The Lie of Israel’s Claim to be the only Middle East state to respect freedom of religion

Despite its propaganda claims to the contrary, Israel is not a country that respects freedom of religion. The story below concerns the attack within the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on a peaceful demonstration by its priests.

Zionist Propaganda Claim

Only a few days ago the heads of the Roman Catholic, Armenian, and Greek Orthodox churches in Jerusalem called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to block draft legislation, which is reportedly aimed at expropriating their property.

In recent days a cemetery at a Christian monastery near the central Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, has been vandalized. The monks responsible for its upkeep, who visit the cemetery every few days, found some 30 smashed headstones on Wednesday.  A report Headstones Smashed in Christian Cemetery Near Jerusalem in Suspected Hate Crime told how: this was the second time that the cemetery of the Beit Jamal Monastery was defaced. 

In 2013, a firebomb was thrown at a door and hateful slogans scrawled on the monastery walls. It was also damaged in a hate crime in 2016, when unknown perpetrators entered the prayer house and smashed statues. ‘At the Beit Jamal Monastery for the fourth time in five years headstones and crosses have been smashed.’

Imagine the outcry if a Jewish synagogue in London was vandalised four times in 5 years.  The outcry about antisemitism would be heard from John O'Groats to Lands End yet in Israel attacks on Christian and Moslem places of worship are a regular occurrence, aided and abetted by the atmosphere of religious intolerance in a government which doesn't even respect liberal or reform strands of Judaism. See Israel Tells Reform Jews: You’re Not Really Jewish, but Your Money Is Just Jewish Enough

Among a large section of the National Religious sector in Israel, there is nothing but contempt and hatred for Christianity notwithstanding the support of Christian Zionism for Israel. When the leader of the fascist Lehava, a group which campaigns against miscegenation (mixed race sexual relations) Benzi Gopstein called a few years ago for arson at mosques and churches nothing was done to prosecute him despite a complaint from the Vatican. Burning of Christian churches in Israel justified, far-Right Jewish leader says

Unsurprisingly in the past few years there have been repeated attempts at arson at major churches such as the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fisheries. Unlike other arson attacks, the Police secured a conviction of Yinon Reuveni, who was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment, for an attack which almost destroyed one of the most ancient and important churches in Israel.

According to Ha’aretz since 2009 53 mosques and churches have been vandalised with only 9 prosecutions.

We have also seen direct attacks by the Israeli State with the advent of the Muezzin law which prevents the Muslim call to prayer in the morning by mosques via loudspeakers. No such inhibition or restriction is placed on Jewish use of amplified sound. Ramped-up muezzin bill allows police to confiscate mosques’ loudspeakers

The arrests and attack on priests at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem are not new. In recent months there seems to have been a constant war of attrition against one of the most holy sites in the Christian religion, where Christ was reputed to have been crucified and entombed. See Israel’s War on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre forces it to close

Tony Greenstein  

In video - Israeli forces assault priests, detain one in Jerusalem

Oct. 24, 2018 11:49 A.M. (Updated: Oct. 25, 2018 3:53 P.M.)

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces and police assaulted several Coptic Orthodox priests in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, and forcefully detained one of them on Wednesday morning.

Prior to the assault, the Coptic Orthodox Church organized a peaceful protest near Deir al-Sultan Monastery, located on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, against an Israeli decision denying the church the right to conduct the needed renovation work inside the holy site.

It is noteworthy that the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem continues to conduct unauthorized renovation work for the Ethiopian Coptic Church section without the approval of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli soldiers and police officers surrounded the priests who were protesting, before assaulting and pushing them with excessive use of force, causing them several injuries.

Witnesses added that the Israeli police forcibly removed the priests and detained one of them, before allowing the Israeli municipality workers into the holy site.

The Islamic Christian Committee to Defend Jerusalem and Holy Sites condemned the assault on the Coptic Orthodox priests and denounced the intervention of Israeli authorities in the renovation works of the holy site.

