Sep 5, 2012 / 14:44 pm
Vandals set fire to the door of the Latroun Monastery near Jerusalem on the morning of Sept. 4 and spray painted the walls with blasphemous phrases in Hebrew.
The monks at the monastery were awakened in the early morning hours and found the front door on fire and their outside wall spray painted with the phrases, "Jesus is a monkey" and "Ramat Migron." The second phrase was an apparent reference to the illegal Jewish settlement in the Palestinian West Bank, which was dismantled by Israeli authorities on Sunday.
The BBC reported that Israeli police have launched an investigation into the attack on the monastery, which is located in Palestinian territory just 15 kilometers from Jerusalem. They said the attack may have been committed by pro-settlement Jewish extremists as revenge for the eviction of 300 Israelis from Ramat Migron, which has become a symbol for hard-line groups that oppose any withdrawal from the West Bank.
In a Sept. 4 statement, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said it was "indignant" over the "disgraceful and hideous" attacks which "dishonor Christian sites in Israel and attack the person of Christ, Son of this Holy Land." The patriarchate oversees all Roman Catholic churches in the Holy Land.