The Anglican Church and the UK government have expressed ‘dismay’ at an attack on an historic Christian cemetery close to Jerusalem’s walled Old City.
More than 30 graves at the Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion were desecrated. Crosses were broken and headstones toppled and smashed. Jewish extremists have been blamed for the vandalism.
‘We have noticed that hatred speech and hatred crimes are on the rise,’ Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum said. Standing next to the vandalised grave of the second Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, Samuel Gobat, he said there had been a recent increase in spitting at Christians and attacks on their holy sites.
