JERUSALEM (RNS) The church body authorized by the Vatican to oversee the Catholic Church’s property in Israel has asked Israel’s attorney general to indict a Jewish extremist who, it says, recently incited violence against Israel’s Christian churches.
In a letter sent to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein on Sunday (Aug. 9), the Custody of the Holy Land said Benzi Gopstein, sometimes spelled “Gopshtein,” head of the Jewish extremist group Lehava, poses a threat to Holy Land Christians.
The letter cited comments by Gopstein, who, during an Aug. 4 panel discussion for yeshiva students, quoted the 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides’ ruling that Christianity constitutes idolatry. Gopstein said that the biblical Book of Deuteronomy calls for the destruction of idol worship.
“The writing is on the wall and the attack on people that will cause unknown results is not a matter of ‘if,’ but of ‘when,'” the group’s letter warned.
Sunday’s letter was the Christian world’s latest plea to Israeli authorities to find and prosecute the people responsible for more than 50 attacks against Christian and Muslim holy sites during the past few years. Israeli police are investigating the crimes, presumably carried out by far-right-wing Jewish extremists, according to a police spokesman.
The Rev. Pietro Felet, secretary general of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, on Friday filed an official complaint with the Israeli police against Gopstein, the assembly said in a statement.
The complaint was signed by more than 20 patriarchs and bishops.
“The Catholic community in the Holy Land is fearful and feels in danger,” the statement said. The assembly called “on the Israeli authorities to ensure real protection for Christian citizens of this country and their places of worship.”
10 Iconic Photos From Pope's Middle East Trip
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Open Image ModalPope Francis touches the wall that divides Israel from the West Bank, on his way to celebrate a mass in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, May 25, 2014. (credit:Osservatore Romano / Handout / AP)
(02 of10)
Open Image ModalPope Francis takes part in a Mass held at the Church of Nativity on May 25, 2014, in Bethlehem, West Bank. Pope Francis addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as "unacceptable" and urged both sides to find courage in seeking a peaceful solution. (credit:Lior Mizrahi / Getty Images)
(03 of10)
Open Image ModalIn this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis blesses Palestinian reporter Imad Freij aboard the papal flight to Amman, Jordan, Saturday, May 24, 2014. At right is Vatican spokesperson Rev. Federico Lombardi. (credit:L'Osservatore Romano / Handout / AP)
(04 of10)
Open Image ModalPope Francis prays at the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, as an unidentified Rabbi looks at him, in the old city of Jerusalem, Israel, Monday, May 26, 2014. (credit:Vincenzo Pinto / AP)
(05 of10)
Open Image ModalPope Francis places an envelope in on of the cracks between the stones of the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, in the old city of Jerusalem, Israel, Monday, May 26, 2014. (credit:Andrew Medichini / AP)
(06 of10)
Open Image ModalIn this handout provided by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO), Pope Francis visits the dome of the rock on May 26, 2014 in Jerusalen, Israel. Pope Francis arrived in Israel on Sunday afternoon, a day after landing in the Middle East for his first visit to the Holy Land. During his visit to the West Bank the Pontiff addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as "unacceptable" and urged both sides to find courage in seeking a peaceful solution. (credit:Haim Zach / GPO / Getty Images)
(07 of10)
Open Image ModalPope Francis prays in front of the river Jordan in Bethany beyond the Jordan river, the site of Christ's baptism, west of Amman, Jordan, Saturday, May 24, 2014. The pontiff is in Jordan on the first of a three day trip to the Middle East that will also take him to the West Bank and Israel. (credit:Andrew Medichini / AP)
(08 of10)
Open Image ModalPope Francis (L) and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (R) pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 25, 2014. In his first Middle East tour since his anointment in 2013, Pope Francis held a historic prayer service with the Ecumenical Patriarch in Jerusalem on Sunday. This was the first reunion between the two Christian sects in fifty years. (credit:Amos Ben Gershom / Israeli GPO / Getty Images)
(09 of10)
Open Image ModalPope Francis (C-L) shakes the hand of holocaust survivor Eliezer Grynfeld (C-R) during his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II. Pope Francis denounced the "abyss" of the Nazi genocide which claimed the lives of six million Jews as he visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. (credit:Gali Tibbon / AFP / Getty Images)
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Open Image ModalPope Francis hugs two close Jewish and Muslim friends traveling with him at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on May 26, 2014. Pope Francis faces a diplomatic high-wire act as he visits sacred Muslim and Jewish sites in Jerusalem on the final day of his Middle East tour. (credit:Thomas Coex / AFP / Getty Images)
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