An Israeli official asked a German Christian priest on Wednesday to hide his crucifix during a visit to the Buraq Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli media reported.
A reporter for the German news outlet Der Spiegel filmed the incident and posted it on social media.
Nikodemus Schnabel, the abbot of the Old City’s Dormition Abbey, was accompanying Germany’s Federal Education Minister on a visit to the site, which is the western boundary wall of the Al-Aqsa compound.
Schnabel was stopped by a woman who works for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the Haredi-dominated state-run body that administers the site.
Israeli official asks Christian priest to hide his crucifix while walking near the Buraq Wall, in #Jerusalem 's Old City. pic.twitter.com/GeZT20vrgf
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) July 20, 2023
The footage shows the Israeli official telling the priest that the crucifix he was wearing was “really big and inappropriate for this place.” She asked him to cover it up.
“This is very harsh,” Schnabel replied. “You are not respecting my religion. You are hindering me from my human right. This is not a provocation. I am an abbot. This is my dress. The cross is part of my dress code. I am a Roman Catholic abbot. You want me not to dress according to my faith, that is the reality.”
In an interview with the Israeli news television channel I-24, Schnabel said it was a “very strange experience”.
“I believe that Jerusalem is an open city for anybody, and for me, the future of Jerusalem is people from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian religions coming to pray in this holy city,” he concluded.
(PC, MEMO)
I AM SHOCKED THAT AN ISRAELI OFFICIAL WOULD TELL AN ABBOTT NOT TO PERMIT HIS CLOTHING CROSS BE VISIBLE WHILE HE AND HIS WIFE ARE TOURING IN THE HOLY CITY WHICH AMERICAN TAXES PAY TO KEEP OPEN AND FREE TO ALL RELIGIONS. ANYTHING LESS THAN THAT IS AN AFFRONT TO THIS LAND NOT OWNED BY ANY ONE RELIGION SHOULD BE REPORTED TO THE KNESSET!!!! I WILL BE VERY SURPRISED WHAT THE REPLY TO SUCH A COMPLAINT WILL / WOULD BE.