security, autonomy and continuity of this sacred and historic Christian community.
For more information or to join ANCA’s advocacy campaign, visit: https://anca.org/ArmenianChristianQuarter.
Unfortunately, these efforts are futile and doomed to failure, because of the alliance of the powerful Israel and Evangelical Protestant lobbies, who are in a symbiotic relationship with each other. Apart from the powerful propaganda machine of the Israel lobby, which thwarts any campaigns and other efforts it deems hostile to Israel, the situation of the Armenians and their properties in Jerusalem, let alone the plight of the Armenians in Artsakh, have not generated any meaningful response and sympathy from Evangelical Christians; only ice-cold indifference and silence. Sadly, Armenia and Armenians, don’t generate the same response and sympathy, that Israel as the “Holy Land” and Jews as the “Chosen People” do for Evangelical Christians. Israel regards Armenians as the friends and allies of Palestinians, Arabs in general and of Iran in particular, and therefore as an antagonist to Israel. That is why, Armenian organizations and lobbies have such difficulty in making any headway in U.S. Congress, and among Evangelical Protestants and with their organizations and lobbies, if it clashes with Israel’s national interests.
let’s be honest and listen to both sides – it was the people from the Armenian patriarchate who initiated this dirty deal, and now you are talking about injustice and oppression.
That the Christians in Jerusalem (as well as in Palestine and in Israel) are not Evangelical Protestant and are overwhelmingly Palestinian Arab, is another factor why no protest will occur and no help will come from the United States. Again, since Armenians are regarded as the friends and allies of Palestinians and of Arabs in general, and are lumped together with them as hostile to Israel, likewise. American Evangelical Protestants have shown as much indifference and hostility to Palestinian Christians as Israel does. That is why, the issue of Christian properties of Armenians and Palestinians in Jerusalem, has been met with ice-cold indifference by American Evangelical Protestants.