Orthodox Jews Demonstrate Derision for Christians

Procession of Armenian Priests in the Old City of Jerusalem

On Monday, September 4, police took into custody an orthodox Jew for publicly spitting on a Christian procession in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Amitai Shashar (20) reportedly spat at a procession of Greek Orthodox priests because he saw the cross they were carrying.  According to church officials, Shashar spat in the face of the head of ceremonies after getting into a verbal altercation with the priests.  Church officials declined to lodge a complaint with the police, though Shashar was taken into custody.  He was released on NIS 2,500 ($658 CDN) bail by a Jerusalem court. He was ordered to stay out of the Old City for the next thirty days, except to go to and from his home.

This is the third such incident in the last year. Earlier this year, an Armenian priest was spat on by one of a group of yeshiva students in front of the monastery when he lived.  Last September, a student spat at a morning procession of Armenian clergymen.  In the scuffle that ensued, the seventeenth-century cross that was being carried was broken.  In an October 2004 report in Ha'aretz, a Greek Orthodox clergyman recounts a time an elderly man knocked on the window of his car.  When the window was rolled down, the man spat on him.  The clergyman refused to lodge a complaint, saying he was used to being spat on.

Incidents of violent persecution against Christians in Israel are rare.  However, persistent discrimination and acts such as derisively spitting on a cross, a church or a clergyman are common, demonstrating the societal pressure facing Christians in Israel.  

For more information on Israel and some of the challenges facing Christians there, click here.