It's hard for most Westerners to think of anything less controversial than a Christmas tree – but for some Israelis they are symbols of an alien faith that threatens their religious identity.

The issue surfaces periodically; in 2013 the speaker of Israel's parliament rejected a request from a Christian MP to display a tree in the building to promote multiculturalism, while rabbis have attempted to stop hotels and restaurants displaying them.

This year a letter from the Jerusalem Rabbinate urged hotels in the city not to put up trees. "As the secular year ends, we want to remind you that erecting a Christmas tree in a hotel contravenes halacha [Jewish law] and that therefore it is clear that no one should erect [a tree] in a hotel," Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar wrote to hotel managers.

The letter also said it was "appropriate to avoid hosting" New Year's parties, as the Jewish New Year is properly observed at the beginning of the Jewish calendar.

In Haifa, Rabbi Elad Dokow from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology said on the conservative religious Srugim website students should not enter the student union building because there was a Christmas tree there.

According to the Jerusalem Post, he said: "The Christmas tree is a religious symbol – not Christian, but even more problematic – pagan.

"Halacha clearly states that whenever it is possible to circumvent and not pass through a place where there is any kind of idolatry, this must be done. So one should not enter the student union if it's not necessary to do so."

Dokow wrote: "This is not about freedom of worship. It's about the public space of the campus. This is the world's only Jewish state. And it has a role to be a 'light unto the nations' and not to uncritically embrace every idea."

Rabbi Rabbi Shlomo Aviner wrote in response that Israel needed to decide what its religious future would be.

"It must be decided once and for all, are we a Jewish state or a Christian state," he told Srugim, adding it was a mistake to think Christians were the Jewish people's friends. "Their hands are stained with Jews' blood over the course of centuries: Murders, destruction, expulsions and humiliations."

A prominent Israeli Greek Orthodox priest who works for the integration of Christian Arabs into Israeli society – including the military – took Dokow to task in a letter released yesterday and cited by the Jerusalem Post. Fr Gabriel Naddaf said: "Your God is also our God" and "We were all born in the image of God."

He said: "It's true that there were awful things against the Jewish people done in the name of Christianity, but this is not the state of Christianity today. And from you [Dokow], it's expected that you will act toward unity and not divisiveness and segregation."

Naddaf said the Christmas tree was a "symbol of light and hope that we're supposed to be sending out to the world".

Hostility to Christmas trees in Israel is by no means universal, however. Arizona cypresses for use as Christman trees are distributed annually from forests run by the Jewish National Fund. It says that "Christmas tree distribution prevents illegal felling of the trees and allows people to enjoy the festive presence of a Christmas tree."