(RNS) — For a long time, the state of Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has successfully claimed that the safety of its people justified its political maneuvering. Whether punishing people collectively — destroying homes, restricting movement for the population of the West Bank — or detaining individuals administratively, the defense for violating human rights has predictably and falsely been “security.” A new twist, however, took place on Palm Sunday. Israeli security officers denied four Catholic churchmen — the Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Rev. Francesco Ielpo, who is the church’s Custodian of the Holy Land, and two other priests — entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity’s holiest sites, on Palm Sunday (March 29), the beginning of Holy Week.…