The Jews are spitting on Christians
On October 5, Israel's minister in charge of crime and policing, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said it's not a crime for Israeli Jews to spit on Christians. Spitting on people of a minority religion would be considered a hate crime in most countries, but for the Israeli government it is simply 'an old Jewish tradition'.
In July 2023, during the Catholic Pentecost ceremony, about 20 ultra-Orthodox Jews blew trumpets and cursed loudly to sabotage the ceremony. "We are very concerned about the religious freedom of Christians in Jerusalem," said a representative of the US State Department who was present at the ceremony.
The Upper Room, in which the Last Supper was said to have taken place, was the scene of a mass in June, but Jews blasted noise outside speakers to mar the event, and two weeks later a Jewish man smashed the windows of the Upper Room.
Since the beginning of 2023, a large number of cases of vandalism have been recorded in Jerusalem's Old City including 20 hate crimes against Christians, such as the graffiti that reads "Jesus son of Mary the whore".
In June, a conference under the title "Why are Jews spitting on non-Jews?" was held in the Old City, but was boycotted by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Robby Berman, an Israeli Jewish tour guide, said he was witness to two incidents of spitting, and that he is disturbed by the lack of enforcement in cases of harassment against Christians. After witnessing two boys spitting at Greek Orthodox priests at Jaffa Gate one Saturday morning, he flagged two Israeli police officers standing by them, but they refused to take action.
Berman was himself the victim of a spitting attack while chatting with a Palestinian security guard on the Via Dolorosa. As they were speaking, Berman said, "a modern ultra-Orthodox family walked past a father, a mother, a young couple, and many children. The young man spat at my legs," as he was mistaken for a non-Jew.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist
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