St. Stephen"s Catholic Church, which is part of the Beit Jimal Monastery in Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem, has been vandalized for the third time in four years. According to The Jerusalem Post reporting on 23 September 2017,
vandals shattered stained-glass windows in the night, destroyed a statue and damaged furniture. Since 2009,
53 churches and mosques and have been vandalized in Israel and the West Bank, according to an article by Israeli newspaper Haaretz on 24 September 2017. However, only nine indictments have been filed and only seven convictions made. In some cases the damage was accompanied by hateful slogans in Hebrew, indicating that at least some of the attacks have been perpetrated by Jewish extremists.
Another incident on 13 September 2017 underlines the fact that religious hatred is going on: The
Palestinian Greek Orthodox Archbishop reported on his own Facebook page that he had been spat at and insulted by students of a Jewish religious school.
Michael Bosch, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "Religious driven violence from all sides has to be halted. In an environment which is already full of religious tension, both civil and religious authorities should do everything possible to maintain the peace. Religious sites should be left in peace and religious leaders should be able to walk through Jerusalem without hindrance. Also, the Israeli authorities should be investigating all such attacks fully. Until now, it would seem that most cases have been closed without any serious attempt at bringing the perpetrators to justice."
