Around the same time of the racist and murderous attack against African-American church goers in Charleston, Jewish-Israeli criminals set a historical Palestinian church on the Sea of Galilee on fire.
The answer to the question in this Haaretz article's title is obvious:
... till Israel is made to pay a steep price for allowing its Jewish fundamentalist terrorists (more on that below) attack Palestinian Christian and Islamic places of worship with total impunity.
...till world churches and Christian communities join the divestment movement and pull out their investments from Israeli and international corporations and banks involved in Israel's occupation and violations of international law.
...till countries with Muslim majorities campaign for banning and divesting from Israeli and/or international banks and corporations that are involved in violating Palestinian rights under international law, especially in occupied Jerusalem.
...till Christian and other pilgrims/visitors to the Holy Land exercise ethical pilgrimage/tourism by avoiding Israeli airlines, tour agencies, hotels, restaurants and other institutions that are complicit in maintaining the regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid.
...till progressive Jews resolutely stand up to fanatic and racist interpretations of Jewish law.
These, in my view, are some of the proper responses to the latest terror attack against the Church of Multiplication, a historic Palestinian church on Lake Tiberias.
Only by multiplying BDS efforts to hold Israel accountable to international law will its culture of criminal impunity be brought to end.
Finally, I cannot but comment on the "its" before "churches and mosques" in the title. It seems Haaretz needs to be reminded that Israel not only never saw itself as a state of its citizens and never much cared about preserving the indigenous Christian and Islamic heritage; it intentionally destroyed or damaged many mosques and churches during the Nakba and ever since. The "its" then is quite peculiar here.
Rabbi Kook, the Elder, the revered father of the messianic tendency of Jewish fundamentalism (who is featured in a book on Jewish fundamentalism by the late Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky), said:
"The difference between a Jewish soul and souls of non-Jews (Gentiles) - all of them in all different levels - is greater and deeper than the difference between a human soul and the souls of cattle."
Once fringe, Kook's extremely hateful an racist school of thought is popular today among Zionist Jewish fundamentalists, especially in Israel, and is one of the ideological pillars of the fascist trend in the country. Little wonder then that our churches and mosques are being burnt and destroyed at this fast rate by Israeli criminals who are never caught or brought to justice.
Omar Barghouti
Till when will Israel let its churches and mosques be burnt?
Israel must treat those behind hate crimes like the one committed in Tiberias with no less gravity than those who send car bombs into city centers.
Haaretz Editorial -- Jun. 21, 2015
The torching of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish at Tabgha, near Tiberias, on Thursday is the 18th arson attack on a church or mosque over the past four years. Not one of these cases has been solved, none of the perpetrators identified and, obviously, no one charged for the offenses. These are part of a wider range of actions, including hate graffiti sprayed on mosques and churches, spitting at Christian priests in Jerusalem, and the issuing of edicts by assorted rabbis against “gentiles.”
Damaging holy sites is not just a criminal act or a regular hate crime. Protecting the freedom of worship is one of the basic universal precepts included in all international treaties and constitutions, making up a central feature of cultural identity. Even countries that define themselves according to their prevailing religion, such as some Islamic states, view religious institutions of other faiths as holy sites, persecuting and punishing people who defile them.
Legislation against damaging holy sites is crystal clear in Israel, as is the official public discourse purportedly led by the government. In addition to cleaving to the definition of Israel as a Jewish state, the government strongly condemns all cases in which a non-Jewish holy site is defaced. However, it’s hard to take seriously the condemnations uttered by the prime minister, cabinet ministers and Knesset members when, at the same time, they give a nod and wink to those who infringe on the state’s sovereignty by embarking on private religious and cultural campaigns against Christians and Muslims.
What did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually broadcast to the public after the latest torching? That he had instructed the head of the Shin Bet security service to accelerate the investigation to find the perpetrators. Does this mean that defacing religious institutions was not on the Shin Bet’s agenda until now? Can one also conclude that locating the perpetrators of anti-Arab hate crimes is not a focus of its attention?
It’s fair to say that defiling holy sites is not perceived as a “classic” terror act that endangers state security. This interpretation is also obvious to the perpetrators of hate crimes and religious fanatics. Their continued freedom gives them a sense of security, which allows them to continue with their crimes.
The government of Israel, rightfully, wouldn’t have ignored the torching of synagogues, the destruction of tombstones in Jewish cemeteries or assaults against Jews in other countries if governments were lax in investigating such crimes. Now, it must show determination to uproot such hate crimes from areas under its jurisdiction, defining perpetrators as terrorists who endanger Israel’s security, no less than those who send car bombs into city centers.
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