Bethlehem, traditionally regarded as the birthplace of Jesus, held special significance during the Christmas festivities. Amidst this, a video has gone viral on social media, showing a group of individuals attacking a building believed to be a church on Christmas night. In the footage, men are seen throwing stones at the structure while sirens blare in the background. Many users claim the Palestinian Muslim mob attacking a church in Bethlehem during Christmas celebrations.
A Facebook user posted the viral post with the following caption:
This is for those Christians defending the Palestinians. 🤷♂️
Didn’t the Muslims say “when they finish with the Saturday people (i.e. the Jewish people), they will come for the Sunday people (the Christians)?”
🟡 *West Bank*
Palestinians are trying to break into a church in Bethlehem during rehearsals for Christmas. This comes after they threw stones and fired shots at the church. This is how Palestinians treat Christians on Christmas Eve.
@DailyISRAEL24
You can check the post here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral post, and found it to be false.
Searching with keywords on Google, the NM team found a Facebook post, dated October 31, 2022, featuring the same video.
According to this post, the incident did not occur in Bethlehem but in the nearby town of Beit Sahour in October 2022. The post mentioned that a young Muslim man attempted to enter a Greek Orthodox church during a scout rehearsal. This led to an argument, following which a group of youths returned and attacked the church by throwing stones.
Further information about the incident was also found on the media website Milhillard, in a news article published on October 29, 2022. The report stated that the altercation began when some youths tried to enter the Orthodox Church in Beit Sahour, leading to a dispute. The youths later returned with a larger group and attacked the church.
A Jerusalem Post report on the incident quoted church leaders as saying, “The controversy arose from an argument between two groups of young men.”
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral post, claiming to show a Palestinian Muslim mob attacking a church in Bethlehem during Christmas celebrations, is false.
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