Israeli premier denounces attack on a mosque

Sunday, December 13, 2009

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel condemned on December 13 an arson attack on a West Bank mosque that occured on December 11. The Israeli leader called it "crime against religion." The Yasuf mosque of the northern West Bank was vandalized early on Friday morning by assailants burned carpets and copies of the Koran. The vandals left behind graffiti scrawled in Hebrew, lending credence to theories that it was the work of settlers opposed to Netanyhu's decision to impose a 10- month partial moratorium on West Bank construction.

Netanyahu demanded "the weight of the entire justice system must be brought against those guilty," and added "I requested that security services make a special effort in catch the guilty parties and bring them to justice," while speaking to government ministers at his weekly cabinet session in Jerusalem.

The attack was also condemned by ministers, leading rabbis, and by President Shimon Peres, who issued a statement saying that it went against "all the values of the state of Israel and its obligation to respect all faiths and beliefs." Rabbi Menachem Froman of a Jewish settlement near the mosque told local media, "This is just insanity, blasphemy, an insult to the Judaism before Islam." "What [these] settlers did does not represent the settlers, nor Jews," Froman added.

The vandalism at the mosque came on the heels of a spate of graffitti scrawled on the exterior walls of the Holy Cenacle, which by tradition in the place of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ. "Death to Christians" was written in Hebrew at the site following an inconclusive meeting between Vatican and Israeli diplomats over the final disposition of places in the Holy Land once supervised by Franciscan monks, such as the Cenacle. Certain Jewish groups are opposed to any return of Christian control over the sites despite moves by the Israeli government to negotiate with the Holy See.

Speroforum editor Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat, who also worked as a democracy advocate and election observer in Latin America. He is also a freelance translator.

Filed under mideast, israel, holy land, catholic, islam, judaism, religion, geopolitics, human rights

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