Headlines
Fire damages historic Israel church, arson suspected
Jerusalem, June 18
A famous Catholic church in
northern Israel was severely damaged early Thursday in a suspected
arson attack by Jewish extremists.
Police spokesperson Micky
Rosenfeld said a blaze broke out around 3.30 a.m. at the Church of the
Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee,
Xinhua news agency reported.
The fire caused extensive damage to an office for pilgrims, a meeting room and a souvenir shop, Rosenfeld said.
The
church was built on the site of 4th and 5th century churches which
commemorate what faithful Christians revere as Jesus's miraculous
feeding of five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish.
A
Hebrew graffiti spray-painted on a wall of the church led police to
suspect that the fire was deliberately instigated, Rosenfeld said. The
graffiti was taken from a passage in the Jewish prayer book, reading
"the false gods will be eliminated."
According to The Rabbis for
Human Rights group, an Israeli rights watchdog, there have been 43 hate
crime attacks against holy sites since 2009, including cemeteries,
mosques, churches and monasteries, in Israel, the occupied West Bank and
East Jerusalem.
The attacks were widely condemned across the political spectrum, however suspects are seldom apprehended and tried.