Yerushalayim…A group of high-ranking police officials met with the leadership of the International Committee (ICHH) for Har Hazeisim on June 28th to discuss security issues on the 3000-year-old cemetery and holy site. Chief Inspector Shmuel Marciano, head of the Kedem Precinct in East Yerushalayim listened to the concerns of Sholom Lerner, International Director of the ICHH and Jeff Daube, Chairman of the ICHH- Israel Chapter. The ICHH leaders raised several recent incidents that took place on the A-Tor and Ras al Amud approach roads. Insp. Marciano promised additional Border Police units on the approach roads.
In his opening remarks, the Chief Inspector noted: “We recognize that the cemetery itself is completely safe with no reported incidents of destroyed graves in the last couple of years, even during riots in the area. We are very proud of the orderly and safe presence of thousands who recently came to the yahrzeit of the holy Ohr Hachaim.” To forestall any repeat of the colossal tragedies of Meron and at Karlin-Stolin, police had limited the crowd of yahrzeit worshippers to 1,000 at a time. “We are very encouraged by the warm response of the police to our concerns,” said Mr. Lerner, a former Deputy Mayor of Bet Shemesh and a successful businessman.
More than a dozen police officers spent more than an hour after the meeting recounting their experiences on Har Hazeisim and listening to some of the security recommendations of the ICHH. Marciano himself spoke of family members being buried there as did some of the officers who frequently are stationed in the Har Hazeisim police station which Marciano promised to expand. “We will enable our officers on Har Hazeisim to immediately receive and file complaints with new I-pads that we will provide.” The police spoke of the effectiveness of surveillance cameras on Har HazeisIm and the many arrests that they continue to make on a regular basis. Insp. Marciano related that during recent riots, rioters moved further down the road of A-Tor, away from Har HazeisIm.”
Avrohom Lubinsky thanked the ICHH in Israel for being extraordinarily vigilant. “Thanks to the ICHH, the security situation is a far cry from what it was when we founded the organization,” he said. Mr. Lubinsky, who founded ICHH in May 2010 together with his brother Menachem, was particularly thankful to Mr. Lerner and Mr. Daube “for carrying the ball during the pandemic when it was difficult for our American board leaders to travel.”
Shalom Lerner was recently the guest at a leadership reception at the Flatbush home of Dr. Paul Rosenstock, Vice Chairman of the ICHH. The meeting included such distinguished community leaders as Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff, the moroh d’asrah of Agudas Yisroel Bais Binyomin, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Executive Vice President of Agudath Israel of America, and Malcolm Hoenlein, who was head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations for many years.
Founded in 2010, the ICHH is credited with greatly improving security on Har HazeisIm where some 150,000 Jews dating back to the Nevi’im are buried. Some of the measures that ICHH was instrumental in instituting were a network of 176 surveillance cameras, a local police station, new fencing, improvement of roads and infra-structure, and the permanent deployment of a Border Patrol unit amongst other upgrades in security.
Mr. Lerner recently announced that an ICHH Board of prominent Israelis was being formed that will include many notables in government and business.