The committee pointed out that it is not within its jurisdiction to intervene in issues of occupied East Jerusalem, considering the area is subjected to the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL).

The committee called upon the Egyptian government and the Christian world to immediately intervene to stop Israeli authorities from these attacks and not to enter the holy site under the pretext of restoration, since the Coptic Orthodox Church is the only authorized body to do so.

The committee also called on the world to stand by the Palestinian right to sovereignty over its land in the holy city and the rest of its other occupied territories, and to stop the measures carried out by the Israeli occupation in violation of the resolutions of international law and international humanitarian law.

Israel’s War on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre forces it to close

From arson to tax – Israel wages war on the Church

UPDATE:  Since this article was written the Israeli authorities have backed down from their attempt to loot the Church of its funds.  The embarrassment of the closure proved too much to the Zionist state .

This is not to exonerate the church either though, as it has engaged in property sell offs and speculation at the expense of its own membership 

see Jonathan Cook's

Money, not protection of Palestinian Christians, was at the root of Holy Sepulchre protest

Worshippers locked out of the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean

It used to be Israel’s proud boast that it guaranteed freedom of religion and worship.  Today, as Israel slides to the racist Right, this is no longer true.  Churches like the famous Church of the Fish and Loves was subject to arson 2½ years ago.  It was one of a number of such arson attacks that the authorities had turned a blind eye to.  The Israeli municipality under Mayor Barkat has a more sophisticated method of attack – the tax system – which is equally if not more deadly.

Couple this with the Muezzin Bill which outlaws the call to prayer for mosques early in the morning and we see the instrumentalisation of Israel’s chauvinist and racist attitude to other forms of worship than Judaism.

Tony Greenstein

Stepping up protest against Israel, fuming church leaders shutter Holy Sepulchre

Christian holy site in Jerusalem closes down over Knesset bill restricting sales of church land and Jerusalem move to charge millions of shekels in disputed back taxes

Adeeb Jawad, the custodian of the keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

By Sue Surkes 25 February 2018, 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday closed its doors until further notice as church leaders angrily retaliated against what they see as a “systematic campaign” by Israel to harm the Christian community in the Holy Land.

Flanked by Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land Francesco Patton and Armenian Patriarch Nourhan Manougian, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus lll read out a statement and then locked the ancient doors of the church in Jerusalem’s Old City.

“We will decide when and how the church will re-open,” he said, likening Israeli policies to anti-Semitic laws enacted against Jews in Europe.

Believed to be the site where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, the church localed in Jerusalem’s Old City is considered to be the holiest site for Orthodox and Catholic Christians. It was last closed briefly around 20 years ago in protest against Israeli policies.

The immediate trigger was the churches’ discovery that the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee was to discuss — and in all probability pass — a bill on Sunday allowing the state to confiscate land sold by the churches to private investors since 2010 and pay the new owners compensation.

It was also motivated by a recent decision by the Jerusalem Municipality to freeze churches’ assets until they cough up millions of shekels in what the city claims are unpaid taxes.

“We, the heads of churches in charge of the Holy Sepulchre and the status quo governing the various Christian holy sites in Jerusalem… are following with great concern the systematic campaign against the churches and the Christian community in the Holy Land, in flagrant violation of the existing status quo,” the patriarch said.

“Recently, this systematic and offensive campaign has reached an unprecedented level as the Jerusalem Municipality [has] issued scandalous collection notices and orders of seizure of Church assets, properties and bank accounts for alleged debts of punitive municipal taxes.

“These actions breach existing agreements and international obligations which guarantee the rights and the privileges of the churches, in what seems an attempt to weaken the Christian presence in Jerusalem. The greatest victims in this are those impoverished families who will go without food and housing, as well as the children who will be unable to attend school.”

Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria takes part in Knesset Finance Committee meeting on November 6, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III stands outside the closed doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

The patriarch then lashed out at what he called the “discriminatory and racist” bill that would confiscate former church land, sponsored by Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) whose spokesperson said it was supported by a majority of 61 lawmakers from across the political spectrum. The bill, which also has the backing of the foreign and justice ministries, was expected to be green-lighted on Sunday afternoon to go on to a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum.

“This abhorrent bill is set to advance today in a meeting of a ministerial committee which, if approved, would make the expropriation of the lands of churches possible.

“This reminds us all of laws of a similar nature which were enacted against the Jews during dark periods in Europe.”

Azaria says she is seeking to protect hundreds of largely Jerusalem residents whose homes are located on land which, until recently, was owned and leased to them by the churches, principally the Greek Orthodox Church — in most cases under 99-year contracts signed in the 1950’s between the church and the state, via the Jewish National Fund.

The contracts state that when the leases run out, any buildings on them will revert back to the church. Residents expected that the leases would be extended. But in recent years, in order to erase massive debts, the Greek Orthodox Church has sold vast swaths of real estate to private investors, and nobody knows whether they will renew the leases, and if so, under what conditions.

Indicating that the main role of the bill is to get the new landowners to the negotiating table, Azaria said, “I hope that the buyers will come around and that we will succeed in arriving at a solution through negotiation and agreement. If that doesn’t happen, the law will transfer the rights to the land to the State of Israel.”

The residential buildings in question are located on church-owned land sold in the Jerusalem neighbourhoods of Givat Oranim (now owned by David Sofer, a Jewish Israeli businessman living in London and an American billionaire, Michael Steinhardt, through Oranim Ltd.); Abu Tor (where Sofer owns half a street, together with another Jewish Englishman, through a company called Kronty Investments Ltd); and in Talbieh, Rehavia, and Nayot (where Jerusalemite Noam Ben David has bought up real estate, together with an Australian and an American now living in Israel, via Nayot Komemiyut Investments).

Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria takes part in Knesset Finance Committee meeting on November 6, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

 David Sofer (C) pictured with wife Cindy (L) at the opening reception of the Jewish Museum in London on March 16, 2010. (Desmond O’Neill Features Ltd)

For the churches, the bill constitutes an assault on their rights to buy and sell their one and only resource — investment properties.

David Sofer (C) pictured with wife Cindy (L) at the opening reception of the Jewish Museum in London on March 16, 2010. (Desmond O’Neill Features Ltd)

Over recent months, the Greek Orthodox patriarch, Theophilus III, with the backing of all the Holy Land churches, has traveled almost nonstop to seek the international community’s opposition to the move.

He has met with the pope, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the king of Jordan, the archbishop of Canterbury, and senior political figures in Greece and Cyprus.

The church’s protest also comes against a backdrop of other moves that the churches see as part of an all-out assault on long-running agreements to preserve the general status quo.

The Imperial Hotel at the Jaffa Gate, the lease to which was sold to the right-wing Ateret Cohanim organization and is the subject of an appeal by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

The Imperial Hotel at the Jaffa Gate, the lease to which was sold to the right-wing Ateret Cohanim organization and is the subject of an appeal by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

These include an Israeli court’s August upholding of what the Greek Orthodox Church claims was a fraudulent deal carried out in its name to lease key properties in the Old City’s Christian Quarter to the right-wing Ateret Cohanim organization.

During the patriarch’s meetings, he also asked for intervention with Israel over the East Jerusalem lease deal – a deal so explosive that it led to the sacking of his predecessor. Palestinians see East Jerusalem as their capital should they reach any future peace agreement with Israel.

Fighting on a third front, the patriarchs and heads of all the main churches in Jerusalem boycotted their traditional annual meeting with the mayor and senior municipal staff 10 days ago to protest against bills of millions of shekels in back taxes that they say they should not be charged.

That dispute revolves around whether tax exemptions for the churches extend to properties, such as schools and residences, which are not used directly for worship.

