Anti-Christian violence in Israel spreads from Jerusalem to Haifa

Author: Rina Bassist

Publication Date: 10/8/2023

Source: Al Monitor

Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the Stella Maris monastery in Haifa on Wednesday to express solidarity with the local Christian community in light of repeated attacks at the site by Jewish ultra-Orthodox extremists.

“In recent months, we have seen a very serious phenomenon toward the Christian denominations in the Holy Land," said Herzog. "Our brothers and sisters, Christian citizens, who feel attacked in their places of prayer, in their cemeteries, on the streets. I view this phenomenon as extreme and unacceptable in any shape or form. This phenomenon needs to be uprooted, and I am very grateful to the Israel Police and the law enforcement agencies for taking this issue seriously.”

For the past three months, dozens of members of the Hassidic Breslow sect have been arriving at the 17th-century monastery, mainly on Sundays, and holding prayers at the entrance. On at least two such occasions, the gathering ended in a brawl between the Hassidim and the Christian worshipers there to attend Sunday services. A few people have been slightly injured. After the altercations erupted, the monastery stationed guards at the site and began erecting a fence to better control the entrance to the site.

The Breslow claim that they only want to pray near the site where according to some Jewish traditions the prophet Alisha is buried. Haifa's Christian residents counter that the Hassidim seek confrontation and are purposely staging provocations to that end. The Christians note that there is no long-standing Jewish tradition of praying at the iconic Stella Maris complex. From their perspective, the change in the social climate in Israel since the establishment of the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has encouraged incitement against non-Jews. The Christian community fears that the confrontations will destroy the delicate coexistence in the mixed Jewish-Arab city.

The leaders of Christian dominations in Israel are deeply concerned about the increasing number of verbal and physical attacks against clergy members and worshipers as well as the desecration of Christian holy sites. The first such attacks took place in Jerusalem at the beginning of this year.

According to the Religious Freedom Data Center, at least 30 hate crimes against Christians were recorded in Jerusalem in June and July. These included spitting at Christians and at Christian sites, vandalizing sites, shouting and cursing at pilgrims, blocking passages, refusing service and entering a church to hold Jewish prayers. Some Christians have been attacked with pepper spray. The incidents have targeted different Christian communities, mostly in Jerusalem's Old City.

Herzog condemned the attacks in Jerusalem while speaking on July 9 at the annual commemoration ceremony for Theodor Herzl. “I utterly condemn violence, in all its forms, directed by a small and extreme group, towards the holy places of the Christian faith, and against Christian clergy in Israel in general, and in Jerusalem in particular," he said. "This includes spitting, and the desecration of graves and churches. A serious phenomenon that has occurred in the last weeks and months especially." Herzog added, "The State of Israel is committed to putting an end to this phenomenon."

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