Archbishop Condemns Monastery Vandalism By Israeli Settlers

Eurasia Review ^ | February 8, 2012 | Maan

[BlackVeil]

Archbishop Atallah Hanna on Wednesday condemned an attack targeting a monastery in west Jerusalem, expressing anger after extremists defiled the holy site with anti-Christian messages.

In a statement, the archbishop said that “what the settlers have done is rejected, and their racism is humiliating. … They didn’t harm us, they harmed only themselves,” he added during a visit to pray at the site.

“We strongly condemn any attack against holy sites for any religion; it is totally prohibited.”

“Death to Christians” was daubed Tuesday in Hebrew on the outer walls of the Monastery of the Cross, an 11th-century fortress-like holy site situated in a valley overlooked by Israel’s parliament.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the words “price tag” were also painted overnight by the vandals, who damaged two cars parked outside the monastery in the rare attack on a Christian shrine in Jerusalem.

The slogan, used by settlers in vandalism attacks on mosques and homes in the West Bank, refers to the retribution they say they will exact for any attempt by the Israeli government to curb settlement in the territory.

Maher Ghuneim, the Palestinian Authority’s minister for wall and settlement affairs, said the attack was intended to inflame sectarian tensions and force a “religious” angle on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ghuneim said in a statement that the attack reflects the lack of interest by the Israeli government in reigning in the settlers, and it shows “how they (settlers) incite racism against anything non-Jewish.”

Also Tuesday, “Death to Arabs” was painted in Hebrew on the wall of a playground of a bilingual school in East Jerusalem, and anti-Muslim slogans were daubed on the walls of several homes in a West Bank village.

Since December, five mosques have been vandalized in attacks by suspected Jewish extremists. An ancient mosque in Jerusalem was torched on Dec. 13, and sprayed with the Star of David, “price tag,” “Muhammad is a pig” and “A good Arab is a dead Arab” in Hebrew.

Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In the West Bank, roughly 4.5 percent of the Palestinian population are Christian, a figure of around 200,000 people. In Israel, around 11 percent of Palestinians are Christian, down from 21 percent of the Palestinian population in 1949, a minority rights group says.

[BlackVeil]

Sectarian assaults on a heritage building.

[Ronin]

Unless they catch a Jewish Israeli in the act, I am not going to accept this at face value.

I smell an Arab agent provocateur, or maybe a secular Jew from the US who is actually anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist.

This is exactly the kind of tactic they like the best. They can be confident that the MSM will pick up the ball and run with it from here.

[Navy Patriot]

I agree, I suspect a frame by a plant.

[guitarplayer1953]

“what the settlers have done is rejected, and their racism is humiliating"

I did not know that Catholics were a race of people.

[Cicero]

This is certainly very strange. The article seems to assume that this was done by Israeli Settlers, but offers no evidence at all. The least they could do is use the word “alleged.”

[heartwood]

Ah, fiddle. Some of the ultra-orthodox are hateful. They spit on priests for instance. They’ve called a little Jewish schoolgirl a whore because her modest dress wasn’t the way their own daughters have to dress. They don’t want to share buses or streets with women, they harass them away.

So I believe it.

[Ronin]

It’s certainly possible, I am not arguing that, but I just refuse to take this at face value.

Your point that some ultra-orthodox are hateful is germane, but that also makes them convenient fall guys.

Right now, we have absolutely no evidence that any Jew was involved in this. Anyone can learn to write Hebrew.

[American in Israel]

I have visited quite a few “settlements” and was always openly Christian. NEVER was I treated with anything but respect, in fact was warmly welcomed into many homes.

The Orthodox you speak of live in one section of Jerusalem called Mea Sharim and consist of about 10 city blocks total. They have large signs on the entrances of their area requesting women to not enter with short skirts that show the knees or elbows.

Modest is in the eyes of the beholder, and walking past a 4 foot by 8 foot sign into a private area is not quite respectful either.

So, sorry, your wrong, I know, I lived there for 10 years. The Israeli “settlers” always reminded me of what I thought American Pioneers would be like. They were ALWAYS respectful, kind to Arab and Christian alike and ALWAYS being slandered by the Leftist Media over there.

Oh, and just in case you did not realize, the Orthodox Christians are openly Anti-semitic and side with the Muslims against the Jews over there.

Would you trust these men when it comes to statements against "settlers"?

