By Samuel Ogunsona
The Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, has condemned the growing attacks on Christians in Israel and the recent burning of Quran in Sweden.
Herzog who tagged the catastrophe as “evil” and “disgrace” also said he is personally working with law enforcement officials to ‘bring an end to this disturbing reality’.
As at 2018, statistics shows that the vast majority of Israelis identify as Jewish (74.3%), followed by Muslim (17.8%), Christian (1.9%), Druze (1.6%) and some other religion (4.4%). Israel is the only country where the majority of the population identify as Jewish.
While the CIA world Factbook in 2017 confirms that 60.2% of the population identify as Lutheran (the Church of Sweden), 8.5% identify with some other religion (including Roman Catholic, Orthodox or Baptist Christianity as well as Islam, Judaism and Buddhism), while a further 31.3% of the population do not identify or did not specify a religion.
Since the beginning of 2023, Christians in Israel has been under attack by Jews especially in Jerusalem.
According to Herzog statement “I utterly condemn violence, in all its forms, directed by a small and extreme group, towards the holy places of the Christian faith, and against Christian clergy in Israel,” Herzog said at a state memorial ceremony for Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl.
“This includes spitting, and the desecration of graves and churches,” he added, noting that the phenomenon has been on the rise “in the last weeks and months especially.”He added.
Herzog promised that, “the state of Israel is committed to putting an end to this phenomenon, “Saying that he is personally working with law enforcement officials to “bring an end to this disturbing reality, which is perverse evil and an utter disgrace for us as a society and a country”
“I was horrified when I heard the recent news from Sweden,” he said. “One cannot and one should not remain silent in the face of this. I condemn utterly, this disgraceful act, towards that which is sacred to our brothers and sisters.” He said.