Spitting on Christians decried in Israel

JERUSALEM (RNS) The Israeli government has vowed to crack down on religious Jews who insult and spit at Christians.

In a stern statement issued Oct. 12, Interior Minister Avraham Poraz condemned recent incidents in which Jewish seminary students, many of them Americans studying in Israel, spat at Christian clergy during processions through the Old City of Jerusalem.

The latest incident occurred Oct. 10, when an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student studying in the Old City spat at a cross being carried by Armenian Archbishop Nourhan Manougian as he led a procession near the community's church. The student was arrested and subsequently barred from entering the Old City for 75 days.

Manougian told RNS in an interview that there have been several such incidents between Jews and Christians since 1967, when Israel took control of the eastern part of Jerusalem, where the walled Old City is located. "It happens whenever they see a Christian procession or a Christian clergyman," Manougian said, referring to the small minority of fervently religious Jews who continue the age-old custom of spitting at the sight of Christian symbols.

The archbishop said that "sometimes they spit, sometimes they cut through the procession. They have thrown garbage in front of the churches and broken the crosses on tombstones."