The BBC news agency reported Sunday, April 16, 2023, that the Israeli occupation forces and settlers have significantly escalated their attacks against Christian Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem during the past months.
According to the BBC, Palestinian Christians living in the east of the occupied Jerusalem said that they have been witnessing an increase for months in harassment and violence against them by Israeli settlers.
It added that the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III warned of “unprecedented attacks on the Christian presence by extremist Israeli groups.”
The BBC added that Israeli settlers destroyed some crosses and tombstones in the cities.
At the end of January, a mob of ultra-Orthodox Jews attacked an Armenian-owned restaurant next to the New Gate in the Old City and damaged its property, accompanied by racial shouts of “Death to the Arabs, death to the Christians”.
The following month, an American religious Jewish tourist vandalized a statue of Christ in the Church of the Flagellation on the Way of the Cross.
According to the BBC, the assumption of power by the Israeli far-right parties in the occupation government has played a main role in the increase in Israeli attacks.
The current Israeli government includes many extremists, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who advocate policies that show intolerance for those who do not share their religion.
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