On the night of January 28, Israeli extremists again attempted to provoke clashes with the local Armenian population in the Old City of Jerusalem, reports Zartonk Media after speaking with multiple members and community leaders of the Armenian community of Jerusalem.
In the late evening of January 28, two Israelis on their way to the “Wailing Wall “street of the Armenian Patriarchate, in front of the Armenian Monastery, first tried to obstruct the traffic, then, leaving the road, hit the car of Armenian youths returning home from work.
The Armenians got out of the car and asked the aggressors, “Why are you hitting the car? This is our neighborhood, we are coming home from work? We respect the Jews, why do you do such things? What have we done to you?”
One of the Israelis started shouting. “You don’t have a neighborhood here. This is our country, get out of our country.”
And when the Armenian youth said, “This is also our country, our home is here, we were born here, we have nowhere else to go,” the other resident blew pepper spray into the eyes of the Armenian youth, and the two of them ran away.
After returning from the hospital, the Armenian youth filed a complaint with the police. The police questioned the two Jewish extremists and arrested them. One of them was released at dawn, but the one who blew pepper spray is still under arrest.
A few hours later, another group of Israeli extremists, while going to the “Wailing Wall,” passing through the street of the Patriarchate, tried to climb up to the roof of the Armenian Patriarchate and remove the flags of the Patriarchate and the Republic of Armenia. A verbal altercation took place as the youth of local Armenians managed to ward off the aggressors. As the Israelis began to back off, Israeli police arrived on the scene and inquired about the situation. The police subsequently left without taking any action or holding anyone accountable. Therefore the Armenian youth decided to stay put and defend the Armenian community and Quarter from further aggression.
As the youth stood their ground, the same group of Israeli extremists passed by the convent gates and started insulting and spitting on the Armenian youth and one of the priests. One of the extremists then proceeded to pepper spray the members of the Armenian community and fled the scene.
A few Armenians decided to chase them in order to hand them over to the police and file an official complaint. As they were chasing the extremists, a group of Israeli police and IDF soldiers arrived, guns raised and pointed toward the Armenians, eventually knocking them down, beating them, and arresting one of the members who was merely defending his beaten compatriot.
An Armenian was detained but has since been released due to the direct intervention of His Holiness Patriarch Nourhan Manoukian and has been court-ordered to stay at home for 20 days.
