Christians in Jerusalem Describe Spitting and Intimidation

Soldiers are spitting too. The

soldier in, in uniform, and

this is, you know ...

You know, people in uniform

spitting on you. Now,

what, what shall I say?

Many Christians in Israel say

intimidation and spitting have

become commonplace.

Abbot Nikodemos Schnabel says he faces

threats almost daily when he

walks through Jerusalem.

It's a young monk. They're really

spitting on me, uh, um, in the

nighttime, uh, you know, in,

uh, in dark alleys

without eyewitnesses

because they know if I

attack the monk, it's not accepted.

Now, it's during daylight,

people around, and they don't care.

Ultra-nationalist politician,

Itamar Ben-Gvir, currently security

minister, has repeatedly downplayed the attacks on

Christians,

and in the past even justified

them.

As a result, fear is spreading in Jerusalem's Christian

quarter.

Many residents refuse

to speak publicly.

We are afraid

because we are

alone. We are girls, you know.

Nobody would help.

There will be more and more problems.

No one is trying to solve these problems.

We don't have

much hope.

Our, our only hope is our children get

better education than what we did

so they can find their future somewhere

else.

A study by Israel's Rossing Center

found more than half of

Christians under the age of 45 are considering leaving

the country.

Abbot Nikodemos hopes that

Jerusalem will remain a city for

all religions. But for that to happen, he says the

world must pay attention.

We know how badly we, we treated Jews.

And also we see the really rising

phenomena of antisemitism.

But this

is not an excuse not to look

on the realities here on the ground.