Hate graffiti found on walls of Jerusalem church

Graffiti containing racial slurs against Christians was painted on the walls of a Jerusalem church, the Israeli police said on Sunday.

The writings were written on the outside wall of the Dormition Abbey and a nearby hospice in the Old City of Jerusalem, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

The vandals wrote "Christians go to hell" and "death to the heathen Christians, the enemies of Israel."

An investigation was launched.

Right-wing Jewish extremists have in the past years vandalized Palestinian property and religious institutions like mosques and churches, as well as Israeli left-wing targets.

These attacks usually aim to exact a price against actions that damage the settlement enterprise. They also denounce other religious beside Judaism.

The Dormition Abbey, a Benedictine monastery and a noted Jerusalem landmark, was the target of repeated vandalism attacks.

In February 2015, a fire was set in a building near the church and in 2014, after the pope's visit, the church's visitor book was set ablaze.

In 2012 and 2013, racial slurs were spray-painted in graffiti on the abbey's walls. Endit