Central Asia’s poorest nation, Tajikistan has never recovered from the Soviet era. After five years of civil war following the 1991 Soviet collapse, an UN-brokered peace deal resulted. Secular forces dominate, but economic stability hasn’t returned. Tajikistan voted to allow its president to rule indefinitely. Each year greater legislative restrictions oppress the Tajik masses. Secular forces also dictate religious law. Although the constitution guarantees religious freedom, oppression is widespread. Literature confiscation is a primary tool the government uses against Christians. Churches must register to be legal, a near impossible task. However, both registered and unregistered church gatherings continue to take place.

Israel is a republic with a president as head of state. However, the president’s powers are largely ceremonial; the prime minister holds the executive power. The incumbent president is Isaac Herzog, who took office on 7 July 2021, and Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid is the prime minister from 1 July 2022. A densely-populated country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel is the only state in the world with a majority Jewish population. It has been locked in conflict with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors over ownership of land considered holy by many Jews, Christians, and Muslims since its creation in 1948. The militant Islamic group Hamas reinforced its power in Gaza in June 2007. Hamas, frustrated with the restrictions placed on them by Israel, fired rockets close to Jerusalem. Israel retaliated. Violent clashes over Jerusalem escalated dramatically with Gaza, and many were killed by Israeli airstrikes launched after Palestinian militant groups fired rockets close to Jerusalem.