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Suspected Jewish extremists vandalized a church and a mosque in Israel, the police said on Tuesday, in the latest of a string of religious and racist attacks in the country.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that the vandals scribbled “Close mosques and not yeshivas” on the outer walls of a mosque in the Arab town Fureidis, near the port city Haifa. The tires of many cars nearby were slashed as well. Police were also investigating vandalism at the Tabgha church near the sea shore of Galilee, which was built on the site Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Church officials say that a set of religious Jews, thought to be teenagers, had damaged crosses in the church and attacked the clergy.
Elsewhere in the country, police arrested a Jewish male in his 40s for threatening the Roman Catholic Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo of Nazareth and members of his faith. In a letter, the suspect said that all Christians, “except Protestants and Anglicans”, should leave the country by May 5th, and, if Marcuzzo and his community do not comply, they will all be “killed by the heavens”.
There are other Christian communities in the country, like the Eastern Orthodox, Copts and Armenians, who feel they are threatened by the violence. The letter, signed by “the Messiah, Son of David”, quoted Jewish sources which say that Christianity is a form of idolatry and it should be banned. The suspect added that the message must be spread in the community through media, saying every hour of delay “would cost the lives of 100 Christian souls”.
Reacting to the vandals, police spokesman Rosenfeld said “crimes committed for nationalist motives are extremely serious”. President Shimon Peres later apologized in the name of Israeli citizens to the mayor of Fureidis, with his office relaying, “we will do our utmost to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice”.