The Vatican’s representative in Jerusalem has accused Israel of “brutally violating” a decades-old agreement to uphold religious freedom.
It follows Friday’s attack by Israeli police on the funeral of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqla.
Officers kicked and beat pallbearers and fired stun grenades into the crowd of mourners at St Joseph Hospital.
Monsignor Tomasz Grysa, who represents the Holy See in Jerusalem, said the action was unjustified and unprovoked.
Israel’s police force said its handling of the funeral was being reviewed and accused religious leaders of making “extreme” statements.
Abu Aqla, a veteran Al Jazeera correspondent who was a Christian, was shot dead during an Israeli army arrest raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday. At a news conference at St Joseph Hospital on Monday, the leaders of 15 denominations in Jerusalem condemned what they called the “violent intrusion” of Israeli police into Abu Aqla’s funeral procession.
Credit: bbc.com
