JERUSALEM, Oct 18: A Jewish religious student who spat at an Armenian archbishop during a religious procession in Jerusalem's Old City last week has apologized for his behaviour, a police spokesman said on Monday.

Natan Zvi Rosental, a student at the prestigious Har Hamor yeshiva, or Jewish seminary, formally apologized to Archbishop Nourhan Manougian at a meeting in a police station, spokesman Shmulik Ben Ruby told AFP. Manougian had said he accepted the apology as his faith taught forgiveness.

The incident took place during a religious procession when Rosental spat at the archbishop's feet, causing the priest to react physically, according to Ben Ruby.

A brawl broke out, during which Rosental ripped the cross from around the archbishop's neck. The two were separated and police arrested the student.

Despite the apology, police were still likely to charge Rosental with "insulting" the archbishop and could even add further charges for attacking him, Ben Ruby said.

In defence of his actions, Rosental said he had been brought up to see Christianity as idol worship, which is forbidden by the Torah, the Jewish holy book, Haaretz newspaper reported.

Haaretz has said the student spat at the cross being carried during the procession as well as at the archbishop, who reacted by slapping him.

"To approach in the middle of a religious procession and to spit on the cross in front of all the priests of the sect is humiliation that we are not prepared to accept," Manougian said.

"The Israeli government ... cries out in the face of any harm done to Jews all over the world, but is simply not interested at all when we (Christians) are humiliated on an almost daily basis," he said, quoted by Haaretz.-AFP