Senior Catholic clerics in Jerusalem called Sunday for Israel to repeal a controversial law giving Jews a “unique” right to self-determination in the country. “We must draw the attention of the authorities to a simple fact,” bishops and archbishops of the Roman Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic and Greek Melkite churches said in a joint statement. It speaks of Israel as the historic homeland of the Jews and demotes Arabic from its former status as an official language. There were widespread Arab protests after it passed into law and some Jewish politicians said it should be amended. President Reuven Rivlin said the act “in its current version is bad for the state of Israel and bad for the Jews”.

Source: Punch November 04, 2018 19:49 UTC