Jerusalem: woman filmed spitting at the entrance of the Armenian St James Monastery
- Published
- Place
- Jerusalem
- Event date
- Past event —
Summary
A woman has been filmed spitting at the entrance of St James Monastery, seat of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The video was posted on X by Kegham Balian, an Armenian journalist from Jerusalem, and picked up on 12 November by several Armenian media. According to him, the woman looked inside, realised it was a Christian site, and spat. The journalist identifies her as an Israeli Jewish woman and says she will face no legal consequences. The incident adds to a series. Since the summer, the monastery has suffered spitting, stone-throwing and an attempt to urinate on its walls. A research centre recorded 45 incidents in three months on Armenian Patriarchate Road alone.
The scene is short. A passer-by stops at the monastery door, glances inside, then spits. Kegham Balian, an Armenian journalist from Jerusalem, shared the footage. “She looked inside, noticed it’s a Christian place, and spat,” he wrote. He condemns hateful conduct that, in his view, will go unpunished.
At this stage, it is not known whether Israeli police have opened an investigation. No official reaction has been reported.
A series since the summer
It is not an isolated case. On 2 August, six Israelis, five of them minors, spat at the monastery entrance, banged on its gates and threw stones at the compound. Arrests followed. In September, a man was filmed trying to urinate against the wall. In late October, another spat at the entrance and insulted the Armenian guard who confronted him.
Each time, surveillance or phone footage brought the facts to light. And each time, the same street is involved: the one that runs along the patriarchate, in the heart of the Old City’s Armenian Quarter.
What the figures say
The Religious Freedom Data Center, an organisation monitoring violations of religious freedom in Jerusalem, published a report in October. Between July and September 2026, it documented 106 acts of harassment in 96 incidents. Of the 77 incidents recorded in the Old City, 45 took place on Armenian Patriarchate Road.
The Armenian community is therefore the most exposed. According to the report, no specific action plan has been put in place for it.
A central site for Armenians
St James Monastery houses the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It is the centre of an Armenian Christian presence in the city dating back some 1,700 years. It is one of the holiest sites of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is also the residence of the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem. In other words, each act of spitting targets a church, an institution and a community at once.
Analysis
Spitting is not an armed attack. But repetition changes the nature of the problem. When 45 incidents are concentrated in a single street in three months, it is no longer incivility. It is a climate. Jerusalem’s Armenian community is small, and its heritage is fragile. The videos stir the diaspora, in Armenia and in France. But as long as the perpetrators are not prosecuted, each new image will look like the last.
Possible consequences
The Armenian Patriarchate and the Israeli authorities have not commented publicly on this latest incident.
