Following Wednesday’s events in which Egyptian Coptic monks were assaulted and arrested by Israeli forces in Jerusalem, official Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ahmed Hafez expressed Egypt’s condemnation of the Israeli police’ assault. The statement, which was issued on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official website on Thursday morning, said that Egypt rejected ”any assault on the clergy, while stressing the need to respect religious shrines.” As per Hafez, Israeli authorities were contacted to verify the facts and escalation of the incident which led to the swift release of the detained monk. During the incident, Israeli forces assaulted two Egyptian Coptic monks and detained one as they were demonstrating the restoration done at the Deir es-Sultan monastery in Jerusalem. The mastery is located on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Coptic monks were protesting the restoration work which was to be done on Deir es-Sultan by the Israeli government as it would be carried out without the Coptic church’s permission. The monks were assaulted in a bid to clear the way for restoraters to carry out their work on the monastery. Spokesperson Hafez also stated that the Foreign…
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Condemns Israeli Forces Assault, Detained Monk Freed
October 25, 2018
