The influential Vatican-appointed Latin Patriarch,
Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told The Associated Press that the region’s
2,000-year-old Christian community has come under increasing attack, with the
most right-wing government in Israel’s history emboldening extremists who have
harassed clergy and vandalized religious property at a quickening pace.
The uptick in anti-Christian incidents comes as the Israeli
settler movement, galvanized by its allies in government, appears to have
seized the moment to expand its enterprise in the contested capital.
“The frequency of these attacks, the aggressions, has become
something new,” Pizzaballa said during Easter week from his office, tucked in
the limestone passageways of the Old City’s Christian Quarter. “These people
feel they are protected … that the cultural and political atmosphere now can
justify, or tolerate, actions against Christians.”
Pizzaballa’s concerns appear to undercut Israel’s stated
commitment to freedom of worship, enshrined in the declaration that marked its
founding 75 years ago. The Israeli government stressed it prioritizes religious
freedom and relations with the churches, which have powerful links abroad.
“Israel’s commitment to freedom of religion has been
important to us forever,” said Tania Berg-Rafaeli, the director of the world
religions department at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. “It’s the case for all
religions and all minorities that have free access to holy sites.”
But Christians say they feel authorities don’t protect their
sites from targeted attacks. And tensions have surged after an Israeli police
raid on the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque compound set off outrage among Muslims, and a
regional confrontation last week.
For Christians, Jerusalem is where Jesus was crucified and
resurrected. For Jews, it’s the ancient capital, home to two biblical Jewish
temples. For Muslims, it’s where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
The scorn heaped upon minority Christians is nothing new in
the teeming Old City, a crucible of tension that the Israeli government annexed
in 1967. Many Christians feel squeezed between Jews and Muslims, Israelis and
Palestinians.
But now Netanyahu’s far-right government includes settler
leaders in key roles — such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National
Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who holds criminal convictions from 2007 for
incitement of anti-Arab racism and support for a Jewish militant group.
Their influence has empowered Israeli settlers seeking to
entrench Jewish control of the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, alarming
church leaders who see such efforts — including government plans to create a
national park on the Mount of Olives — as a threat to the Christian presence in
the holy city. Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for
state.
“The right-wing elements are out to Judaize the Old City and
the other lands, and we feel nothing is holding them back now,” said Father Don
Binder, a pastor at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem. “Churches
have been the major stumbling block.”
The roughly 15,000 Christians in Jerusalem today, the
majority of them Palestinians, were once 27,000 — before hardships that
followed the 1967 Mideast war spurred many in the traditionally prosperous
group to emigrate.
Now, 2023 is shaping up to be the worst year for Christians
in a decade, according to Yusef Daher from the Inter-Church Center, a group
that coordinates between the denominations.
Physical assaults and harassment of clergy often go
unreported, the center said. It has documented at least seven serious cases of
vandalism of church properties from January to mid-March — a sharp increase
from six anti-Christian cases recorded in all of 2022. Church leaders blame
Israeli extremists for most of the incidents, and say they fear an even greater
surge.
“This escalation will bring more and more violence,”
Pizzaballa said. “It will create a situation that will be very difficult to
correct.”
In March, a pair of Israelis burst into the basilica beside
the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Virgin Mary is said to have been buried.
They pounced on a priest with a metal rod before being arrested.
In February, a religious American Jew yanked a 10-foot
rendering of Christ from its pedestal and smashed it onto the floor, striking
its face with a hammer a dozen times at the Church of the Flagellation on the
Via Dolorosa, along which it’s believed Jesus hauled his cross toward his
crucifixion. “No idols in the holy city of Jerusalem!” he yelled.
Armenians found hateful graffiti on the walls of their convent.
Priests of all denominations say they’ve been stalked, spat on and beaten
during their walks to church. In January, religious Jews knocked over and
vandalized 30 graves marked with stone crosses at a historic Christian cemetery
in the city. Two teenagers were arrested and charged with causing damage and
insulting religion.
But Christians allege that Israeli police haven’t taken most
attacks seriously. In one case, 25-year-old George Kahkejian said he was the
one beaten, arrested and detained for 17 hours after a mob of Jewish settlers
scaled his Armenian Christian convent to tear down its flag earlier this year.
The police had no immediate comment.
“We see that most incidents in our quarter have gone
unpunished,” complained Father Aghan Gogchian, chancellor of the Armenian
Patriarchate. He expressed disappointment with how authorities frequently
insist cases of desecration and harassment hinge not on religious hatred but on
mental illness.
The Israeli police said they have “thoroughly investigated
(incidents) regardless of background or religion” and made “speedy arrests.”
The Jerusalem municipality is boosting security at upcoming Orthodox Easter
processions and creating a new police department to handle religiously
motivated threats, said Jerusalem deputy mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum.
Most top Israeli officials have stayed quiet on the
vandalism, while government moves — including the introduction of a law
criminalizing Christian proselytizing and the promotion of plans to turn the
Mount of Olives into a national park — have stoked outrage in the Holy Land and
beyond.
Netanyahu vowed to block the bill from moving forward,
following pressure from outraged evangelical Christians in the United States.
Among the strongest backers of Israel, evangelicals view a Jewish state as the
fulfillment of a biblical prophecy.
Meanwhile Jerusalem officials confirmed that they’re
pressing on with the contentious zoning plan for the Mount of Olives — a holy
pilgrimage site with some dozen historic churches. Christian leaders fear the
park could stem their growth and encroach on their lands. Jewish settlements
home to over 200,000 Israelis already encircle the Old City.
The Israeli National Parks Authority promised buy-in from
churches and said it hopes the park will “preserve valuable areas as open
areas.”
Pizzaballa pushed back. “It’s a kind of confiscation,” he
said.
Simmering tensions in the community came to a head over
Orthodox Easter rituals as Israeli police announced strict quotas on the
thousands of pilgrims seeking to attend the rite of the “Holy Fire” at the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Citing safety concerns over lit torches being thrust through
massive crowds in the church, authorities capped Saturday’s ceremony at 1,800
people. Priests who saw police open gates wide for Jews celebrating Passover,
which coincided this year with Easter, alleged religious discrimination on
Wednesday.
These days, Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Jerusalem said he struggles for answers when his congregants
ask why they should even bear the bitter price of living in the Holy Land.
“There are things that make us worry about our very
existence,” he said. “But without hope, more and more of us will leave.” - AP
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