The Vatican and the leadership of the Catholic Church in Israel are concerned about the tensions that have arisen between the worshipers of the Carmelite Stella Maris Monastery in Haifa and a handful of Breslov Hassidic Jews who began to pray near the monastery. The issue came to a peak when an Arab Christian worshiper allegedly attacked the worshipers. Following the altercation, the 53-year-old Arab resident of Haifa was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of having attacked a Breslov worshiper. After a preliminary investigation, the resident was released under 'restrictive conditions' which implies anything from a foreign travel ban to home confinement with electronic monitoring.

In Haifa, a handful of Breslov Hassidim believes that the prophet Elisha (Elias), one of the disciples of Elijah the prophet, is buried in the church. In the last few weeks, Breslov's followers began to come to the church in the Stella Maris monastery and pray next to the door frame, and they even entered the church and prayed there without any proper coordination with Church officials.

Zionist degenerates praying at an ancient Christian church in Haifa claiming it belongs to Jews. This has been happening for weeks. The Christian community is losing patience. https://t.co/JS9fM4HRnN

— Jane Doe (@JaneDoe87451443) June 17, 2023

Meanwhile, the Vatican is concerned about this development and fears an escalation, and over the weekend there were vigorous talks between senior officials from the Catholic Church and the Israeli Police to bring about the release of the detainee who assaulted the Jewish worshiper. For Catholic believers, this is a serious offense to one of their holy places, and they defined the prayers of the Breslov followers as a "punch in the gut" despite the Church's own long dark centuries-long history of persecuting Jews and even humiliating them by desecrating their bodies after death. 

After the resident's arrest, he was visited by the head of the Hadash political party and resident of Haifa, Knesset Member Ayman Odeh. After the visit, the MK issued a statement that read: "The city of Haifa welcomes all its visitors with love, but we will resist the attempts of Jewish sites and the symbols of Haifa, the Arabs, Christians, and Muslims and we will stand as one front against such attacks." Anti-Israel Arab leaders have in recent years started to form a narrative that Christians are at risk in Israel, despite the fact that Christians are free to worship wherever, and it is specifically the Muslim Palestinians who have restrictions on who can enter shared holy sites under their control. An example of this is the Al Aqsa mosque and the broader Temple Mount compound that it sits on as well as Joseph's tomb which is frequently damaged by Palestinians in Nablus. 

This is the full video 👇🏻and in the video two Jews are praying inside a church in Haifa,
And the Christian man takes a picture of them and asks what they are doing here and why are they praying here and the Jews explain that there is a Jew buried there that they believe in https://t.co/Z7Kd7fEpCj

— 𝔈𝔡𝔢𝔫 (@edenn1947) June 17, 2023

Activists in Haifa issued a statement about a demonstration that will be held Sunday evening in front of the monastery, according to them, "In protest of the intolerable activity and the damage to the sanctity of the monastery by the members of the ‘Shuvo Banim’ Hasidic sect, which has been troubling the church recently. This monastery has not existed for a year, not two years, nor 50 years. Where have they been until now? Who are the partisans who came and decided that they are entering to pray in our church? Won't there be one quiet corner left in this country?"

The Arab man was arrested by the police, it was at a church in Haifa, and after questioning him he was released under restrictive conditions https://t.co/79zlV1HaJM

— Document Israel (@DocumentIsrael) June 16, 2023

Officials in the Catholic Church said that this is a very worrying phenomenon from their point of view, and asked to clarify: "There is no tomb of the Prophet Elisha or any other prophet, and we say this out of faith in the Prophet Elisha whom, like other prophets, we respect. This place is a place of prayer exclusively for Christians, although everyone is welcome to visit, as long as they respect the place. In light of the events, we are in contact with the municipality and the police in order to take concrete steps, with the aim of putting an end to this provocative phenomenon once and for all."