Yerevan Deeply Concerned About Acts of Violence Against Armenians in Jerusalem

YEREVAN — Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vahan Hunanyan said Armenia is deeply concerned about acts of violence committed against Christian religious institutions in Jerusalem.

‘We are deeply concerned by recent acts of violence and vandalism targeting Christian religious institutions in Jerusalem including Armenian Patriarchate and the Armenian residents of the Old City,’ Hunanyan said in a tweet following reports about attempts of Israeli extremists to provoke clashes with the local Armenian population in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Israel has recently witnessed a disturbing trend of nationalism against ethnic and religious minorities in the country, the Noyan Tapan Center for Armenian Culture and Education in Israel said in a statement.

It said cases of violence against Armenians regularly occur in or around the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem. They include physical violence and spitting on the cross during the procession of the Armenian clergy; insulting inscriptions on the walls of the Armenian Surb Hakob monastery in Jerusalem ” “Death to Armenians, Death to Arabs, Death to Christians”; a brawl in an Armenian restaurant in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem by a group of young men two days ago.

The statement circulated by the Armenian community of Jerusalem also speaks about an upsurge of attacks of radicals on Israeli Armenians and facilities belonging to them. It was reported that around midnight on January 28, about 20 Jewish men with sticks and gas pistols attacked a procession of Armenians, leaving the Armenian Monastery after a memorial event. They were joined by soldiers, who beat a young Armenian man.

The statement notes that the Israeli police actually ignore the fact of attacks against members of the Armenian religious community. It calls on the government to take measures to stop these acts of vandalism.