West Bank and East Jerusalem are facing financial ruin, with unemployment running at a record 72 percent. Photo: Aid to the Church in Need

Israel’s crisis and divisions reflected in the Gaza war

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s political and personal fate hangs in the balance in the Gaza war. The US fears a spillover into Lebanon (and Iran). For the expert in Jewish-Christian dialogue in Israel, Israeli reality is «complex”. After an early mobilisation, rifts are now emerging. Getting the hostages home is a priority, but peace remains the goal, “Even in these dark days.”

Jews attack Armenian neighborhood in Jerusalem but police arrest Christians

The Christian community is doubly victimized: by the aggression that has shocked them and left them wounded and arrested, and by the subsequent intervention of the Israeli police forces, who end up punishing those who suffered and not those who caused the violence. Local sources report that more than 30 masked «provocateurs», some of them with weapons in hand, attacked Armenian bishops, priests, deacons and faithful in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Israel Denies Killing Catholics, Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem Shows Photos

The denial was made by the Israel Defense Forces in a note sent to EWTN News and in another one taken up by the SIR agency. However, the Latin Patriarchate reaffirmed what was denounced and evidenced the facts by publishing photos and a statement: «There are two dead, who killed them? There are the tanks that fired. Those are the facts. We have the images, we can show them».