In the latest of several attacks on a congregation in East Jerusalem, young men with ties to a Palestinian militant group wired shut a church door and sprayed a gaseous substance at those inside hours before dawn on September 29.
No one was injured, as those sleeping or keeping vigil fled into a hallway before the chemical spray could impair breathing, but it was the second gas attack in two weeks, said Living Bread Church leader Karen Dunham. On September 17, a man passing by the church’s patio area opened a plastic bag containing a small gas canister. Within seconds, people on the porch were unable to breathe and fled into the church building, only to find that someone had pumped the same chemical spray into the worship hall.
Dunham, who suffered a broken wrist in a September 21 assault by young men from the same group, said the attacks aim at stopping the church ministry and forcing the congregation to abandon the property. She believes the assailants are part of a criminal group trying to seize the property.
The Christians opened windows and the substance dissipated. Dunham said it wasn’t tear gas, which can be relatively common in East Jerusalem, but was something that made it impossible to breathe. ‘I’ve been here for six years and I’ve never had any trouble like this’, Dunham said.
Security video footage taken shortly after 2am shows two men jumping over a security barrier onto the patio of the church, wiring the doors of the church shut and destroying two security cameras that were installed earlier that day. Seconds before the security video goes black, one of the men takes something out of his pocket and moves toward one of the windows of the building.
