Israeli settlers suspected in church arson attack released
by FalastinNews Staff
Israeli police detained and released 16 young Jewish settlers Thursday after an overnight arson attack damaged a revered shrine in northern Israel.
The arson attack struck the Church of the
Multiplication at Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where
many Christians believe Jesus fed the 5,000 in the miracle of the five
loaves and two fish. A church adviser blamed Jewish extremists for the
incident and police later said they had detained 16 youths from
settlements in the occupied West Bank for questioning."
In an area near the church, 16 youths were
detained for investigation in order to check their involvement in the
incident before dawn," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a
statement. She said 10 of those detained were from Yitzhar, which is
known as a bastion of extremists and where residents have been involved
in previous hate crimes.
Israeli security forces estimated that the
majority of incidents during a 2014 wave of anti-Palestinian hate crimes
were carried out by Yitzhar residents, according to reports by Israeli
media Haaretz.
A member of the Roman Catholic Benedictine
order, which manages the site, said one of the buildings within the
compound was completely destroyed in the blaze but the church itself was
not damaged.
Hebrew graffiti was found on another building
within the complex, reading "Idols will be cast out" or destroyed, an
AFP correspondent reported. The text is part of a common Jewish prayer.
Wadie Abu Nasser, an adviser to the Roman
Catholic Church in the Holy Land, said the arson attack would
reverberate throughout the Christian world. Responding to the attack on
the holy shrine.
While Netanyaho said in a statement "Those
responsible for this despicable crime will face the full force of the
law," "Israel's global image will be harmed," he told Israeli public
radio. "When you put one and one together, between the graffiti and the
arson, you can reach a conclusion regarding the potential
suspects."Released without charge
Despite Netanyahu's vow to hold the perpetrators accountable, police spokesperson Samri told AFP that the youths suspected for Thursday's attack were released shortly after being detained without charge, after providing statements to the authorities.
Tabgha was subjected to a previous attack in
April 2014 in which church officials said a group of religious Jewish
teenagers had damaged crosses and attacked clergy.
There has been a long line of attacks on
Christian and Muslim holy places in both Israel and the West Bank, in
which the perpetrators are believed to have been Jewish extremists. The
so-called "price-tag" attacks are often carried out against the Israeli
military and Palestinian property, Muslim and Christian alike, in
retribution for perceived action against the Jewish-only settlement
enterprise throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In April, vandals smashed gravestones at a
Maronite Christian cemetery near Israel's northern border with
Lebanon.That incident prompted Israeli president Reuven Rivlin to meet
church leaders and pledge a crackdown on religiously inspired hate
crime, however few have been convicted since the move.
The US State Department's 2013 Country
Reports on Terrorism included price-tag attacks for the first time,
citing UN figures of some "399 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers
that resulted in Palestinian injuries or property damage."
Such attacks were "largely unprosecuted," it said.Thursday's attack and subsequent lack of due process was condemned by the Higher Presidential Committee of Churches affairs in Palestine."
The culture of impunity that has been granted
to Israel has allowed Israeli extremists to escalate their racist
attacks against Palestinians and degrade our holy sites without any
legal accountability," the committee said in a statement."
The Presidential Committee calls upon the
international community to take series of actions to immediately stop
the systematic attacks against our holy sites."
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