Catholic Church in Israel helps Christian migrants seeking safety
Christian migrants and asylum seekers struggling in Israel are receiving emergency help from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Israel
ISRAEL
Jerusalem cardinal: Interreligious dialogue is in ‘crisis’
(UCAnews. Justin McLellan, Catholic News Service).
Three hundred days after the outbreak of war in Gaza, the cardinal at the heart of the Holy Land said interreligious relations have reached a low point.
ISRAEL
Israel appoints new ambassador to the Holy See
(Katholisch).
He has long diplomatic experience in the USA and Nigeria. Yaron Sideman is now moving to the Vatican as Israel’s ambassador. Times are difficult, but an anniversary next year could be encouraging.
ISRAEL
Informe del Rossing Center, con sede en Jerusalén. «Inquietante aumento» de los ataques contra cristianos en Israel
(InfoCatolica Staff)
El informe del Rossing Center señala también que hay rabinos que se han pronunciado contra los ataques a cristianos. Tras los incidentes de agresiones con escupitajos a los peregrinos en octubre de 2023, el rabino jefe sefardí Yitzhak Yosef insistió en que tales acciones no tienen cabida en el judaísmo.
Israel
(Staff. ACN).
The Cardinal Patriarch of Jerusalem has pleaded for an end to the divisive politics engulfing Gaza and called on people to come together in an effort to heal the crisis in the region. Cardinal Pizzaballa said: “We have Catholics of the Hebrew vicariate serving in the army in Gaza, and we have Catholics being bombed in Gaza. It is not easy.”
ISRAEL
The Knesset vote against Palestinian statehood is terrible for Israel
(David Halperin. Time of Israel).
While the vote may score political points for Netanyahu, it harms the country’s diplomacy in the region and relations with the US
Israel
Their son captive in Gaza, parents dedicate a Torah scroll to 120 remaining hostages
(Michele Chabin. Relgion News Service).
Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin dedicated the scroll to their son Hersh, the 23-year-old American Israeli wounded at the site of the Re’im music festival before being taken to Gaza by Hamas.
Israel
World Court Urged To Recognize Israel
(Stefan J. Bos. Worthy News)
Nearly a thousand Christians from dozens of nations have urged the United Nations top court to recognize Israel’s Biblical right to its historic land, including Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank.
ISRAEL
Aiming to share Palestinian art, Umm al-Fahm gallery becomes Israel’s first Arab museum
(TAMAR MOR SELA. Time of Israel).
Director Said Abu Shakra frankly discusses art, his dual Israeli-Palestinian identity and family as the almost 30-year-old gallery finally gets the recognition he has dreamt of
ISRAEL
Faith amid bombs: Priests minister to Christians in border towns of Lebanon and Israel
(The Catholic World. Marinella Bandini).
On October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, hostilities between Hezbollah (a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group) and Israel resumed, putting Christian communities on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border to the test.
Israel
Archaeologists find ‘lost’ alphabet created by Biblical civilization 3,000 years ago
(ELLYN LAPOINTE. DAILYMAIL).
Archaeologists have finally traced a lost alphabet that puzzled scholars for decades back to a 3,000 year-old civilization of Biblical significance. Since 1964, archaeologists have found 15 different tablets with strange carvings at the site of an ancient settlement in Jordan. Thanks to new analysis, archaeologists have found that they were likely made by the Canaanites, an indigenous group who thrived in the Middle East until the second half of the 13th century BC.
Israel
96% of Jews Across Europe Have Experienced Antisemitism, Survey Finds
(Worthy News).
A major new survey shows that 96% of Jews across Europe had experienced some form of antisemitism, even before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas triggered the ongoing war in Gaza and a global outpouring of anti-Israel sentiment, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports. Conducted by the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), the poll surveyed nearly 8,000 self-identified Jews in 13 European countries.
Israel
¿Está Israel librando una “guerra justa”?
(Zenit).
