SW News: Cardinal-designate Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, has expressed hope for Christians in the Holy Land amid reports of escalating violence. He claims that harassment and assaults against Christians in Israel are the work of a small group of Jewish ultra-nationalists who thrive in a particular cultural environment rather than a reflection of growing intolerance in Israeli wider culture.

Vandalism against churches, cemeteries, and Christian properties as well as abuse of Christian clergy on both a physical and verbal level have increased in the Holy Land over the past few months as a result of ongoing political unrest in Israeli society and the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Extremist Jews have attempted to take over churches in Haifa in recent events.

Archbishop Pizzaballa, who will receive the red hat on September 30, acknowledged that acts of religious intolerance are not new but have existed for a long time in an interview with Vatican News' Jean-Charles Putzolu.

The surge, he claimed, is a cause for concern for Christians as well as Israeli officials, despite the fact that efforts to lower these events haven't been very effective. According to patriarch Pizzaballa, the violence primarily affects younger Israeli settler generations living in the Occupied Territories who have grown up in a violent and divisive sociocultural environment thanks to some extremist religious figures.

Christian communities are growing more and more anxious about the situation. He clarified, however, that Christians in the Holy Land do not demand special protections, but rather the observance of the fundamental rights that every individual and community, regardless of religion, should be guaranteed by a democratic state.

The surge, he claimed, is a cause for concern for Christians as well as Israeli officials, despite the fact that efforts to lower these events haven't been very effective. With the exception of President Isaac Herzog, who recently spoke out against the rising acts of violence and called them shameful, Cardinal-designate Pizzaballa continued that the Israeli government doesn't seem to pay enough attention to this issue despite police efforts to enforce the law and some arrests.

According to the cardinal-designate, the present far-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not blatantly anti-Christian, but it has indirectly helped to foster tension and hostility in some sectors of Israeli society.

He said that there are "reasons for hope" because of the tremendous reactions that these instances have sparked in Israeli society, including from Jewish religious leaders. The Patriarch expressed his belief that the issue will eventually be resolved.