[BlackVeil]

The possibility you raise is valid - for many “hate crimes” are just set ups. If one puts in fakehatecrime as a key word here in the forum, a whole list of tragi-comic stories pop up.

But in this case, I give credence to the idea that the vandalism is exactly what it appears to be. The Migron settlers have not denied it (in fact, they have made militant statements which looked to me like threats of further action), the Israeli police describe it as “pricetag” attack, and also, it follows a series of violent actions in December. This included a destructive crowd launching themselves at the Orthodox Church near the site of the Baptism of Jesus, on the Jordan border. (On that occasion, the Israel police had to drag 17 of them away, under arrest.) The “price tag” movement then topped that, by actually attacking an IDF base, and injuring a senior officer.

People who would do that, might do anything.

But we will not know for certain, unless there is an arrest and trial.

[American in Israel]

Birds of a feather, flocking us.

[American in Israel]

Blackveil? Is that you?! -grin-

[BlackVeil]

Nah! ... I would never get around in such a sexy outfit. She is a hussy (wink!) ... I can almost see her nose.

[BlackVeil]

I daresay that is true, but of course people in public office have to meet others all the time. There would be many photos of Israeli politicians with PA officials.

[Venturer]

That was my thought too.

I suspect a Muslim who speaks Yiddish.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Holding hands on the way to the Man's Country bath house.

[American in Israel]

In case you were wondering if the Arch-Bishop might have a dog in the race:

http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/07/exclusive-intifada-interview-with-archbishop-theodosios-atallah-hanna/archbishop-theodosios-2/

[American in Israel]

I think there are 300 people in the Migron housing development.

[RitchieAprile]

I once spend a morning trying to find whether there was a Hebrew letter ‘yod sofit’.

[jjotto]

http://www.algemeiner.com/2011/12/14/american-muslims-for-palestines-web-of-hamas-support/

...During a session held in Arabic, Archbishop Atallah Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem supported Palestinians imprisoned by Israel for conducting acts of terrorism:

“There are more than 8,000 Palestinian prisoners in the prisons of the Occupation. They are the pick of Palestinian youth, of honorable strugglers, who served the Palestinian cause. They were sentenced to the prisons of the racist Occupation because they defended the cause of their people, because they resisted, because they struggled, because they waged Jihad, because they were not those who were silent, who kept apart, who stood with their arms crossed, in the face of what was committed against their Palestinian people. They are prisoners of freedom.”

Hanna, an Israeli citizen, ended his speech assuring the audience, “We in Palestine, Christians and Muslims, stand in one trench to confront the Occupation… This Occupation will vanish. Palestine will be liberated and will return to its owners.”...

[Joe 6-pack]

Centurion: What's this, then? "Romanes eunt domus"? People called Romanes, they go the house?

Brian: It says, "Romans go home."

Centurion: No, it doesn't! What's the Latin for "Roman"? Come on, come on !

Brian: Er, "Romanus"!

Centurion: Goes like?

Brian: Annus.

Centurion: Vocative plural of "Annus" is?

Brian: Er, "Anni"!

Centurion: "Romani"... (writes "Romani" over Brian's graffiti) "Eunt"? What is "eunt"?

Brian: "Go".

Centurion: Conjugate the verb, "to go"!

Brian: Er, "Ire." Er, "eo," "is," "it," "imus," "itis," "eunt."

Centurion: So, "eunt" is... ?

Brian: Third person plural present indicative, "they go".

Centurion: But, "Romans go home" is an order. So you must use... ? *twists Brian's ear*

Brian: Aaagh! Imperative!

Centurion: Which is...?

Brian: Aaaaagh! Er, er... "i", "i"!

Centurion: How many Romans?

Brian: Aaaaagh! Plural, plural... er, "ite"!

Centurion: "Ite"... (writes "ite" on wall) "Domus"? Nominative? "Go home" is motion toward, isn't it?

Brian: Dative! (Centurion pulls out gladius and holds it against Brian's throat) Aaagh! Not the dative, not the dative! Er, er... accusative, accusative, "ad domum", sir, "ad domum"!

Centurion: Except "Domus" takes the...?

Brian: The locative, sir! Centurion: Which is...?

Brian: "Domum"!

Centurion: "Domum"... (writes "Domum" on wall) Um. Understand? Now, write it out a hundred times.