Israel’s ‘Loaves’ church reopens 20 months after Jewish arson

Christians believe it was here that Jesus fed the multitude by multiplying loaves and fishes.

Christians attend a mass at the renovated Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish in Tabgha, Israel on February 12, 2017, after it was reopened to the public. Two rooms of the church complex located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee were vandalised and badly damaged in a June 2015 fire, in an act of arson carried out by Jewish militants.

The church in northern Israel where Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes reopened on Sunday, 20 months after an arson attack by Jewish extremists.

Two rooms of the church complex in Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee were vandalised and badly damaged in a June 2015 fire.

Christian dignitaries and donors attended a ceremony and mass in the Roman Catholic church, with the complex being reopened to pilgrims following eight months of renovation work at a cost of around one million dollars, of which the state of Israel contributed almost $4,00,000.

3 extremists indicted

Three Jewish extremists were indicted for the attack on the church where Jesus fed the multitude by multiplying loaves and fishes, in what was termed a hate crime against Israel’s minority community.