Lawyers for the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate received a notice signed by a lawyer for the municipality that said a lien had been placed on the church’s assets due to an unpaid debt of NIS 30.6 million ($8.7 million). The debt was not explained. Attached was a form on which the lawyers were requested to detail church assets and to which they were invited to attach a check.

Greek Orthodox Christians call for the ouster of their patriarch, Theophilus lll, for selling church land to Jews, during the patriarch’s visit to the central city of Lod, November 16, 2017. The main banner says, “Not worthy.” (Courtesy)

Greek Orthodox Christians call for the ouster of their patriarch, Theophilus lll, for selling church land to Jews, during the patriarch’s visit to the central city of Lod, November 16, 2017. The main banner says, “Not worthy.” (Courtesy)

Over recent months, a group called the Central Orthodox Council, which furthers an Arab nationalist agenda within the Greek Orthodox Church, has seized not only on the Old City deals but on all the church’s sales, throughout Israel, claiming that their church has sold off the family silver to Jews and alleging that the patriarch is corrupt.

A protest in support of Theophilus, took place a week ago.

See also:

Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre closes in protest at Israeli 'Nazi-like persecution'

“This reminds us all of laws of a similar nature which were enacted against the Jews during a dark period in Europe,” say Christian leaders

Church of the Holy Sepulchre closes over municipality's tax demands

Israeli settlers increase their attacks on Palestinian Christian sites

Zionist Zealots Demonstrate Their Racism and Step up Attacks on Palestinian Christians - Western Christians Look the Other Way

(Menahem Kahana / AFP/GettyImages)

Jillian Kestler-D'Amours, The Electronic Intifada Jerusalem
11 October 2012

Graffiti sprayed on a church in Latrun in September reads “Jesus is a monkey” and the names of two West Bank settlements.

At the same time that thousands of Christian Zionist tourists descended on Jerusalem last week to display their unequivocal support for Israel, local Christian leaders say they fear a recent increase in attacks on their holy sites signals the potential for future, more extreme violence.

“Today, they attack holy sites in the night. Tomorrow, they will attack the holy sites while they are filled with people, and then [it] will end [with them] bombarding churches and mosques while people are praying,” Rifat Kassis, coordinator of Kairos Palestine, a Palestinian Christian activist organization, told The Electronic Intifada.

“If we fail to see this from now, and to stop this from now, then the whole international community is complicit with this,” he warned.

A Franciscan monastery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem was vandalized in early October, as derogatory words about Jesus were painted on the entrance gate alongside the words “Price tag” in Hebrew. “Price tag” violence is the term used to describe acts of vandalism usually carried out by Jewish-Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank in response to Israeli government decisions with which they disagree.

When The Electronic Intifada attempted to investigate the incident a few days after the graffiti had been found, the gate had been painted over, and no visitors were allowed inside the monastery as it was undergoing renovations.

The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land expressed its dismay at the incident. “More than anything, the Assembly again asks, that radical changes be made in the educational system, otherwise the same causes will produce the same effects over and over,” it said in a statement (“Franciscan convent on Mount Zion desecrated, ACOHL dismayed,” Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, 2 October).

To date, Israeli police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the vandalism.  
Hostile climate of intolerance
In recent years, Israeli extremists have vandalized Muslim holy sites throughout the West Bank and in so-called “mixed” Jewish-Palestinian cities in Israel.
In October 2011, for instance, a mosque was set on fire in the northern Bedouin town of Tuba Zangariya and the words “Death to Arabs” and “Price Tag” were spray-painted on headstones in a Muslim cemetery in Jaffa.

“The Israeli government is doing nothing in order to stop these racist people, and this fact gives this bunch of racists a green light to do anything they want,” Sami Abu Shehadeh, a Jaffa resident and member of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal council, said at the time. “We are really worried. Now these people are attacking holy places; tomorrow they could also hurt people.”
 
