As Pope’s Visit Nears, Hate Crimes a Concern in Israel
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Isabel Kershner
ISRAEL---With Pope Francis set to arrive here this weekend, Israeli security officials say they are bracing for possible hate crimes designed to provoke outrage and to sour the atmosphere around the visit. Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where the Pope will offer a Mass in the Cenacle, a chamber traditionally revered as the location of the Last Supper, has become a focal point of friction. Jewish extremists say that the Vatican is trying to take ownership of the space, which is in a compound that some Jews revere as the burial place of King David. After a recent spate of hate crimes, including the defacing of a church and offices at the Vatican’s Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, has urged the authorities to do more to crack down. [link]
By Isabel Kershner
ISRAEL---With Pope Francis set to arrive here this weekend, Israeli security officials say they are bracing for possible hate crimes designed to provoke outrage and to sour the atmosphere around the visit. Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where the Pope will offer a Mass in the Cenacle, a chamber traditionally revered as the location of the Last Supper, has become a focal point of friction. Jewish extremists say that the Vatican is trying to take ownership of the space, which is in a compound that some Jews revere as the burial place of King David. After a recent spate of hate crimes, including the defacing of a church and offices at the Vatican’s Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, has urged the authorities to do more to crack down. [link]
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