Shocking incident at Church of Gethsemane by two radical settlers

The latest attack against a Christian place of worship and clergy in the Holy Land took place on Sunday, as two radical settlers entered the Church of Gethsemane in east Jerusalem during morning services and attempted to deface liturgical objects in the cathedral, while also lashing out at a hierarch and two clerics officiating at the Holy Service.
The two suspects were immobilized and held until Israeli authorities arrived to arrest them.

In response to the shocking event, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Theophilos III, issued the following statement, where he noted “…the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, represented by His Beatitude…along the Holy Synod and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, the clergy and the faithful, condemn the heinous terrorist attack that took place this morning during the Sunday service, at the hands of two Israeli radicals, which targeted the Church of Gethsemane in Jerusalem, where the Tomb of the Virgin Mary lies. The Patriarchate also denounces the attempt to cause physical harm to Archbishop Joachim, who was leading the service, as well as the attack on one of the priests in the church.”

Additionally, the Patriarchate emphasized that such terrorist attacks by radical groups, ones targeting churches, cemeteries and Christian properties, in addition to physical and verbal abuse against Christian clergy, have become almost a daily occurrence, which evidently increases in intensity during Christian holidays.

Finally, the Jerusalem Patriarchate underlined that attacks on Christian holy sites, properties, heritages and identity, constitute a violation of international law, and explicitly called for the protection of religious sites in Jerusalem.

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