Despite being condemned by most Israeli politicians, these violent acts have largely gone unpunished. In fact, according to a report by the Alternative Information Center, the Israeli police commander in the West Bank won’t prosecute the individuals responsible for four mosque arsons, despite having DNA evidence to convict them.
 
“We know, in at least four cases of mosque arson, whom the perpetrators are. We even got a DNA match from a matchbox near one of the mosques set on fire — but it appears this is insufficient for charges,” Major General Amos Yaakov reportedly told Hebrew news website Walla (“Police chief: we have DNA of mosque arsonist, but he won’t be charged,” Alternative News, 9 October).

The recent wave of attacks on Christian holy sites signals something new, however.
Suspected Israeli extremists also burned the door of a monastery in Latrun — halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv — in September, and scrawled the words “Jesus is a monkey” on the wall. The attack was likely carried out in connection to a recent evacuation of an illegal Israeli settlement outpost in the West Bank a few days earlier.
 
In July, Israeli Knesset (parliament) member Michael Ben-Ari tore up a copy of the New Testament. “This abominable book brought about the murder of millions of Jews in the Inquisition,” Ben-Ari reportedly said, adding, “This book and those who sent it belong in the garbage can of history.”
 
Years of harassment in Jerusalem
 
Priests from many Christian denominations have long complained of harassment in Jerusalem’s Old City, including most notably being cursed and spat on by ultra-Orthodox Jews.
 
“This is one of the phenomena that we as Armenians who live in this part of the Old City have been facing for many years,” explained Archbishop Aris Shirvanian, Director of the ecumenical and foreign relations department of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem.

“I believe it’s a matter of education. People that are in [the] majority and do not condone such acts, whether vandalism or spitting, they should do their duty by educating their own people to refrain from such activities which are threatening the peace in this land,” Shirvanian said.

Last November, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a Jerusalem court threw out an indictment against an Armenian priesthood student who punched an ultra-Orthodox man in the face after the latter spat on him in Jerusalem’s Old City.
 
“Putting the defendant on trial for a single blow at a man who spat at his face, after suffering the degradation of being spat on for years while walking around in his church robes is a fundamental contravention of the principles of justice and decency,” the judge wrote in his ruling (“Ultra-Orthodox spitting attacks on Old City clergymen becoming daily,” Ha’aretz, 4 November 2011).

According to Archbishop Shirvanian, while spitting incidents have declined in recent months, the Israeli authorities need to do more to stem the problem. “We know that when reports are being made, [the police] sometimes arrest people, detain them for a short while and they release them. Once in a while they may restrain the guilty side from entering the Old City for a week, or two, or a month. But that’s not a real punishment.”
 
Attacks reflect overall Israeli impunity
 
According to Kairos’ Rifat Kassis, attacks on Christian holy sites are only one part of the daily attacks carried out by right-wing Israelis against Palestinians throughout the area.
 
“We cannot exclude these attacks from the overall attacks coming mainly from settlers against the Palestinians. This is also a sign of growing fundamentalism and extremism which should worry any democratic person, not only Christians and Muslims; this should be a matter of concern for all of us,”  Kassis told The Electronic Intifada.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, settler attacks resulting in physical harm and property damage to Palestinians increased by 32 percent in 2011 compared to 2010 (“Israeli settler violence in the West Bank,” November 2011 [PDF]).

More than 90 percent of complaints filed by Palestinians to the Israeli police in recent years regarding settler violence have been closed without an indictment being filed, the UN agency also found.
 
“This is impunity. This is also what Israel is enjoying from the international community. This impunity goes for their own citizens and also for its own policies as well as a government,” Kassis said. “I think this is a message [from the Israelis which] says that, ‘This is our country. This is our land. This is our home and everyone here is a guest and we can do whatever we want.’”
 
Jillian Kestler-D’Amours is a reporter and documentary filmmaker based in Jerusalem. More of her work can be found at jkdamours.com.

