Shireen Abu Aqla: Christian leaders condemn violence at reporter’s funeral

vatican

The Vatican’s representative in Jerusalem has accused Israel of “brutally violating” a decades-old agreement to uphold religious freedom. It follows Friday’s attack by Israeli police on the funeral of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqla. Officers kicked and beat pallbearers and fired stun grenades into the crowd of mourners at St Joseph Hospital. Monsignor Tomasz Grysa, who represents the Holy See in Jerusalem, said the action was unjustified and unprovoked. The Israeli police declined to respond to the church leaders’ statement, but has already said there will be a review into its handling of the funeral. Abu Aqla, a veteran Al Jazeera correspondent who was a Christian, was shot dead during an Israeli army arrest raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.(BBC)…[+]