Earlier this summer, in the spot on the Sea of Galilee traditionally hailed as the site of Christ’s feeding of the five thousand, the Roman Catholic Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha, Israel, was torched in an arson attack. And as of a few weeks ago, three young right-wing Jewish men—Yinon Reuveni, twenty, Yehuda Asraf, nineteen, and Moshe Orbach, twenty-four—have been indicted on suspicion of responsibility.
In the U.S., the incident was rightly overshadowed by the more serious news of the horrific Charleston shooting. Here in Israel, however, the story made a bigger splash. Though the church’s sanctuary was not seriously harmed, part of the roof collapsed, Bibles and hundreds of books were ruined, and a volunteer and Benedictine monk suffered minor smoke inhalation.
Read Full Article »