The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem has accused radical Israeli teams of threatening the presence of Christians within the holy metropolis, in remarks that Israeli officers rejected as baseless, Reuters experiences.
In a column within the Occasions of London on Saturday, His Beatitude, Theophilos III, mentioned he believed the purpose was to drive the Christian neighborhood from Jerusalem’s Outdated Metropolis, which has websites sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, together with the Outdated Metropolis, together with the West Financial institution and Gaza Strip in a 1967 warfare. It annexed East Jerusalem after the warfare in a transfer that has not received worldwide recognition.
“Our presence in Jerusalem is beneath risk,” the patriarch wrote within the article, printed a day after the Greek Orthodox celebration of Christmas.
“Our church buildings are threatened by Israeli radical fringe teams. By the hands of those Zionist extremists the Christian neighborhood in Jerusalem is struggling tremendously, he mentioned.
“Our brothers and sisters are the victims of hate crimes. Our church buildings are recurrently desecrated and vandalised. Our clergy are topic to frequent intimidation.”
By singling out extremists as Israeli, Theophilos’s criticism was extra private and trenchant than that of a collective assertion issued by the heads of different church buildings in Jerusalem earlier than Christmas.
Their assertion spoke of “frequent and sustained assaults by fringe radical teams” however stopped in need of figuring out them as Israeli.
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A U.S. State Division report printed final yr on non secular freedom around the globe mentioned Christian clergy and pilgrims continued to report cases of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem harassing or spitting on them.
Church teams have for a while reported assaults of vandalism at non secular websites within the metropolis. Theophilos didn’t accuse any radical teams by identify or cite particular incidents. He didn’t present proof that they had been Israeli, or that their purpose was to drive Christians from town.
On Sunday, an Israeli official mentioned the truth on the bottom for Christians was utterly completely different from that described by the patriarch, citing a International Ministry assertion on Dec 22 that rebutted the sooner church leaders’ claims.
“Because the day it was established, the State of Israel has been dedicated to freedom of faith and worship for all religions, as effectively to making sure the liberty of entry to holy websites,” the ministry assertion mentioned.
“The assertion by Church leaders in Jerusalem is especially infuriating given their silence on the plight of many Christian communities within the Center East affected by discrimination and persecution.”
In his column, Theophilos mentioned the radicals that he criticised “usually are not consultant of the state of Israel or the Jewish individuals,” and referred to as on Jerusalem to stay a various “mosaic neighborhood” of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
