Israel: President Rivlin pledges 'religious freedom for all'

Source: Fided

In the wake of President Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel - a decision rejected by the majority of UN members - Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has told Christian faith leaders that the State of Israel is still "deeply committed to ensuring the religious rights of worship and activities of all communities of faith, in Jerusalem and throughout Israel."

The president was spealing at the traditional new year reception in the presidential residence on Wednesday, 27 December, attended, among others, by Israeli Interior Minister Arieh Deri, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, the Custos of the Holy Land Fr Francesco Patton ofm and Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

"A meeting with Churches representatives is always important to me, but when we face troubled times, it becomes even more important", said Rivlin on receiving his guests, with an allusion to the unanimous criticism that the choice of Trump's Administration has gathered among the representatives of the Middle Eastern Churches.

He also pointed out to his interlocutors, a sort of elective affinity between the violence suffered by Christians in many parts of the Middle East and the events experienced by the Jewish State in its historical journey. "In recent years", Rivlin said, our region has known so much bloodshed, so much pain, so much suffering. During this dark period, no community has been persecuted more than Christians, in all the countries around us. I pray together with all of you for their well-being.. we know what it means to be attacked, to be persecuted just because of our faith, and we are heartbroken to see the suffering."

Interior Minister Arieh Deri - one of the founders of Shas, political acronym of Sephardic Orthodox Jews - on his behalf defined the recognition of Jerusalem as Capital of Israel as "a gift received from the President of the United Stated Trump," adding that Jerusalem "will continue to be a city of peace for all believers, in which everyone can pray in freedom and equality."

Speaking on behalf of the Christian communities, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III reiterated the anxieties and concerns about the risks of tampering and violation of the Status Quo, the set of acquired rights, rules and customs on which the coexistence of the different faith communities in the Holy City is based. Patriarch Theophilos also expressed the wish that civil authorities should act as a barrier to "radical groups that want to make Jerusalem a closed society".