World

Photos: Armenian Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City feel walls closing in

Published

1 year ago

December 18, 2024

Photos: Armenian Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City feel walls closing in

As Israel’s war on Gaza rages and Israeli attacks on people in the occupied West Bank continue, Armenian residents of the Old City of Jerusalem are fighting a different battle – quieter, they say, but no less existential.

One of the oldest communities in Jerusalem, the Armenians have lived in the Old City for more than 1,500 years, centred around the Armenian convent.

Now, the small Christian community has begun to fracture under pressure from forces they say threaten them and the multifaith character of the Old City – from Jewish settlers who jeer at clergymen on their way to prayer to a land deal threatening to turn a quarter of their land into a luxury hotel.

A member of the Armenian clergy uses a wood hammer to call for the daily afternoon prayer service at St James Cathedral. [Francisco Seco/AP Photo]

Chasms have emerged between the Armenian Patriarchate and the mainly secular community, whose members worry the church is not equipped to protect their dwindling population and embattled convent.

In the Armenian Quarter is Save the Arq’s headquarters, a structure with reinforced plywood walls hung with ancient maps inhabited by Armenians who are there to protest what they see as an illegal land grab by a real estate developer.

The land under threat is where the community holds events and also includes parts of the patriarchate itself.

Israel Armenian Christians — An Armenian activist pets a dog in a parking area known by locals as Cows Garden, which has been leased for a luxury hotel. [Francisco Seco/AP Photo]

After years of the patriarchate refusing to sell any of its land, Armenian priest Baret Yeretsian secretly “leased” the lot in 2021 for up to 98 years to Xana Capital, a company registered just before the agreement was signed.

Xana turned more than half the shares to a local businessman, George Warwar, who has been involved in various criminal offences.

Community members were outraged.

The priest fled the country and the patriarchate cancelled the deal in October, but Xana objected and the contract is now in mediation.

Xana has sent armed men to the lot, the activists say, attacking people, including clergy, with pepper spray and batons.

The activists say Warwar has the backing of a prominent settler organisation seeking to expand the Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The organisation, Ateret Cohanim, is behind several controversial land acquisitions in the Old City, and its leaders were photographed with Warwar and Xana Capital owner Danny Rothman, also known as Danny Rubinstein, in December 2023. Ateret Cohanim denied any connection to the land deal.

Activists filed suit against the patriarchate in February, seeking to have the deal declared void and the land to belong to the community in perpetuity.

The patriarchate refused, saying it owns the land.

Armenians began arriving in the Old City as early as the fourth century with a large wave arriving in the early 20th century, fleeing the Ottoman Empire. They have the same status as Palestinians in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem – residents but not citizens, effectively stateless.

Today, the newcomers are mainly boys who arrive from Armenia to live and study in the convent although many drop out. Clergy say that’s partially because attacks against Christians have increased, leaving the Armenians – whose convent is closest to the Jewish Quarter and is along a popular route to the Western Wall – vulnerable.

Father Aghan Gogchyan, the patriarchate’s chancellor, said he’s regularly attacked by groups of Jewish nationalists.

The Rossing Center, which tracks anti-Christian attacks in the Holy Land, documented about 20 attacks on Armenian people and property and church properties in 2023, many involving ultranationalist Jewish settlers spitting at Armenian clergy or graffiti reading “Death to Christians” scrawled on the quarter’s walls.

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World

One week into Iran war, the dangers for the US and Trump multiply

Published

9 hours ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

One week into Iran war, the dangers for the US and Trump multiply

One week into the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran that has plunged the Middle East into turmoil, President Donald Trump faces a growing list of risks and challenges that raise questions about whether he will be able to translate military successes into a clear geopolitical win.

World

Iran warns European countries will be ‘legitimate targets’ if they join conflict

Published

10 hours ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

Iran warns European countries will be ‘legitimate targets’ if they join conflict

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An Iranian official warned that any European countries that enter the conflict against Iran will become “legitimate targets” for Tehran’s retaliation.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi made the remark to France24 as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday apologized to neighboring countries that have been attacked by the regime.

“We have already informed the Europeans and everybody else that they should be careful not to be involved in this war of aggression against Iran,” Takht-Ravanchi told the network. “If they help, I’m not trying to name any country, but if any country joins in the aggression against Iran, joins America and Israel in the aggression against Iran, definitely they will be also the legitimate targets for Iranian retaliation.”

