Urges IDF to Reinforce Security of Historic Cemetery
Although it has been 5 years since any graves were desecrated on Har Hazeisim, the recent defacement of two tombstones of IDF fighters prompted a strong letter of protest from the International Committee for Har Hazeisim (ICHH) to Defense Minister Benny Gantz. The two defaced graves are located in the military section of Har Hazeisim consisting mostly of fallen soldiers in defense of Yerushalayim in 1948. In the letter to Minister Gantz, Avraham and Menachem Lubinsky, co-chairs of the ICHH wrote: “After several years of relative quiet on Har Hazeisim thanks largely to the aggressive policing by the Israel Police-Jerusalem District, headed by Chief Inspector Doron Turgeman, we are now witness to an outrageous display of anti-Semitic vandalism. We hope that the issue will be dealt with swiftly in order to restore deterrence and maximum security on the Mount of Olives.”
The letter continued: “It was with great pain and shock that worshipers who visited Har Hazeisim were met with hateful anti-Semitic graffiti on the tombstones in the military section of the 3000-year-old cemetery in Jerusalem. The visitors immediately called police from the Shalem precinct.” The police responded that they had initiated an investigation and that they were sharing the information with the IDF who said that they will be replacing the defaced tombstones.
In a statement, Menachem Lubinsky noted that “this incident is particularly heinous since the fighters buried here fought for Yerushalayim and many had just barely survived the fires of the Churban in Europe.” The defilement took place in the upper section of Har Hazeisim, known as Chelkas Haneviim, where many tzaddikim are buried. It was in close proximity to the Kever Achim (communal grave) consisting of the remains of many fighters whose identity was not known. The soldiers were originally buried elsewhere in Yerushalayim but transferred to Har Hazeisim at the behest of leading rabbanim after the Six-Day War of 1967 and the liberation of Yerushalayim.
According to Avraham Lubinsky, “it is urgent to restore the sense of safety to visitors who have in recent years returned to Har Hazeisim in significant numbers. It also marks a new phase where the perpetrators are no longer youths who desecrate the graves but Arabs who are bent on spewing anti-Semitic hatred. This is more than vandalism: it is outright anti-Semitic vitriol.”
The International Committee for Har Hazeisim was established more than a decade ago when vandalism and desecration were rampant. The committee met with leaders of the national and municipal governments, the Prime Minister and the President of the State, the speaker of the Knesset, ministers, members of the Knesset, and the highest police officials. The ICHH advocacy led to the installation of a network of 173 surveillance cameras, a new police station, deployment of Border Police, the restoration of 20,000 graves, the construction of new reinforced fencing, and arrangements for regular sanitation and trash removal from the cemetery.
In the Knesset, the ICHH was responsible for the establishment of the largest caucus in the history of the Israeli parliament. It included Knesset members from most of the factions. It is currently headed by MK Michael Malchieli.
The ICHH statement concluded: “The latest incident reinforces the urgency of the construction of a Visitor Education Center on Har Hazeisim to be built jointly by the national and municipal governments and the ICHH. The magnificent building scheduled to be completed at the end of 2023 will include a fully outfitted modern state of the art police station which will provide security for the entire historic region.
