Old City spitting videos underscore troubling reality for Christian clergy

A series of videos showing ultra-Orthodox youths spitting at Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City is making the rounds through Israeli social media, calling attention to a phenomenon Christian clergy have been speaking out against for years with little result.

The clips, aired Sunday on Channel 12, show groups of young men in the Old City, dressed in suits and black hats, some wearing or carrying prayer shawls. In one video, as six boys and young men walk by two Catholic nuns at the Church of the Flagellation on Via Dolorosa, one turns and spits in the direction of the nuns.

In another, a lone young man spits as pilgrims walk up the Via Dolorosa carrying a wooden cross. READ MORE