مركز المعلومات الفلسطيني- تنزانيا
Palestine Information Centre (Tanzania)
Kituo
cha Habari cha Palestina (Tanzania)
Press Release
19 January 2016
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Israeli settlers scrawl hate graffiti on Jerusalem church
The Ambassador of the State of Palestine in Dar es Salaam condemns the latest vandalism act of spraying racist graffiti on the walls of the Dormition Monastery in occupied East Jerusalem carried out by extremist Israeli settlers last Sunday 17 January 2016
H.E. Mr. Hazem Shabat, blamed the graffiti vandalism on the ongoing incitement campaigns carried out by Israeli settler leaders, in which they blatantly called for attack against places of worship and slaughtering Christians.
The Ambassador also considered the recent attacks as a clear statement by Israeli settlers in response to the agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine that came into full force on Saturday 2 January, 2016.
“The new attacks targeting Christian Churches represent an additional chapter in the long record of Israeli crimes and violations against the entire Palestinian people indiscriminately” he added.
The attack comes only three weeks after a similar attack that was conducted by settlers against the Salesian Monastery in Beit Jamal.
The Benedictine abbey is a popular site for pilgrims and tourists. It has been damaged several times in recent years.
This latest act of vandalism took place against Christians in Jerusalem, as the racist graffiti was sprayed in the Hebrew language on the walls and doors of the monastery.
The latest graffiti contained not only shameful insults against Jesus, but also called for slaughtering Christians and sending them to hell.
This position was echoed by Wadie Abu Nassar, a senior advisor to the Catholic Church who said the doors of the Dormition Abbey church were vandalized with threats scrawled in Hebrew that read: "Kill the Christians, the enemy of Israel" and "The revenge is coming very soon," as well as "Send Christians to hell.”
Dormition Abbey dates back to the 5th century, and is thought to be the place where the Virgin Mary died. The abbey is owned by the German Benedictine Order and is considered to be one of the three earliest churches built in Jerusalem.
Ambassador Shabat noted that this was one of the numerous attacks against the church in the occupied Palestine. In February 2015, for example, Jewish Settlers set fire to a religious school affiliated with Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Church, which they sprayed with anti-Christian graffiti.
This was denounced by the Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine, Theophilos III, condemning what he called "repeated" attacks on Christian and Muslim places of worship in the Palestinian territories by extremist Jewish settlers.
"The targeting of churches and mosques is caused by pervasive racism and hatred," he said.
The latest incident is thus not the first Israeli attack against Dormition Abbey. Other many similar incidents have previously taken place against Christian sites, including churches, monasteries, and cemeteries. These incidents coincided with calls made by Jewish settler organizations to expel Christians from Jerusalem and to burn churches. The criminal acts by settlers take place under the slogan "price tag," a term used by Israeli extremists to mark nationalist-motivated hate crimes.
Israeli settlers have carried out at least 221 attacks on Palestinians and their property in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2015, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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