The assault on a nun in Jerusalem. The Israeli soldier who placed a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of Mary in southern Lebanon. The destruction of a statue of Jesus in the Christian village of Debel. These are not “minor incidents.” They are an uncomfortable reality that must not be suppressed in Israel, and that becomes visible in incidents such as the spitting on priests in Jerusalem’s Old City. Precisely for that reason, we must speak plainly about it.
Because yes, there is in Israel a small but audible radical minority whose behavior toward Christians and Christian symbols is shameful. Some of these people act out of nationalist arrogance, others out of religious fanaticism, and still others out of a coarsening of character intensified by war and social tensions. Whoever ignores this or minimizes it is making a mistake. Such images spread worldwide in seconds, and they damage not only Israel’s reputation but also the moral foundation to which the Jewish state itself appeals.
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