Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu condemned the Jews who were filmed spitting at Christians carrying a cross in the Old City of Jerusalem.
In an interview with Israel National News - Arutz Sheva, Minister Eliyahu said: "The cross does indeed symbolize to many Jews the pogroms that have been perpetrated against them - but more importantly, this [act of spitting] causes harm. Who benefits from insulting another person's faith? What is the profit in this disrespect? When you spit at a cross, do you move a single person closer to the people of Israel? It seems to me an unwise and immoral act. We did not behave in this way during our entire exile and now that we have returned to the Land of Israel instead of satisfying God's name we humiliate ourselves this way? We need to look with a universal vision at how we bring the whole world closer to the values of God and of the people of Israel."
Minister Eliyahu recently visited the countries of the Abraham Accords, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, and came away from his visits with significant insights.
"When you travel around the different Arab countries, you can see a lot of respect for the Jewish tradition and the Jewish heritage and a lot of affection for us. Trying to communicate with them through a secular language is good, but it is like a color-blind person trying to see in color. When you talk to them in the language of faith, in the language of the children of Abraham, you discover a new world of respect and reciprocity. They want to organize delegations of rabbis - and not of those who run away from their identity - and this is great news. I think this is good news for the Muslim world as well - for peace that comes from respect and we believe in this and pray for it every day."