ASIA/ISRAEL - The request for compensation for the burning of the church in Tabgha has been rejected

Monday, 14 September 2015

ISRAEL

2023-10-30
"The importance to recognize and see the other as a human being": Neve Shalom-Wahat al Salam, where Israelis and Palestinians live together

2022-12-14
Catholic bishops set up new legal Offices

2022-01-12
Christian population: numerical growth with percentage decrease compared to other religions

2021-06-17
Jesuit David Neuhaus: the new government will confirm strong ties with Christian Zionist evangelicals

2021-05-18
Haifa, the dream of "coexistence" between different people fades. Father Mikhael Abdo: "They reopened wounds that never healed"

2020-06-26
The Court of Jerusalem rejects the appeal of the Orthodox Patriarchate on the sale of the properties to Ateret Cohanim

Tabgha (Agenzia Fides) - The administrative offices of the tax authority in Israel has rejected in recent days the claim for compensation presented by the Catholic Church for the damage of the arsonist attack which last June had devastated the Sanctuary of the Miracle of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fish, in Tabgha.
The Israeli law establishes that the damage to people and property caused by terrorist attacks are to be compensated with amounts of money. The act of vandalism set to the church in Tabgha was defined a "heinous act" and an "attack against all of us" by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Now the offices in charge of allocating compensation have rejected the request for damages suffered by the sanctuary in Tabgha, arguing that the attack cannot be proved. According to reports in the Israeli media, the Israeli tax official, Amir Cohen, sent a a letter to the leaders of the church a few days ago in which it reports that the damage caused by the fire is not among those compensated by the Israeli tax authority, because the regulations provide compensation only for acts of violence caused by the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The attack against the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes had also caused the hospitalization of a Benedictine monk and a German volunteer, intoxicated by the smoke. After the attack, a prompt condemnation was also expressed by the Embassy of Israel to the Holy See. In a statement, the Israeli diplomatic representative deplored the acts of intimidation against places of worship perpetrated in the Holy Land, calling them "completely at odds with the values and traditions of Israel". Already in June, a group of Jewish religious leaders, led by Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein, founder and director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute, started a collection of funds for the restoration of the church vandalized. In July the Israeli police forces arrested some extremist Jewish settlers believed to be responsible for the attack in Tabgha. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 14/09/2015)