WCC condemns attacks against a mosque in West Bank and Christian center in Jerusalem

WCC condemns attacks against a mosque in West Bank and Christian center in Jerusalem

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has condemned recent attacks against a mosque in the West Bank and a Christian centre in Jerusalem that appear to be part of the series of so-called “price-tag” attacks by extremist elements.

According to media reports, a group of Jewish settlers stormed Al-Jaba’a village, near Bethlehem, and set fire to the Al-Huda Mosque, leaving anti-Arab slogans on its walls. The following day, in another apparent arson attack, a building belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem was set on fire and vandalized with anti-Christian graffiti.

In a statement issued on 27 February, the WCC acting general secretary Georges Lemopoulos said that the WCC “calls for swift and concrete measures to ensure those responsible for these and other similar attacks are in fact brought to justice, and further such attacks prevented.”

He also expressed gratitude for the “clear and unequivocal response” by the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin in a phone call to Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, in which he denounced the Jerusalem attack, calling it “a heinous crime” and affirming that “those responsible must be brought to justice.”

Statement from the WCC also acknowledges response from the Israel’s Foreign Ministry and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process condemning these attacks.

Read full text of the WCC acting general secretary’s statement