Brussels, March 31st, 2026 – In a coordinated diplomatic campaign reminiscent of medieval antisemitism during the Holy Week, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas has echoed the false claims that Israel is violating religious freedom and long standing commitment to protect the holy sites in Jerusalem by preventing the Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday.

Commenting on the claims made by the High Representative on Monday 30th March on X, Founding Director Tomas Sandell expressed his indignation over the statement which lacks both context and fact checking and comes at a time which Christians refer to as Holy Week.

“The fact of the matter is that Israel is restricting access to all holy sites in Jerusalem ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Christian holiday of Easter and that these restrictions apply to Christians, Jews and Muslims alike due to security concerns during the ongoing war with Iran. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre faces the same threat as the rest of the city,” Sandell said.

Already on Monday, the same day as the High Representative went public with her accusations against Israel, the Latin Patriarch issued a statement where he recognized that “the existing restrictions on public gathering remain in force given the state of war”, thus correcting the false claim that Israel is somehow violating religious freedom only for Christians. Meanwhile the Israeli authorities have reached a working agreement for church representatives to conduct Holy Week liturgies at the site despite security concerns.

“In a day and age when Christian antisemitism is again on the rise, it is unfortunate that the EU High Representative is using her platform to ignite anti-Israel sentiments suggesting that Christians are being mistreated in the Holy Land.,” Tomas Sandell said. “Similar accusations and conspiracy theories have recently been circulated by American right-wing social media influencers like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens but they should not be amplified by EU’s top diplomat.”

The Jewish holiday of Passover begins before sundown on Wednesday 1 April. The Christian holiday of Easter is celebrated on Sunday April 5, which marks the culmination of the Christian Holy Week which began with Palm Sunday.