Weeks before Pope Francis is due to arrive in Israel May 24 for a three-day visit, attacks and threats against Christians and their holy sites have escalated dramatically.
The latest hateful graffiti — “King David for the Jews” and “Jesus is garbage”– were sprayed in Hebrew on the Romanian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem this morning. That makes it the 20th attack of this nature inside Israel in 2014. Already this year Jewish extremists have graffiti’d “Death to Arabs,” “America is Nazi Germany” and “Jesus monkey, Maria cow,” on Christian holy sites, in attacks described by the church as “terrorist vandalism.”
After a column in front of the Vatican’s Office of the Assembly of Bishops was vandalized on Monday the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Vatican’s Holy Land custodian, responded on its official website stating, “The wave of fanaticism and intimidation against Christians continues.” The statement goes on to say, “there has been terror for some time’, and expresses concern there had been no condemnation of the latest attack issued by Israeli government officials. The Latin Patriarchate also notes an “absence or weakness of prosecution” of an astonishing 400 such cases, and expresses fear of impending escalation. The statement also warns that the Heads of the Churches in the Holy Land would respond.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (original bold):
Acts of vandalism and, especially, last week’s anti-Christian death threats in Galilee have aroused great emotion and solidarity. “For more than a week – says Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, Patriarchal Vicar for Israel – I was literally a ‘prisoner’, along with my collaborators, in the living room at the Patriarchal Vicariate in Nazareth where there were continuous visits by individuals and groups of various religions: Muslims, Druze, Christians of all denominations, Jewish academic circles and dialogue associations.”
But the faithful may have perceived a false note in these expressions of solidarity. Aside from the fact-finding visit to the local police, no gesture of solidarity and condemnation came the Israeli political side. It has shocked the faithful deeply: “We feel neither safe nor protected.”
The Bishops are very concerned about the lack of security and lack of responsiveness from the political sector, and fear an escalation of violence. There has been terror for some time, beginning with graffiti, then moved on to drilling holes in the tires of cars, various acts of vandalism and looting of properties or Christian symbols. Given the absence or weakness of prosecution, vandals have now come with personal threats. The recently published U.S. report on the phenomenon of Mekhir Tag (Price Tag) and other aspects of this terrorist vandalism is quite clear and disturbing. It lists more than 400 cases, the vast majority have gone un-prosecuted.
Heads of the Churches in the Holy Land are preparing a series of actions aimed at informing local and international public opinion, and to make the authorities and law officials aware of their responsibilities.
Subsequently Haaretz reported Israeli Police and the Shin Bet were concerned the situation could escalate as Jewish extremists could exploit the Popes visit by carrying out a major hate crime against Christians and/or their holy sites.
Meanwhile, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told Army Radio on Wednesday that Israel “intended” to use administrative detention against extremists. Aljazeera reports Israel mulls internment for Arab hate crimes:
Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been no successful prosecutions for price tag attacks and the government has come under mounting pressure to authorise the Shin Bet internal security agency to step in.
“It is a matter of days or even weeks until these people are caught and investigated, and I hope they will be brought to justice for their actions,” said Aharonovitch…
Myriam Ambroselli, Director of the Media Office at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in an article published today on the attacks: “For a country that prides itself constantly on wanting to ensure, at any price, the safety of its residents, the recent escalation of violence is a stain. And what about the bitter lack of a message of solidarity to Christians who are preparing to receive the Pope in a few days?”
Even though the government seeks to distance itself from these attacks, the context they are arising in is one where the state is seeking to “de-Arabize” Christians and actively recruiting Christians into the Israeli army to separate them from the broader Palestinian community. In addition, they are walling up and stealing Church land, separating nuns from their Monastery, and denying Christians and Muslims access to holy sites on holy days.
I consider myself anti-religious. However, I would NEVER attack religious people and their holy sites in such a way.
Despite the continuous attacks on Churches, the shameless devotion to zionism and Israel, will continue from Christians, especially the evangelicals. Perhaps they are afraid that the second coming will be cancelled, if they stopped sending aid.
Israel better do something about the attacks on Christians and the US I-People better also back off calling the Christans ‘hate groups’ for advocating for I/P peace as Commentary and a lot of I-Mouthpieces have been doing lately.
Because the shit has hit the fan in Jesus land……
The SC ruling on allowing Christian prayer took up both local poitical talk progams here this am…lots of celebration.
On one show however one lone woman called in and complained about it being unfair to Jews and non Christians–which kicked off an avalanch of calls attacking the woman.
I wont go into everything the callers said but it went on and on and into liberals and non christian groups who are trying ‘to destroy us from within” and so forth.
I said originally letting religion into the Israel issue was a bad idea. But then the mainline churches got involved and then got attacked by the Jewish groups as anti semitic and to been off to the races ever since then.
Neither the Jewish or atheist groups in the US going after public prayer nor the Israelis are going to be able to beat the Christians— all they will get is a war they cant win and rejection from the Christian mainstream. And it will come from the ‘old conservative’ right, the religious right mainstream, with a good helping from the good old boys of ‘God and Country”. I recognized two callers as people I knew who I had no idea were so Christian identified and up in arms over what they called assault on Christians and ‘American traditions’….assaults on American traditons being one of the most often repeated complaints..and linked to our “Christian founders”.
They need to back off the Christians now, in Palestine and the US before this religious thing escalates any more and gets even uglier.
I am an avid, everyday reader of Mondoweiss BECAUSE of my strong Christian (Roman Catholic) belief in the value and equality of every life. I’ve spent 40+ years attending and teaching Sunday school, parochial school and weekly masses in over a dozen parishes across the United States and in Spain, and in every instance the message that is taught is simply: love one another.
I abhor certain official positions of my church, such as those proscribing (for now…) women in the clergy and, of course, homosexuality. On those issues, obviously, we Catholics, and many other Christians, remain in the dark ages. But I hold out hope that we will change even on those matters slowly but surely, because I know for a fact that the Church — truly — believes in that one overarching message of love.
It is on this basis that images like the one of that vandalized church in Israel cut me to the bone. I wonder, what must a child living in that faith community feel when she or he sees such acts of hatred carried out for no reason that a little girl or boy could even begin to comprehend? How must such open, dehumanizing hostility crush a young person’s spirit, feeling of well being, place in the world?
Then I wonder, how very many times worse must it have been, and continue to be, for millions (millions!) of Palestinian children to have grown up in much worse, much more dehumanizing, spirit-crushing conditions over these last seven decades?
Oh my God.
I weep for them all.
But some don’t shun being associated with the Apartheid State at all. Leno to host award ceremony in Israel.
So, that burrito’s commercial wasn’t a comical hiccup after all?
And then ‘Here’s Donny’ explaining that Judaism prevents a person from being [a] racist…
I guess a truly ‘free’ world needs a ‘free’ mind to being with.