Israeli police arrest two over Jerusalem cemetery vandalism

Two youngsters are suspected of vandalising greater than 30 graves on the Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery in Jerusalem.

Tombstones have been vandalised on the Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery in Jerusalem [Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters]

Israeli police say they've arrested two individuals suspected of vandalising greater than 30 graves in a Protestant cemetery in Jerusalem earlier this month.

Safety footage circulated on social media confirmed one man of Orthodox Jewish look getting into the Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery final Sunday, pushing over a cross-shaped tombstone and smashing it with rocks with the assistance of a second man.

Police stated intensive injury was triggered to gravestones, calling it an “act of intentional vandalism and defacement”.

Two individuals, aged 14 and 18, have been arrested and shall be delivered to courtroom, in line with the police assertion launched on Friday.

It didn't establish the suspects, saying solely they have been residents of central Israel.

Jerusalem’s Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum referred to as the desecration a “clear hate crime”.

“This act is not only cowardly however disgusting, and any individual with blood by way of their veins would reject such behaviour,” Naoum informed a information convention on Wednesday.

The commander of the Jerusalem police district, Superintendent Doron Turgeman, met church leaders and provided to assist restore the injury.

The US Workplace of Palestinian Affairs stated on Thursday it was “involved” that the non secular website was focused once more — the second time in a decade.

“Spiritual website vandalism by anybody is unacceptable,” the workplace stated. “Jerusalem have to be a metropolis for all of its individuals.”

The incident befell simply days after Israel swore within the most far-right authorities within the nation’s historical past.

On Tuesday, far-right Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, in a transfer Palestinians referred to as a “deliberate provocation”.

Jerusalem has websites sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The cemetery is greater than 170 years outdated and homes outstanding members of the armed forces and clergy within the holy metropolis.

It's situated within the proximity of the burial website of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed on Might 11 by an Israeli sniper as she reported from the Jenin refugee camp.