Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Israeli counterpart on reducing the number of attacks on Christian religious sites in Israel.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We condemn all extremist violence, including attacks against religious buildings. We are aware that on 18 June, the Benedictine Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha, on the Sea of Galilee, was set on fire and vandalised with graffiti. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv raised this at the time with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and National Security Council. On 10 September the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised their concerns for peace in the region with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.