Netanyahu condemns ‘any attempt to intimidate worshippers’ after spitting incident

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Orthodox Jews filmed spitting at Christian tourists in the Old City of Jerusalem on October 2, 2023. (Screen capture/Twitter)
Orthodox Jews filmed spitting at Christian tourists in the Old City of Jerusalem on October 2, 2023. (Screen capture/Twitter)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemns attacks on Christians in Israel after a widely shared video of ultra-Orthodox Jews spitting at Christian worshippers in Jerusalem’s Old City.

“Israel is totally committed to safeguard the sacred right of worship and pilgrimage to the holy sites of all faiths,” Netanyahu writes on his English-language X account. “I strongly condemn any attempt to intimidate worshippers, and I am committed to taking immediate and decisive action against it.”

Netanyahu adds that “derogatory conduct towards worshipers is sacrilege and is simply unacceptable. Any form of hostility towards individuals engaged in worship will not be tolerated.”

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