The Israeli police rejected reports at the end of Monday that Jewish settlers claimed the archaeological place of the church of St. George in the village of Taybeh in the West Bank and called them ‘in fact incorrect’ and possibly not misleading to the public.
According to the police, a probe was launched last Thursday by a specialized team within the Judea and Samaria Central Investigations Unit (Yamar) led by the district commander. An internal committee was also given the task of revising the timeline of events laid down in police information systems, assessing the handling of reports and complaints and evaluating the reaction.
“The findings collected on the ground unambiguously show that no damage or damage to the holy place itself was caused,” the police said.
Dispute about the visa of Christian groups to Israel decided after the threat of Huckabee
An aerial photo of Taybeh shows the remains of a fire in a field located next to the church of St. George. (Courtesy: Israel Police)
The explanation noted that a small fire had occurred in an open area near the site, but no buildings, crops or infrastructure were damaged.
On Tuesday, the American ambassador in Israel Mike Huckabee noticed on X that Taybeh ‘a beautiful village was made of mainly Arab Christians. Pleased [the Israel Police] go through [to] Look for truth [without] Taking into account assumptions. “
Huckabee emphatically added: “I did not attribute the cause of fire to a person or group as we are not sure. The press did it. I said it was anyway, it was [a] crime [and] deserves consequences. “
An exclusive investigation by the press service of Israel (TPS-IL) first raised questions about the fire, after he discovered evidence that local Jewish residents had participated in fire control efforts in the neighborhood of the church and had collected significant doubts about the cause of the fire.
TPS-IL also documented extra fires on 7, 8 and 11 July in nearby Pastureland, located dozens of meters from the church complex. In any case, a Jewish farmer with a property next to the site submitted complaints to the police, who claimed that the areas where animals were grazing were intentionally set on fire.
Ambassador in Israël Mike Huckabee during a tour of the church of St. George, the place of a fire, during his visit to the western Jordan van Taybeh, east of Ramallah Saturday, July 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Last weekend Huckabee visited Taybeh, where he called for responsibility. “To commit an act of sacrilege by profaning a place that is supposed to be a place of worship, it is an act of terror, and it is a crime,” he said in a statement by the American embassy in Jerusalem. “There must be consequences, and it must be hard consequences because it is one of the last bastions of our civilization, the places where we worship.”
The visit came after the Council of Patriarchs and heads of churches of Jerusalem had made a statement stating that “radical Israelis from nearby settlements intentionally set fire to the cemetery of the city and the church of Saint George.”
A joint statement days earlier of the priests of the three churches in Taybeh – the Greek -Orthodox Church, the Milkiet Greek Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church – the fault “Israeli settlers” for “deliberately inflamed[ing] A fire near the cemetery of the city and the historic church of Saint George (Al-Khadr), a site of the fifth century, considered one of the oldest religious sights in Palestine. “
A screenshot shows two Israeli shepherds trying to extinguish a fire near the Byzantine-Periodekerk in the Palestinian village of Taybeh on July 7, 2025. (TPS IL)
Huckabee demands that Israel investigates the murder of the Palestinian-American ‘aggressive’, killed in ‘Terrorist Act’
Greek -Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III accused ‘radical Israelis of nearby settlements’ of ‘a targeted attack’.
“We are in the middle of the most consistent war since the establishment of the state, and events like these are just as dangerous,” he said.
He emphasized the importance of strengthening the role of Israel in protecting Christian heritage and holy places, in particular in disputed areas.
“This includes exposing the constant war of the PLO and Hamas against Christian citizens, but it also requires transparency and assertiveness in showing our role as guardians of Christian locations and civilization in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem,” Diker said.
An air display with St. George Church on the West Bank. (TPS IL)
He also pointed out what he described as a coordinated effort of Palestinian leadership to undermine Israel’s legitimacy on the world stage, especially through the media.
“We are in the middle of an international crusade through the Palestinian leadership to uproot our legitimacy,” he said. “The international media have become an ecosystem for the defamation and delegitimization of Israel. They arm each event in an existential attack.”
On Monday evening, the Binyamin Regional Council, which manages Jewish communities in South Samaria, confirmed the church no damage.
“Here I am on the edge of the church. You can see the Apsse here. And even on the edge or the outer walls there are no signs of fire,” said the international spokeswoman for the Council, Eliana Passentin, in a video.
“We are the guards of the Biblical heart. This land is given to us by God – there is no reason for us to burn a church or to destroy someone else’s religion,” she added.
Click here to get the Fox News app
“When I walked around, one of the priests in Taybeh said he believed in the two -state solution and it felt like the dad was putting a lot of pressure on the Christians,” Passentin said.
She suggested that the last crisis was made by those who wanted to divide Jews and Christians, who they described as joint guardians of Judea and Samaria.
“We strive for peace,” she said. “This is the land of the Bible, and we should build it together – not fighting or spreading false bloods that accuse Jews of burning a church.”
