Israeli Arabs Protest Attack on Nazareth Church

Thousands of Israeli Arab protesters marched through the streets of this biblical town Saturday demanding better protection for holy sites after a troubled family set off firecrackers inside a major Christian shrine.

The emotional reaction to the attack at the Church of the Annunciation reflected the fragile status of Israel’s Arab minority, which has long alleged discrimination at the hands of the Jewish majority.

Many protesters accused the government of failing to prevent the attack, and rejected statements from officials that Friday’s attack was driven by personal distress rather than political motives.

An Israeli couple and their daughter interrupted a Lent prayer service by exploding firecrackers in the church, one of Christianity’s most revered sites. The attack caused only light damage but panicked people nearby, setting off a riot that injured two dozen people, including 13 police officers.

Police said the man involved in the attack, Haim Eliyahu Habibi, has financial problems and is not a Jewish extremist. Habibi’s wife, Violet, who is Christian, and their 20-year-old daughter were treated at a hospital before being taken into custody early Saturday.

Israeli TV on Saturday showed footage of a bearded Habibi being escorted by police with a large bandage over his eye, injured in a scuffle with angry worshipers.

Late Saturday, a judge extended the family’s detention by 15 days. At the hearing, the parents said they meant no harm, had no hate for Christians or Muslims and merely sought to draw attention to their plight. The father said authorities had recently placed three of his children into foster care.

“I am deeply sorry. I am not against anyone,” a sobbing Violet Habibi said.

But participants in Saturday’s rally dismissed such explanations.

“The Israeli institution is trying to explain the aggression by saying that anyone who did this is mentally unstable,” said Ramez Jaraisi, a Christian who is Nazareth’s mayor. “We refuse to accept any excuse for this criminal act.”

Israel has more than 1 million Arabs who are citizens, in contrast to Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip who live under the Palestinian Authority. Israeli Arabs, who make up about 20% of Israel’s population, complain of systematic discrimination in housing, education and jobs.

Despite tensions between Jews and Arabs in Israel, violence is rare.

Nazareth, the boyhood town of Jesus, is inhabited by about 74,000 Israeli Arabs, two-thirds of them Muslim and the rest Christian.