Patrol officers from the Old City’s David precinct, found inciteful graffiti on a Christian hostel in the old city as well as on one of the outer walls of Dormition Abbey.
One of the graffitied writings said “death to Christians enemies of Israel”. The other vandalizing writings included various curses against Christianity. The graffiti was written in black marker. Police opened an investigation and the Division of Identification and Forensic Science is investigation both locations.
The abbey issued a statement which said “These inscriptions are not only against Jesus, but they also call for the death of Christians and to throw Christians into Hell! How long will these vandalous acts be allowed to continue?”
Dormition Abbey has been the target of vandalous acts for a number of years. In June 2013 vandalists graffitied the walls of the abbey with the words “Jesus is a monkey”. In May 2015 an arson attempt was conducted against the abbey. The attempt resulted in a small fire that was put out without excessive damage being caused.
The suspected arsonists were arrested during the Duma investigation, and indictments were issued a few weeks ago.