The Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) reported that an Israeli settler stormed today, Thursday, the Church of the Imprisonment of Christ in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, and began destroying some of its contents.
The Jerusalem Governorate said, in a brief press release, that a settler stormed the church building opposite the Omariya school, broke and destroyed some of its contents, and tried to set it on fire.
She added that the guard at the site confronted the settler.
Christian places of worship in occupied Jerusalem have been attacked by 4 Jewish extremists since the beginning of this year (French)
The director of the Jerusalem Center for Church Relations, Yusef Zaher, condemned the attack on the church, pointing to the increasing attacks of the occupation and its settlers on Christian sanctities in the Old City of Jerusalem, calling on "the international community to shoulder its responsibilities towards these crimes."
For its part, the Israeli police said that it had arrested an American tourist who attacked the Church of the Imprisonment of Christ in occupied Jerusalem.
This morning, a Jewish extremist targeted the statue of the scourged Savior in the #Flagellation Chapel, the first stop on the famous #ViaDolorosa in #Jerusalem.
Welcome to the new Christian-hating Israel, encouraged and supported by the current government! @ProtectingHLC pic.twitter.com/0wQ3TK9uX1
— Pater Nikodemus Schnabel (@PaterNikodemus) February 2, 2023
It added - in a statement - that the tourist was taken to a police station for interrogation.
While sources in the church affiliated with the Latin Patriarchate of the island reported that a settler wearing a Jewish cap stormed the church and began destroying its contents, including a statue of Christ, peace be upon him, before the guards could detain him and hand him over to the police.
Jerusalem Governorate said that the guard at the site confronted the settler (French)
It is noteworthy that this is the fourth attack on Christian places of worship in Jerusalem by Jewish extremists since the beginning of this year. .
Assault on a child with pepper gas
In the context, today, Thursday, another Israeli settler assaulted a child from the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, by spraying pepper gas on his face.
Wafa said that a settler stopped a Palestinian citizen's car on the main street in the town, and through its window sprayed pepper gas on the face of the 14-year-old Faisal Al-Mukhtar while he was in the place, which caused him burns.
This morning, settler Faisal Shehadeh, 14, sprayed pepper spray in his face while on his way home.
Palestinians in the West Bank have been suffering an intensifying wave of settler violence in recent days - state violence carried out by civilians.
pic.twitter.com/rFUSKrVtlN
— B'Tselem בצלם B'Tselem (@btselem) February 2, 2023
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission stated, in a previous statement, that the number of attacks carried out by settlers during the month of January reached 150, which included an attempt to establish 6 new settlement outposts in separate areas, indicating that settler attacks concentrated in the city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank. .