(RNS) — For a long time, the state of Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has successfully claimed that the safety of its people justified its political maneuvering. Whether punishing people collectively — destroying homes, restricting movement for the population of the West Bank — or detaining individuals administratively, the defense for violating human rights has predictably and falsely been “security.”

A new twist, however, took place on Palm Sunday.

Israeli security officers denied four Catholic churchmen — the Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Rev. Francesco Ielpo, who is the church’s Custodian of the Holy Land, and two other priests — entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity’s holiest sites, on Palm Sunday (March 29), the beginning of Holy Week. The Catholic leadership in the region has been carefully following and adhering to war-related security directives and only wanted to hold a peaceful Palm Sunday service, using a live video feed to allow believers around the world to participate in this annual event.

Israel has allowed gatherings of up to 50 persons since the war on Iran began but was adamant about not allowing this extremely small group to carry out their religious service. The act was so outrageous that even the Trump administration’s ambassador, Mike Huckabee, who is stridently pro-Israel, was unable to accept the justification. He argued that while all holy sites in the Old City are closed due to safety concerns for mass gatherings, including the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulcher and Al-Aqsa Mosque, denying three men from entering the church to offer a blessing on Palm Sunday was an unfortunate overreach.

“For the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify,” said Huckabee.

What the ambassador avoided addressing is that the ban on entering the church was imposed because the church lies inside the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel has used the war to bar Palestinians who are not residents of the Old City from entering, while allowing Jewish Israelis free access. During Ramadan, Muslim families who live outside the walled city have been unable to break their fast with their relatives and friends or even visit their elderly parents. Priests were barred from carrying out the annual walk on the Via Dolorosa, and Christian schools were unable to conduct regular activities because they were inside the walls of Jerusalem.

The fact of this discriminatory policy is confirmed by Israeli authorities’ allowing the Latin Patriarch to hold Palm Sunday services in the All Nations Church at the Gethsemane gardens, just outside the Old City walls. Meanwhile, Israel has failed to offer protection to Palestinians Christians, as extremists have spat on their priests and destroyed and defamed church properties. The government of Israel is also doing its best to stop teachers at private Christian schools from reaching their classrooms in Jerusalem. 

Israeli discrimination against Palestinian Christians is also evident in the fact that prisoners are not allowed to receive the Holy Bible, and postcards sent to female Palestinian prisoners from Christians in the U.S. have not been delivered to those incarcerated in Israeli jails.

Following the worldwide uproar over the ban on the Latin Patriarch, Netanyahu issued a belated statement ordering his own police to provide access to the Catholic Cardinal to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre throughout the week leading to Easter.

What is needed is not a reluctant reversal of a discriminatory decision, but a serious review of all Israeli policies regarding religious freedom. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights protects the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to worship, practice and observe religion, either alone or in community, in public or private. It is high time that the world community holds Israel accountable for its stark violation of Palestinian human rights. Short of that, sanctions and other internationally approved forms of punishment should be applied against Israel and any other state that fails to honor these universal human rights commitments.

(Daoud Kuttab is the senior communications officer of the World Evangelical Alliance. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)