La teoría de la guerra justa sustentó la decisión de George W. Bush de entrar en guerra en Irak. Sin embargo, el número de muertos en Gaza ha sido tan terrible que algunos partidarios de las «guerras justas» se lo están pensando mejor. Benjamin Netanyahu, primer ministro de Israel, tiene previsto dirigirse a una sesión conjunta del Congreso de Estados Unidos el 24 de julio. Será el primer líder extranjero que hable cuatro veces ante el Congreso. Será un momento incómodo tanto para los políticos estadounidenses como para los israelíes. El presidente Biden está luchando por su futuro político tanto en su propio partido como contra Donald Trump. El primer ministro Netanyahu pronto podría verse obligado a abandonar su cargo si su coalición se derrumba. Así que Netanyahu está desesperado por convencer al Congreso de que siga suministrando a su país armamento y apoyo político. De su discurso dependen muchas cosas.
Israël
Être Juif aujourd’hui. Une grande enquête
Être Juif n’a jamais été un long fleuve tranquille, et encore moins à l’heure actuelle. Le massacre perpétré par le Hamas le 7 octobre 2023 a montré que les Juifs, ne sont pas à l’abri des pogroms, simplement parce qu’ils sont Juifs, même à l’intérieur des frontières de l’État d’Israël. La contre-attaque massive à Gaza n’a jusqu’à présent pas été en mesure de renverser la situation, bien au contraire, elle n’a fait qu’accroître dans le monde entier l’isolement de l’État d’Israël et l’aversion envers les Juifs. L’essai du grand démographe israélien Sergio Della Pergola, professeur émérite à l’Université hébraïque de Jérusalem, intitulé « Essere ebrei, oggi. Continuità e trasformazioni di un’identità », publié aux éditions Mulino, tombe donc à point nommé.
Israel responde a los cristianos de Tierra Santa apelando a que tiene derecho a defenderse
(Infocatólica).
Las autoridades de Israel arremetieron ayer martes con dureza contra las iglesias de Tierra Santa por referirse a la «guerra de Gaza» en un documento, que, en su opinión, «con pretextos religiosos y astucias lingüísticas no hace más que oponerse al derecho de Israel a defenderse».
Churches in Holy Land denounce ‘coordinated attack’ against Christians by Israeli authorities
(CNA. Diego López Marina).
In the midst of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, the patriarchs and leaders of ancient Christian churches in Jerusalem have signed a joint document in which they denounce that four Israeli municipalities have sought to levy municipal taxes on church properties in violation of “centuries” of historical agreements. The church leaders, including Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, and Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, custos of the Holy Land, accuse local authorities of launching a “coordinated attack” against the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
Israel también contra cristianos: ¿presión para quitarles templos bajo pretexto de impuestos?
(ELIZABETH OWENS. Zenit).
«Ataque coordinado» por parte de las autoridades israelíes es denunciado por los líderes cristianos en Tierra Santa. Los líderes cristianos sostienen que estas acciones son un intento deliberado de disminuir la presencia cristiana en Tierra Santa. La mayoría de estos cristianos son de origen palestino.
Pizzaballa: “Viviamo una lunga notte, siamo a fianco di chiunque lavora per il bene”
(VaticanNews. Andrea Tornielli).
A colloquio con il cardinale Patriarca di Gerusalemme dei latini: ancora difficile vedere vie d’uscita. Quando tutti erigono barriere, la Chiesa deve continuare a mantenere sempre la mano tesa verso l’altro. Il momento è molto doloroso, stiamo vivendo una notte molto lunga. Però sappiamo anche che le notti finiscono. È il momento in cui la Chiesa deve lavorare con tutti coloro che sono disposti a fare qualcosa di bello e di bene per tutti…”. Il cardinale Pierbattista Pizzaballa, di passaggio a Roma, racconta ai media vaticani la situazione in Israele, a Gaza e in Cisgiordania.
In historic ruling, High Court says government must draft Haredi men into IDF
(THE TIMES OF ISRAEL. JEREMY SHARON)
In a landmark ruling on Tuesday, the High Court of Justice ruled unanimously that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there is no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.
Churches protest Israel’s demand they pay property tax, say it’s undoing status quo
(JULIA FRANKEL. Time of Israel).
Though they’re major landowners, churches traditionally were exempt from property taxes; leaders call warning letters a ‘coordinated attack’ on Christian presence in Holy Land
Leaders of major churches have accused Israeli authorities of launching a “coordinated attack” on the Christian presence in the Holy Land by initiating tax proceedings against them.
While Israeli officials have tried to dismiss the disagreement as a routine financial matter, the churches say the move upsets a centuries-old status quo and reflects what they called mounting intolerance for the Christian presence in Israel and the West Bank.