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The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv, chairman of the Knesset Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs Committee, said the committee had last year cited the “unprofessional conduct of the police” regarding churches in Jerusalem. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) and right-wing activist Bentzi Gopstein shared responsibility for the incident, he said. “When someone who has called to burn churches in the State of Israel [Gopstein] regularly sits in the office of the minister responsible for the police, is it any surprise that the police are failing to manage the sensitive and important relationship with the churches in Jerusalem – thereby failing the entire State of Israel in yet another unnecessary and serious diplomatic and public diplomacy incident?” Kariv wrote on X/Twitter. Opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) said: “There is no destruction of value like what this government is doing to our international standing.” “No one [is] stepping up to say: ‘This is not a Jewish declaration of war on the Christian world,’” he said, adding that the government had not responded to what he called a disgrace in a timely manner.
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X: “I condemn the decision of the Israeli police, which joins a disturbing sequence of violations of the status quo of the holy places in Jerusalem.” He called for freedom of worship to be ensured in Jerusalem.
What is Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week for Christians and commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem the week before his death, when crowds laid palm branches along his path. Each year, thousands of Christian Israelis and pilgrims traditionally gather in the city to reenact the route described in the New Testament.
The procession begins at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives and descends into the Old City via Lions’ Gate. Following Palm Sunday, Holy Week continues with a series of religious ceremonies that culminate in Easter Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ resurrection as described in the Gospels. The week is the holiest period in the Christian calendar, and the traditional observances in Jerusalem are among the most anticipated religious events of the year.
The current restrictions are “a wound that adds to many others inflicted by the conflict,” Pizzaballa said.

https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-891522