Ultra-Orthodox spitting attacks on Old City clergymen becoming daily

Clergymen in the Armenian Church in Jerusalem say they are victims of harassment, from senior cardinals to priesthood students; when they do complain, the police don't usually find the perpetrators.

By Oz Rosenberg | Nov.04, 2011

Worshippers thronging the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the Christian Orthodox Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem last year. Photo by Reuters

Ultra-Orthodox young men curse and spit at Christian clergymen in the streets of Jerusalem's Old City as a matter of routine. In most cases the clergymen ignore the attacks, but sometimes they strike back. Last week the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court quashed the indictment against an Armenian priesthood student who had punched the man who spat at him.

Johannes Martarsian was walking in the Old City in May 2008 when an young ultra-Orthodox Jew spat at him. Maratersian punched the spitter in the face, making him bleed, and was charged for assault. But Judge Dov Pollock, who unexpectedly annulled the indictment, wrote in his verdict that "putting the defendant on trial for a single blow at a man who spat at his face, after suffering the degradation of being spat on for years while walking around in his church robes is a fundamental contravention of the principles of justice and decency."

"Needless to say, spitting toward the defendant when he was wearing the robe is a criminal offense," the judge said.

When Narek Garabedian came to Israel to study in the Armenian Seminary in Jerusalem half a year ago, he did not expect the insults, curses and spitting he would be subjected to daily by ultra-Orthodox Jews in the streets of the Old City.

"When I see an ultra-Orthodox man coming toward me in the street, I always ask myself if he will spit at me," says Narek, a Canadian Armenian, this week. About a month ago, on his way to buy groceries in the Old City, two ultra-Orthodox men spat at him. The spittle did not fall at his feet but on his person. Narek, a former football player, decided this time not to turn the other cheek.

"I was very angry. I pushed them both to the wall and asked, 'why are you doing this?' They were frightened and said 'we're sorry, we're sorry,' so I let them go. But it isn't always like that. Sometimes the spitter attacks you back," he says.

Other clergymen in the Armenian Church in Jerusalem say they are all victims of harassment, from the senior cardinals to the priesthood students. Mostly they ignore these incidents. When they do complain, the police don't usually find the perpetrators.

Martarsian left Israel about a year ago. He was sent back home by the church, as were two other Armenian priesthood students who were charged after attacking an ultra-Orthodox man who spat at them.

The Greek Patriarchy's clergymen have been cursed and spat on by ultra-Orthodox men in the street for many years. "They walk past me and spit," says Father Gabriel Bador, 78, a senior priest in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. "Mostly I ignore it, but it's difficult.

Sometimes I stop and ask the spitter 'why are you doing this? What have I done to you?' Once I even shouted at a few of them who spat at my feet together. They ran away," he says.

"It happens a lot," says Archbishop Aristarchos, the chief secretary of the patriarchate. "You walk down the street and suddenly they spit at you for no reason. I admit sometimes it makes me furious, but we have been taught to restrain ourselves, so I do so."

Father Goosan Aljanian, Chief Dragoman of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem, says it is often difficult for temperamental young priesthood students to swallow the offense. About a month ago two students marching to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre beat up an ultra-Orthodox man who spat at them. They were sent away from the Old City for two weeks.

"I tell my students that if they are spat at, to go to the police rather than strike back" says Goosan. "But these are young kids who sometimes lose their cool."

A few weeks ago four ultra-Orthodox men spat at clergymen in the funeral procession of Father Alberto of the Armenian Church. "They came in a pack, out of nowhere," said Father Goosan. "I know there are fanatical Haredi groups that don't represent the general public but it's still enraging. It all begins with education. It's the responsibility of these men's yeshiva heads to teach them not to behave this way," he says.

Father Goosan and other Patriarchy members are trying to walk as little as possible in the Old City streets. "Once we walked from the [Armenian] church to the Jaffa Gate and on that short section four different people spat at us," he says.