Greek Orthodox seminary in Jerusalem torched in suspected hate crime

Marcy Oster

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Greek Orthodox seminary in Jerusalem was set o fire in what is believed to be a hate crime.

Graffiti reading “Redemption of Zion” and disparaging Jesus were spray painted on the walls of the seminary in the early Thursday morning attack.

A room was damaged in the blaze, no one was injured.

The attack comes a day after a mosque was set on fire in the West Bank village of Jaba in what is believed to be a nationalist attack.

“There is no room for such deplorable activity in Jerusalem, we must eradicate this behavior and bring those responsible to justice,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement.

The mayor spoke with the Jerusalem chief of police and asked him to speed up the investigation. “We must quickly restore the peace and coexistence in Jerusalem,” Barkat said.

“These attacks are a direct consequence of the calls for recognition of Israel as a ‘Jewish State’ and Jerusalem as the ‘eternal and undivided capital of the Jewish people,’” chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement issued by the Palestinian Authority. “We hold the Israeli government fully responsible for those attacks that aim at terrorizing our people in order to leave their land. We will not tolerate any attacks on our Christian and Muslim religious holy sites, including any graffiti attacking Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammad.”