Israel President Reuven Rivlin said during a meeting with church leaders in Jerusalem that Christians and Jews are “brothers.”

Rivlin invited the heads of the various churches in Jerusalem to his official residence on the occasion of Easter.

He used the opportunity to decry the rising persecution of Christians across the Middle East.

“I say to you here, our Christian brothers of Jerusalem, our thoughts are with you at this difficult time,” stated Rivlin. “We have all seen the pictures from Syria; I visited some of the injured being treated in Israeli hospitals. What has happened there to the Christian community – and to the whole country – is a stain on all of humanity.”

Rivlin went on to note that the Jewish people “know better than any what it means to pray in fear, and suffer from terrorism.”

He vowed that Israel would continue to do its utmost to “protect your freedom of worship, your security and the security of your holy sites.”