Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Arsonists attack Jerusalem church, Jewish extremists suspected

Arsonists attack Jerusalem church, Jewish extremists suspected
By REGAN E. DOHERTY 
Updated: 3:56 p.m. ET Oct. 24, 2007
JERUSALEM - Arsonists burst into a church in a wealthy Jerusalem
neighborhood and set the building on fire, church officials said
Wednesday, raising suspicions that Jewish extremists were behind the
attack.
No one claimed responsibility for the late-night attack, but the same
church was burned down 25 years ago by ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists
and later rebuilt.
Among the four denominations who use the church are highly controversial
messianic Jews, who consider themselves Jewish but believe in Jesus. It
was not clear what motivated the arsonists. While messianic Jews are
unpopular, some extremist Jews also believe Christians should not have a
presence in Jerusalem, fearing missionary activity.
The arsonists broke into the building late Tuesday, setting it afire in
three different places. The floor was severely charred and many chairs
were burned. No one was the building at the time.
No holy books were damaged in the fire and there was no structural damage
to the building, said Joseph Broom, the church's business services manager
and a native of Charleston, South Carolina.
"We all still need to learn the lessons of tolerance and to accept the
different among us," said Charles Kopp, an American who is the pastor of
the church. "We don't suspect anyone specific, but they were extremists
for sure."
Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said no arrests had been made
and the motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
Kopp, a Los Angeles native who has been at the church since 1966, said the
facility has long had good relations with its neighbors in Rehavia _ a
leafy neighborhood in central Jerusalem with a mixed population of secular
and Orthodox Jews.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents of a nearby area have in recent years
begun moving into Rehavia and trying to impose their strict way of life on
parts of the neighborhood. Still, relations between religions are
generally good in largely Jewish west Jerusalem, and violence is rare.
Kopp said neighbors called the fire department and their quick response
saved the structure. "We were spared a bigger tragedy, for sure," he said.
"We've had a lot of support from our immediate neighbors," Kopp added,
noting that the rabbi of a neighboring Reform congregation offered the use
of her synagogue for services.
Congregants at the church include foreign workers, students and Sudanese
refugees who recently entered the country from Egypt, Kopp said. The
church has been broken into several times over the past five years, but
such incidents were generally attempts at thievery, Kopp said.
He did not accuse anyone of carrying out the attack, but noted that Jewish
extremists were a possible culprit. "There are extremists in every
society, every culture," he said.
Worshippers at the church include two congregations of messianic Jews, who
are also known as "Jews for Jesus." While Israel has close ties with
mainstream evangelical groups, many Israelis frown upon messianic Jewish
customs of maintaining Jewish rituals while also accepting Jesus as the
Messiah.
Shmuel Sandler, a professor at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv and an
expert on religion and politics, said Israel's tiny community of messianic
Jews tends to keep a low profile because past hostility aimed at the group.
"They themselves in Israel are very careful not to trigger anything," he
said.
Rabbi David Rosen, the Jerusalem-based interfaith director for the
American Jewish Committee, said it was likely that Orthodox extremists
were behind Tuesday's attack.
"It's very rash to jump to conclusions. But I can't think of a more likely
candidate," he said, recalling the 1982 attack on the same building was
carried out by Orthodox zealots.
"Especially within Orthodox circles, there are people who don't know the
modern world, don't know modern Christianity, and see the more evangelical
forms of Christianity as a threat. They behave very badly toward them," he
said. "This is anti-Jewish behavior, which is coming out of these people's
misplaced hatred."
The attack drew a condemnation from the Israeli office of the
Anti-Defamation League, a U.S. group that monitors hate crimes, and calls
for tolerance from Jerusalem city officials.
"I was so sad when I heard the news," said Jose Alalu, a city official who
rushed to the scene of the blaze. "I think that we can stop these things,
that we need to stop these things, not just for the church, but for
ourselves."
-- 
visitate 
http://www.comunisti-italiani.it/frames/index.htm
 
http://www.italia-cuba.it/associazione/associazione.htm
questo articolo e` stato inviato via web dal servizio gratuito 
http://www.newsland.it/news
 segnala gli abusi ad 
ab...@newsland.it

 O dell'Oratorio del Preziosissimo Sangue di Chieti?
a conferma che sei solo un cretino non potevi scrivere diversamente.
Prova a cercare su internet se ti serve la fonte della notizia. 
