Israel: 5 arrested for threatening Christians in Jerusalem

In response to mounting reports of anti-Christian hostility, Israeli police detained five persons on suspicion of spitting at Christians or churches on Wednesday in Jerusalem’s Old City and established a special investigative team. “Unfortunately, we witness the continued disgraceful acts of hatred towards Christians in the Old City of Jerusalem, primarily through spitting by extremists,” said Jerusalem District Commander Doron Turgeman. The identities of the people that were detained remain unknown. Jewish ultranationalists have reportedly increased their harassment and intimidation of the area’s small Christian community, especially since Netanyahu’s hard-right administration assumed power late last year. The city was preparing for its annual Jerusalem March on Wednesday when the arrests took place. This event often attracts sizable crowds, including tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims. Video taken in the Old City this week and released by Israeli media appeared to show Orthodox Jews, including young children, spitting on the ground as they passed a group of international Christian pilgrims. Announcing that “immediate and decisive action” would be taken, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the incident. “Israel is totally committed to safeguard the sacred right of worship and pilgrimage to the holy sites of all faiths,” he said in a message on the social messaging platform X. The Old City’s patchwork of little lanes surround some of the holiest places for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and despite frequent surges in tension, particularly on religious and national festivals, the local communities have long developed means of coexisting. In addition to using security cameras, patrols, and internet monitoring, Turgeman said police would perhaps start enforcing specific “administrative fines” to combat the problem both in the moment and in the future. (With agency inputs)