Britain’s oldest serving MP has criticised the Israeli government for failing to prevent violence and intimidation against Christians in the West Bank.
Sir Edward Leigh, told a parliamentary meeting that Israeli settlers were increasingly targeting Christians living in the West Bank, The Parliament Politics magazine reports.
“Christians are no longer viewed as part of their ancestral lands, but are subjected to harassment and worsening violence," he said.
Sir Edward said that numerous encounters with people on the ground had convinced him that there is a “pattern of violence” and that the British government and foreign office had “catastrophically failed Christian minorities time and again”.
The treatment of Christians by Israel has become of increasing concern, with even otherwise staunch defenders of Israel raising the alarm.
US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who has forcefully opposed claims that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, described recent anti-Christian violence by Israeli settlers as “terrorism”.
His comments came following an attack by masked individuals on the village of Jab’a. The Christian town of Taybeh has also been attacked on previous occasions.
Speaking to News Nation, Huckabee said, “Israelis can carry out terrorism as well. But most of these people are not actual settlers who live there. This is a very small number, mostly of youth, angry and disaffected. These are thugs. Many of them don’t even live in Judea and Samaria. They come into there to create havoc.”
Attacks often intensify during the olive harvesting season. Many locals find it difficult to reach their farms and harvest their crops due both to official roadblocks and to unofficial settler violence.
The Israeli government has previously been criticised for failing to prevent such attacks and hold those responsible for account.
On the ground one Catholic priest told of the realities of being subject to such attacks.
Father Bashar Fawadleh, a parish priest in Taybeh, told Vatican News, “The settlers destroyed one of the buildings belonging to the parish and to a parishioner." The group also destroyed cars and a petrol station.
The settlers' actions were condemned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Father Bashar said, “After the many settler attacks — not only in Taybeh but in the area east of Ramallah — many people are thinking of emigrating, of leaving the country because there is no security.”
