Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem officially files complaint over attack on St. James Monastery

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem has officially filed a complaint over an attack by Jewish extremists on the St. James Monastery in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City.

The incident occurred on August 3, 2026, when a group of six people, five of whom were minors, spat on the monastery’s sacred gates and threw stones at Armenian homes. The Patriarchate has called on Israeli authorities to recognize the incident as a hate crime and to take measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The Patriarchate’s statement emphasizes that this is not an isolated case, but part of systematic intimidation of Jerusalem’s Armenian community. The Patriarchate expressed serious concern over the rise in anti-Christian sentiment in the region. According to reports, the number of such incidents in Jerusalem has nearly doubled over the past two years. The attack on the St. James Monastery took place amid growing hostility toward the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

The Armenian Patriarchate called on the international community to pay attention to the threats faced by Christian communities in Jerusalem, and demanded that Israeli authorities ensure the protection of religious sites and worshippers. In response, Armenian public figures and politicians condemned the attack, with Tigran Abrahamyan, former member of the Armenian parliament, stating that such incidents are systemic and require urgent action from the authorities. As of now, no official response has been received from Israeli authorities regarding the Patriarchate’s complaint.