israelpalestinenews.org By Oded Shalom, Reposted from Twitter/X,
Ynet, one of Israel’s largest media outlets, has published a bombshell report on Christian persecution in Israel.
Full article translated to English:
The smashing of a statue of Jesus in Lebanon by an IDF soldier was a direct continuation of the reality in the Old City and the West Bank. Attacks on priests and monks, the desecration of Christian symbols, and graffiti sprayed on churches take place in broad daylight and are causing echoes around the world. “It has worsened under the current government, and they are not trying to stop it,” says Hagop Djernazian from the Armenian Quarter. Tour guide Paniot Penioto sums it up: “We Christians have been here for 2,000 years. What is your problem?”
Garo Sandrouni says he sees a lot of hatred on the street in front of him, a street with heavy traffic throughout the day of religious Jews on their way to the Western Wall or to yeshivas on Mount Zion and in the Jewish Quarter. Sandrouni observes what is happening from inside a small ceramic shop in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, not far from the seminary for priests that trains young Armenians from around the world to serve as clergy in their communities.
He sits there every day, all day, from around 9:00–10:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening, except on Sundays; a shop whose shelves are filled with many hundreds of Armenian ceramic items, characterized by a richness of shapes and colors, all handmade, piece by piece.
And what he sees from his seat behind the small table at the back of the shop is an ugly and offensive reality toward everything he grew up with, against everything that is Christian. “Spitting at Christian clergy, at Christian symbols, spitting toward the Armenian monastery not far from here. Spitting and curses,” he says in a weak and hurt voice.
This reality is so routine here that it has taken over the name of the place. The permanent signs on the walls of the old houses say “Armenian Patriarchate Street,” but some call it “Spitting Street” because of the criminal practice. Where else in the world is there a street called that because people spit on Christian religious symbols?
Ahead of Easter, chains and small flags were hung on the street near the Armenian Orthodox Church, and a religious Jew passed by and tore them down. Djernazian: “What an uproar there would have been if this had been a Jewish symbol.”
We asked Sandrouni how it feels to see this hatred, and he answered with only three words: “Think for yourselves.” Later, we understood for ourselves, when we heard from community member Hagop Djernazian about an incident that happened about three weeks ago, and is not really unusual here.
Several young people from the Quarter worked on decorating the main street ahead of Easter and hung chains with colorful balls, as well as paper flags of the Armenian Orthodox Church with a cross in the center. “A religious guy with a knitted kippah passed near the Armenian monastery and simply tore one of the flags to pieces,” Djernazian recalls. “We were excited ahead of the holiday, which is very meaningful and important for us, a holiday with many traditions and holiness, and suddenly a person passes by, tears up a church flag bearing a cross right in front of our eyes, and continues on as if nothing happened…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE…
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