Jews attack Nazareth church
Two Jewish women, man manage to enter Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth disguised as pilgrims and proceed to throw detonators; number of worshippers lightly hurt while fleeing scene; one suspect beaten by crowd
Sharon Roffe-Ofir
A group of Jews, a man and two women, managed to enter the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth disguised as pilgrims while hiding detonators and gas tanks in a baby carriage.
They proceeded to throw the detonators inside the church, causing the Christian worshippers to flee the scene.
A number of people were lightly injured in the incident, while others suffered from shock.
Shortly thereafter hundreds of Nazareth residents arrived at the scene while chanting “death to Jews” and attacked the Jewish man, beating him severely and slamming his head in the ground.
One suspect was able to escape.
An initial police investigation has revealed that the three suspects are a married couple and their daughter who are known as extreme right-wing activists.
The three claim they arrived at the site to pray; large police forces dispatched from the entire Northern District apprehended the suspects and are attempting to rescue them from the area, while the crowd is preventing ambulances from entering the area.
Internal Minister Gideon Ezra, who happened to be in a nearby village during the incident, ordered police officers from all over the country to make their way to Nazareth.
“This is a severe incident. Police are trying to ease tensions along with the community leaders. I tried to speak with the mayor of Nazareth (Ramez Jerayssi), who is currently inside the church, and I will ask him to work to disperse the crowd and ease tensions,” he said.
'Police must deal with these crazy people'
The mayor of Nazareth and local Christian leaders entered the church compound in a bid to calm the crowd, while police forces have closed the area down.
Attorney Isam Abu-Nasser, who is at the scene, told Ynet “More than 1,000 people are here, asking to find out whether the Church of the Annunciation, one of the most important in the Christian world, was damaged. This is what concerns us at this point.”
Another witness said “we will demand that police deal with the crazy people responsible who carried out this act.”
Arab MK Mohammad Barakeh (Hadash) said the throwing of detonators inside the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth is “an attack by a group of Jewish terrorists from the extreme Right.”
“This act proves that terror groups of settlers and the extreme Right feel free to commit their crimes in the occupied territories and against the Arab population in Israel. The government and the police must capture these groups and stop treating them with kid gloves,” Barakeh said.
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