The Israeli government has angrily rejected a statement by the nation’s Christian leaders protesting against violence by extremist groups.

The government said that the claims issued by the patriarchs of the Christian churches in the Holy Land, warning that violence threatens the future of the Christian presence, “are baseless and distort the reality.”

The government went on to say that the Christian leaders’ statement was “irritating especially when one considers their silence on the difficult situation of many Christian communities in the Middle East, which suffer discrimination and persecution.”