ROME — The Times of Israel has denounced growing anti-Christian violence in the Holy Land, some of which has been blamed on “Jewish extremists.”
Last Friday, Christian Churches in Jerusalem appealed to the government to ensure freedom to worship during Holy Week and Easter in the face of “mounting violence and acts of desecration over the past year,” the newspaper reported.
Catholic Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over Palm Sunday Mass at the packed Church of the Holy Sepulchre, venerated as the burial place of Jesus and scene of his resurrection.
Jerusalem’s Christian leaders “tell of a deteriorating atmosphere of harassment, apathy from authorities, and a growing fear that incidents of spitting and vandalism could turn into something far darker,” the paper has revealed.
In February, for instance, an American Jewish tourist vandalized a statue of Jesus in the Church of the Flagellation, which marks the second station of the cross in the traditional Via Crucis. The man was part of a “group of Jewish extremists” who were eventually apprehended by the Israel Security Forces (ISF).
A view of damage after an American tourist attacked and toppled a statue of Jesus in the Church of the Flagellation on the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem on February 02, 2023. (Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Father Francesco Patton, Custodian of the Holy Land, cited seven anti-Christian incidents that have taken place in recent weeks, adding that “it is no coincidence that these serious incidents are taking place specifically now.”
“We are horrified and hurt in the wake of the many incidents of violence and hatred that have taken place recently against the Catholic community in Israel,” the priest said.
“We expect and demand from the Israeli government and law enforcement to act with determination to stamp these serious phenomena,” he said.
These concerns were echoed by the Greek Orthodox Church, which said in a statement: “Terrorist attacks by radical Israeli groups, targeting churches, cemeteries, and Christian properties… have become almost a daily occurrence that evidently increases in intensity during Christian holidays,” said.
Incidents have included the desecration of graves at the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion, vandalism at the Maronite community center in the northern city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha, and the defacing of Jerusalem’s Armenian community buildings, with graffiti promising “revenge,” “death to Christians,” “death to Arabs and gentiles” and “death to Armenians.”
Church leaders insist that an inhospitable political atmosphere has obliged them to lock compounds at night for protection while the government turns a blind eye to the problem.