The statement came as a response to a video circulating online of Orthodox Jews spitting on Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City.

“The custom of spitting near churches or monasteries is an ancient Jewish tradition,” far-right activist Elisha Yered wrote on Monday in response to a video of Orthodox Jews spitting on Christian pilgrims.

The former spokesperson for MK Limor Son Har-Melech, of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said that there is an even a blessing that Jews are supposed to say when seeing a church: “Blessed is He who has patience for those who violate His will,” which Yered described as a “blessing that praises God for not immediately punishing idol worshipers for their wicked deeds.”

He continued: “Perhaps under the influence of Western culture we have forgotten what Christianity is, but I think the millions of Jews who experienced the Crusades, the [Spanish] Inquisition, blood libel, and mass pogroms will never forget.”

Yered came under fire in August after he was arrested in connection with the death of a 19-year-old Palestinian man during riots in the village of Burka.

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