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Maronite prayer hall desecrated in Israel: “Forgiveness does not mean silence in the face of aggression”
The Haifa archeparchy calls for an investigation into the destruction of religious images and statues in Nahariya. The community says it will continue praying there while the perpetrators are identified.
CHURCH IN ISRAEL
Ana Paula Morales (Poli)
11/2/20263 min read
Photo caption: St. Louis Maronite Church in Haifa, Israel. Archival photograph: Levi Meir Clancy / Wikimedia Commons, CC0. This is not the prayer hall desecrated in Nahariya.
NAHARIYA, Israel. The Maronite Archeparchy of Haifa condemned the desecration of the Saints Peter and Paul prayer hall in Nahariya, northern Israel, where worshippers found smashed statues and vandalized religious images on Sunday, November 1, the solemnity of All Saints. Archbishop Moussa El-Hage called for an investigation and protective measures so the community can worship without intimidation.
In its statement, reported on Monday by Vatican News, the archeparchy stressed that the attack affects not only Church property but also the dignity of worshippers and the sacred character of a place set aside for prayer.
Nahariya lies on Israel’s northern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Lebanon and about ten kilometers from Acre, ancient Ptolemais. According to Acts 21:7, St. Paul visited the Christian community there and stayed for a day. Although the passage refers to Acre, not to the vandalized prayer hall in Nahariya, it recalls Christianity’s apostolic roots in this part of the Holy Land.
The damage was discovered as the faithful arrived to pray
Father Rudy Noura told The Times of Israel that members of the community reached the prayer hall at about 5:45 p.m. on Sunday. There they found slashed images and broken statues.
The hall serves a community of around 1,200 people, including former members of the South Lebanon Army and their families. Thousands of members of that force, which was allied with Israel, found refuge in Israel after the Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
The same outlet reported that a note of apology had been left on the altar. That detail, however, does not by itself establish the perpetrator’s identity or motive. The Times of Israel.
The archeparchy called for those responsible to be identified and brought to justice, for the hall to be protected and for further attacks to be prevented. It also said the community would keep using the room: vandalism would not stop its prayers or be met with hatred. “Forgiveness does not mean silence in the face of aggression,” it said.
A climate of hostility that calls for protection
The incident follows other reports of assaults against Christians in Israel and East Jerusalem. In a May 3, 2026, dispatch, AFP reported concern among clergy and worshippers after an attack on a nun in Jerusalem. The agency cited the Rossing Center, which documented 61 physical assaults against Christians in 2025, including beatings, spitting and pepper-spray attacks.
In a different geographic and political setting, Reuters reported on July 14, 2025 on Christian leaders’ allegations of settler attacks in Taybeh, in the occupied West Bank. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa warned then that insecurity was fueling the temptation to emigrate. Those precedents do not establish who attacked the Nahariya hall, but help explain concern for the survival of Christian communities.
Protection of worship is also a right recognized by the United Nations. Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects the manifestation of religion, individually or in community, in public or in private. In Nahariya, the Church’s demand is concrete: investigate the attack and ensure that worshippers can continue praying in safety.
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