Hai Dat Committee strongly condemns latest attack on Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter

The Jerusalem “Hai Dat” Committee has strongly condemned the latest attack on the Armenian Quarter of the Old City. According to the organization, six religious Israeli Jews spat toward the main entrance of the St. James Monastery and threw stones at the homes of Armenian residents.

The statement emphasizes that this serious incident adds to a series of encroachments, acts of intimidation, and violence directed against Jerusalem’s Armenian community. The Committee notes that the systematic recurrence of such attacks heightens concern that those responsible are acting with impunity. At the same time, it stresses that such actions do not reflect the position of Israeli society as a whole, but that the lack of consistent enforcement of the law and accountability for perpetrators contributes to the continuation of such crimes.

The Committee called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to publicly condemn the incident and reaffirm the State of Israel’s commitment to protecting the safety, dignity, and fundamental rights of all religious and national communities in Jerusalem and the country as a whole.

At the same time, the Committee appealed to the Israeli government and law enforcement agencies to urgently take decisive measures, conduct a comprehensive, independent, and impartial investigation, ensure the strict application of the principle of equality before the law, and hold those responsible accountable through the courts.

In addition, the Committee appealed to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, foreign diplomatic missions, and the international community to closely monitor the situation, publicly express concern, and take concrete steps to protect the rights, security, and historical presence of Jerusalem’s Armenian community.

“Protecting the safety, dignity, and historical presence of Jerusalem’s Armenian community is not only a moral and legal duty, but also a necessary condition for preserving Jerusalem’s unique multi-confessional, multicultural, and historical character as a sacred city for the three world monotheistic religions,” the statement notes.