JERUSALEM
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has denounced an arson attack by suspected Jewish settlers on a building affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem.
"It is inconceivable that an act like this could happen in a house of prayer," Rivlin's office quoted him as saying in a phone call to Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III.
"This is a heinous crime," he said. "There must be an investigation and those responsible must be brought to justice."
He added: "Such criminals not only threaten to set fire to places of worship sacred to all of us, but [threaten to] ignite the regional powder keg upon which we all sit."
The Israeli leader also asserted that the protection and conservation of holy sites was an obligation for Israel, as both a state and a society.
"We cannot allow such attacks to sabotage the common fabric of our lives here. We all have a responsibility to put an end to these terrible acts," he said.
Israel's Foreign Ministry likewise condemned the attack, going on to denounce "any action of religious intolerance of any kind."
"Israel, being the only democracy in the region, cannot accept such hateful acts," the release said.
"We are sure that the Israeli police will do all it can to bring those who have committed this deplorable act to justice," it added.
Earlier Thursday, Jewish settlers set fire to a room in a Christian school in West Jerusalem, which they also sprayed with anti-Christian graffiti.
The incident came one day after Jewish settlers set fire to a mosque near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, which they also covered with anti-Arab and anti-Muslim graffiti, according to a Palestinian official.
Recently, numerous attacks by extremist Jewish settlers on Muslim and Christian houses of worship have been reported, both in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the self-proclaimed Jewish state itself.