“This war has imposed on us, and we will continue to defend ourselves to the best of our abilities,” he added. “We have an obligation to defend our people and that is what exactly we are doing.”

Then-Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht-Ravanchi speaks to the media outside Security Council chambers at the U.N. headquarters in New York, on June 24, 2019. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Takht-Ravanchi also claimed Iran was “negotiating in good faith” in talks with the U.S. about its nuclear program, before America launched Operation Epic Fury and Israel began Operation Roaring Lion on Feb. 28.

“We are sincere. We are sincere in our endeavor to arrive at a peaceful conclusion of this issue,” he told France24.

AFTER THE STRIKES, HOW WOULD THE US SECURE IRAN’S ENRICHED URANIUM?

A group of men inspect the ruins of a police station struck during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Pezeshkian said Saturday that any future attacks coming out of Iran would only be in response to attacks against the country.

“I should apologize to the neighboring countries that were attacked by Iran, on my own behalf,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “From now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy.”

Damage is seen in Bnei Brak, Israel, on March 3, 2026, following an Iranian missile barrage. (Nir Elias/Reuters)

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Pezeshkian made the apology during a prerecorded televised speech on Saturday after Iran launched repeated strikes on Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman.

Despite the vow, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that the country’s air defense systems intercepted 16 ballistic missiles, 15 of which were destroyed while one fell into the sea.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

World

Israel kills father, daughter in Gaza as genocide continues amid wider war

Published

11 hours ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

Israel kills father, daughter in Gaza as genocide continues amid wider war

A father and his daughter have been killed in an Israeli drone attack in central Khan Younis, southern Gaza, as Palestinians continue to suffer amid worldwide attention on the United States-Israeli war on Iran.

The two were killed early on Saturday. In a separate attack later in the day in Khan Younis, another person was killed and a young girl wounded, according to Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground.

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Israeli forces continue carrying out air strikes, artillery shelling, and naval bombardment on Gaza on a daily basis, despite an October 11 “ceasefire” as Israel continues its ongoing genocide.

Suffering in Gaza and the occupied West Bank remains acute as the world focuses on the US-Israeli bombardment of Iran.

In the past 48 hours, two additional people have been wounded, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

Israeli army-affiliated militias, meanwhile, have advanced east of Gaza City, with heavy gunfire reported in the area. Initial reports also stated a member of the Palestinian police was abducted.

Israeli warplanes also struck several locations east of the Tuffah neighbourhood, near Gaza City, while the Israeli navy fired heavy machineguns and shells towards the coast of Gaza City, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The Rafah border crossing, meanwhile, remains closed. Israel had shut it amid its attacks on Iran.

The Rafah crossing, located on Gaza’s southern border, had reopened only last month allowing a limited number of Palestinians to leave for the first time in months, including patients in urgent need of medical care. Thousands remain blocked from travelling for treatment.

The Karem Abu Salem crossing, also known to Israelis as Kerem Shalom, is partially open for the entry of humanitarian aid only, under strict restrictions.

Nearly all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people was displaced during Israel’s war on the territory, and the enclave remains heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance.

In a February report, Human Rights Watch said Israeli restrictions had contributed to shortages of medicine, reconstruction materials, food and water inside the Strip.

Since the ceasefire in Gaza, 640 Palestinians have been killed and at least 1,700 wounded, according to the Health Ministry. At least 72,123 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, while 171,805 people have been injured.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported its teams in Hebron are treating a Palestinian injured by live fire near the illegal Karmei Tzur settlement, built on Palestinian land north of Hebron.

Three Palestinians were also injured on Saturday after being physically assaulted by Israeli settlers in the Ras al-Ahmar area, south of Tubas, Wafa reported. Medical sources at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said their teams responded to three people with injuries.

Israeli forces also conducted raids in the towns of Qaffin and Kafr al-Labad, north of Tulkarem, early on Saturday, Wafa said.

A Palestinian man was also injured after being assaulted by Israeli soldiers near the village of Azmut, east of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

Palestinians have faced a wave of intensified Israeli military and settler violence across the West Bank since the war on Gaza began in October 2023.

At least 1,094 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank since October 2023, according to the latest United Nations figures.