On Sunday, six “religious Jews” (five minors and one adult) were arrested in connection with viral footage of individuals banging and spitting on the doors of the St. James Monastery in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem.
According to an Armenian journalist in the area, three of the suspects “have been brought before the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court with a request to extend their detention” while the “remaining three were released under restrictive conditions, including a ban from entering the Old City.”
The suspects also threw stones at the walls of the compound and at a woman who was filming them, yelling, “Get back inside, you daughter of a whore!”
“Israel has been struggling to stop spitting attacks on Christian clergy and vandalism of church property in the Old City,” according to the report on the story from the Times of Israel. “In April, after a series of similar incidents, the Foreign Ministry appointed veteran diplomat George Deek to a newly created role of special envoy to the Christian world.”
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also told Fox News on the weekend that they are dealing with the attacks on Christians “aggressively.”
WATCH: Six religious Jews — five minors and one adult — were arrested after banging and spitting on the entrance to the St. James Monastery in the Old City of Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter, say Israel Police.
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) August 2, 2026
Read more on The Times of Israel. pic.twitter.com/pnhLpSxtdR
“Christian communities will be strong and will flourish because there is a movement to shun out Christian communities, especially in some of the Muslim world, in Palestinian communities and elsewhere,” Herzog said. “And we are dealing with it as well. And I’m here for any Christian community that needs support of any kind.”
The Religious Freedom Data Center is an Israeli-based organization that tracks anti-Christian incidents in the country. Its latest report from March to June of 2026 concludes that “spitting” incidents in particular “have increasingly taken place openly, in broad daylight, and at times in a deliberately demonstrative manner.” The report noted that “[a]mong the reported incidents were parents who spat and shouted insults in front of their children, while encouraging them to behave similarly.”
Christian Daily International notes that the number of incidents of harassment so far this year is on pace to surpass last year’s figures and specifically mentioned the attacks on Catholic properties.
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