On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis inaugurated the 2025 Jubilee, a holy year of pilgrimage, and renewal, by opening the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica. The theme he chose for the year: hope. It is a word many need to hear, perhaps none more than the Christians living through the Israel-Hamas war. That’s why I chose to spend my Christmas amid the struggling community in Bethlehem, where Jesus Christ was born.
The flight itself was difficult to arrange; carriers have not returned to their normal routes, and American airlines are still not flying to Tel Aviv. On the plane, I was seated next to several young Jewish Americans from Long Island, headed to Israel to volunteer. We took a shared delight in the confluence of Christmas and Hanukkah falling on the same day this year, for the first time since 2005. When I told them I hadn’t been to Israel before, they gleefully told me of Jerusalem’s spiritual atmosphere.
It was a note of optimism that I needed to calm my apprehension. But the first thing I saw when I arrived at Ben Gurion Airport were posters, each showing the face of a hostage still held by Hamas, lining a ramp leading to Israeli customs. The memorial was a stark reminder of the ongoing conflict that has cast its shadow over the region since Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
I arrived in Bethlehem and found that there was no towering Christmas tree in Manger Square, no twinkling lights, no festive music filling the air. The absence of Bethlehem’s usual Christmas cheer hung like a dark cloud, despite the unseasonably bright weather.