Israeli Settlers Attack Armenian Restaurant in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — Israeli settlers on Thursday evening attacked an Armenian restaurant near the New Gate in the Christian Quarter of the occupied city of Jerusalem, local sources told Wafa News Agency.

The radical settlers attacked a group of diners, mostly Armenians, who were enjoying their meals at the Taboon Wine Bar.

Video footage posted by Wafa News Agency showed the extremist Jewish settlers hurling chairs at the restaurant and diners.

Israeli Police, who arrived at the scene one hour later, made no arrests among the attackers.

After the assault, Christian leaders in the Holy Land condemned the violence, urged greater protection of minority groups and warned of “radical aggression” by forces determined to impose an exclusively “Jewish character” on the city, Crux reports.

On Friday afternoon, Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa visited the restaurant owners and adjacent shopkeepers, whose businesses were the target of attacks, in a show of solidarity by the church.

The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, which brings together the leaders of the various Catholic churches in the region, quickly reacted.

“This unprovoked violence instilled fear in the shopkeepers and residents of the Christian quarter as well as visitors,” the bishops said, calling the incident the latest in “a series of episodes of religious violence that is affecting the symbols of the Christian community and beyond.”

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa visited the restaurant owners Friday afternoon, as well as owners of nearby shops whose businesses were also targeted, as a sign of solidarity amid what he said is an increased threat to the Christian presence in Jerusalem.

The Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate asserted that “allowing members of such radical groups to freely march and roam around the neighborhoods of Jerusalem while armed and having declared criminal intentions, is considered as complicit in the attack and displays unwelcomed leniency with the criminals.”

In a statement, the patriarchate called for “protection of the unarmed people of Old City from radical aggressors who aim to change the diverse character of the city of Jerusalem and its cultural and religious mosaic, determined to limit it to one character being their radical definition and depiction of what a Jewish character should be.”

The patriarchate also asserted its right to take legal action to prevent future marches by radical forces.