By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Thousands of Arab Israelis prayed for peace in Israel as they observed Good Friday when the Bible says Jesus, or Yeshua, was crucified before His resurrection from death on Sunday.
Many walked in two processions in the Israeli city of Haifa around Saint Louis, the King Cathedral, and the other near the Elias Cathedral.
In Jerusalem, the capital, thousands marched slowly, many of them singing hymns and some carrying crucibles along the Via Dolorosa — the cobblestone path where they claim Jesus bore the cross to His crucifixion.
“Traditionally solemn affairs, the events in Haifa are particularly toned down amid the war and a relatively low turnout,” commented The Times of Israel online newspaper.
“Many Christians from the Galilee stayed away this year, likely because of rocket fire by Hezbollah in Lebanon,” it noted.
“It’s a sad day during a sad time,” said Maya Da’abul, who participated in a procession with her husband and two teenage children.
UNUSUAL GOOD FRIDAY
Usually, the family spends Good Friday at a church in Kafr Bir’im near the Lebanese border, but “because of the war, we stayed in Haifa, where it’s safe,” Maya told reporters.
Kafr Bir’im “is where our family comes from, before 1948,” when the Arab-Israeli war led to the establishment of the modern State of Israel, she told the media. It reportedly remains uninhabited except for the church.
The family recited hymns and prayers about Jesus as they walked through a cloud of incense billowing from a priest’s thurible. “But we also pray in our hearts this war will end,” Maya said.
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 31,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched a war after Hamas killed some 1,200 people in the Jewish nation on October 7.
The figures by Hamas, deemed a terrorist organization by Israel and most of its allies, have been complex to verify independently. Israel acknowledged that civilians died but says many victims, at least some 13,000, were fighters of Hamas.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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