The Guardian
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A Catholic church near the Sea of Galilee in Israel frequented by religious pilgrims and tourists was heavily damaged by fire on Thursday in a possible attack by Jewish extremists.
A fire broke out at the Church of the Multiplication in the middle of the night, causing extensive damage to the inside and outside of the building, said an Israeli police spokesman.
A passage from a Jewish prayer, calling for the elimination of idol worship, was found sprayed in red paint on a wall outside the church.
The nationalist crimes unit of the Israeli police’s West Bank settlement division is investigating the incident. Police said they initially arrested 16 youths, all religious Jewish seminary students from West Bank settlements, but released them shortly after. Their lawyer, Itamar Ben Gvir, told Israeli army radio the police had no evidence against the youths and that they were under suspicion simply for looking like young settlers.
Father Matthias Karl, a German monk from the church, said a souvenir shop, an office for pilgrims and a meeting room were badly damaged, and bibles and prayer books were destroyed in the fire.
In recent years, mosques and churches have been targeted by vandals in similar attacks. They are often attributed to Jewish extremists in West Bank settlements.A monk and a church volunteer were hospitalised because of smoke inhalation, but the prayer area of the church was unaffected by the fire, he said.
Such attacks are widely condemned across the political spectrum in Israel. President Reuven Rivlin said Israeli authorities would make every effort to apprehend those responsible.
“Such terrible desecration of an ancient and holy place of prayer is an attack on the very fabric of life in our country, where people of different faiths seek to live together in harmony and mutual tolerance and respect,” Rivlin said.
Last year, a group of mostly Jewish youth attacked the Church of the Multiplication’s outdoor prayer area along the Sea of Galilee, Father Matthias said, pelting worshippers with stones, destroying a cross and throwing benches into the lake.
The church, also known as the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish, is modern but built on the remains of a fifth-century Byzantine church, and it features a Byzantine mosaic floor. The church marks the traditional spot of Jesus’s miracle of the loaves and fish, and is located in Tabgha on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel.
Father Gregory Collins, head of the Order of Saint Benedict in Israel, said more than 5,000 people visit the church daily. He said the church would be closed for the next three days due to the fire damage.
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