After seven years of harassment, graffiti, sabotage and physical assaults by Muslims, a Christian church has left their building in East Jerusalem.
Calvary Baptist Church moved out of their building in the Shofat area of Jerusalem looking for a safer, permanent home. The Islamists went from threatening the church to threatening the landlord who allowed the church to meet inside his property.
“It was very emotional, because a lot of our people really started to grow there,” Pastor Steven Khoury said. “Most of the growth happened in Shofat because of the persecution.”
The pastor said within 10 days of moving in, a Muslim attempted to stab a church member outside a worship service.
Their playground area was destroyed when Muslims threw molotov cocktails in an attempt to burn down the building.
The church was Pastor Khoury’s second attempt to plant a church in Jerusalem.
Officials say that half of the Israeli population is in bomb shelters because of ongoing rocket attacks in central Israel by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. The terrorist group has declared in a public statement “all Israelis have now become legitimate targets.”
The leaders of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem opened their city’s public bomb shelters because of the level of the attacks. Officials also told residents to open and prepare their private bomb shelters for the possibility of a prolonged assault.
An Iron Dome battery was able to successfully shoot down an incoming rocket over Tel Aviv. Hamas announced they had fired four rockets at the capital but there was no evidence of three more rockets impacting in the city.
According to the Israeli Defense Force, over 120 rockets struck within the Israeli borders during the night. Iron Dome destroyed 23 rockets in Ashdod, Ashkelon and communities along the Gaza border.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev told reporters that Israel had reached out to the terrorist group in an attempt to de-escalate the situation and found that the terrorist group was not interested in ending the current conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called world leaders to tell them their position that they could not sit by and allow their country to be attacked by a terrorist organization and not respond to their provocation.
Palestinians threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli police and military after the body of a Palestinian teen was found in the Jerusalem forest.
The rioting teens blocked Jerusalem’s light rail service and were driven back when Israeli defense forces responded to their assaults by firing rubber bullets at rock throwers.
Israeli investigators say they were called with a report of an Arab teen that was forced into a car and that a partially burned body was found in the woods a few hours later but say there is no evidence connecting the incidents, if a teen was actually forced into a car.
The investigators also say there is no evidence the dead teen was killed by Israelis and assert that it could be an attempt by Palestinian terror groups to deflect attention from the kidnapping and brutal murder of three Israeli teenagers by the terrorist group Hamas.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that authorities used tear gas on some of the protesters and that security in the area has been heightened. Police have also closed holy sites in the Old City to visitors because of rock throwing Palestinian youths.
A group of ultra-Orthodox Jews are protesting outside of the Last Supper near Jerusalem because of plans by Pope Francis to hold a mass at the site next week.
The Jews claim that allowing Christians to worship where Jesus held his last meal with his disciples is a violation of their beliefs.
“Under Jewish law it is a big problem,” Rabbi Avraham Goldstein told NBC News. “Basically they are taking over the place.”
Protests are also taking place because the Pope is simply planning to visit the site.
“When ‘the crusaders’ come here making the sign of the cross and all kinds of rituals, this place will become idolatrous for us,” protester Yitzhak Batzon told AFP news agency. “We will not have the right to pray there anymore.”
The head of the Catholic Church in Israel said he is concerned about security, especially following a rash of vandalism with anti-Christian and racist statements at various Cathedrals.
Heavy storms continued throughout Israel on Friday, causing traffic disruptions and power outages across the country, floods in southern regions, a brief closure of Ben-Gurion International Airport, and a measure of excitement among the nation’s many snow-lovers.
Thousands of people in and around Jerusalem were left without power. A hastily assembled array of relief services, beefed up by Israeli army troops, came to the aid of hundreds of motorists who were trapped in their vehicles, some for up to 10 hours.
Speaking on the radio, Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat described the snowstorm as a “tsunami,” for which the municipality was unprepared. The city set up several improvised snow-havens, granting shelter to hundreds of the snowed-in masses, many of whom had come to the capital to celebrate what is usually a much less torrid event.
Roads to and from Jerusalem were closed Thursday night and school there was cancelled for Friday as the heaviest December storm since 1953 fell on the capital city.
Source: Haaretz – Massive snowstorm shuts down Jerusalem
The biggest December snow and rain storm in the modern history of Israel and the Palestinian territories hit on Wednesday night. Now a storm three times worse is bearing down on the epicenter.
For the many of the kids of Jerusalem, the storm has been much fun. Building snow men. Having snow ball fights. Sledding. Walking through and playing in the cold white stuff they rarely experience. Continue reading →
Tens of thousands of homes around Israel were left without electricity Friday as severe winter storms continued to batter the country.
More than 25 thousand families in Jerusalem and surrounding areas were cut off from power, Israel Radio reported. Continue reading →
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with leaders of Israel and Palestine Wednesday in attempts to move peace talks through stumbling blocks.
However, sources close to the negotiations say that both sides have brought up new issues that could possibly derail the talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed concerns to Kerry.
“I’m concerned about their progress because I see the Palestinians continuing with incitements, continuing to create artificial crises, continuing to avoid and run away from the historic decisions that are needed to make a genuine peace,” Netanyahu said.
The Palestinians objected to new Israeli construction on the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Kerry also announced $75 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority’s High Impact Micro-Infrastructure Initiative.
New homes are about to be built in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli government admitted that construction of 1,500 housing units at Ramat Shlomo has been given approval. The building is one of four projects approved by the government.
Analysts believe the move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an attempt to ease anger by Israeli citizens over the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners who had been convicted of crimes related to the murder of Israelis.
The permits also build public buildings and gardens in the same region as the new housing units.
An estimated 200,000 Israeli citizens live in East Jerusalem with double that number of Palestinians.
The head of the security network for U.S. Jewish organizations said the community is “standing vigilant” following bombings at the Boston Marathon.
Two people were killed and more than 30 injured in two blasts at the marathon on Monday, according to reports. One of the bombs exploded at the finish line.
“We know that unfortunately 30 percent of terrorist attacks had Jewish institutions as secondary targets,” said Paul Goldenberg, director of the Secure Community Network.
Source: Haaretz – Jewish community ‘vigilant’ in the wake of Boston Marathon bombings
