Israeli Police Officials to ICHH Chairman: New Security Measures Resulted in Major Drop of Incidents on Har Hazeisim
In a meeting with Avraham Lubinsky, chairman of the International Committee for Har Hazeisim, leading Yerushalayim police officials said that their data shows an appreciable drop in the number of violent incidents on Har Hazeisim in 2022. In a meeting with Chief Inspector Sammy Marciano, who heads the Kedem precinct in the capital and Inspector Dvir Tamim who is directly responsible for the Har Hazeisim precinct, Mr. Lubinsky noted that while “we appreciate a 10% reduction in rock throwing incidents, our goal is reach a zero tolerance for any incidents.” He also thanked the police for stepping up the arrests of the hooligans.
Mr. Lubinsky was joined at the meeting with police officials by Moshe Bruce, the executive director of the ICHH, based in Yerushalayim. The ICHH officials complained about parked cars from Arabs living in the area which restricts access to mourners and even the Chevra Kadishas. The police officials pledged to forbid parking to local inhabitants with the exception of those who live on Har Hazeisim who will be issued special parking permits. They also promised to increase patrols and to deploy police vans at various sensitive points such as the A-Tor Road and Ras al Amud.
The ICHH officials reviewed all of the security measures that it has been responsible for since its founding in 2000, including the repair of the infrastructure, the installation of 176 surveillance cameras, an underground monitoring station, gating throughout the cemetery, and the establishment of a fully functioning police station.
The police officials praised the ICHH for its participation along with the national and municipal governments in the soon to be constructed Visitor Education Center on Har Hazeisim. Included in the plans are a new police station with modern surveillance equipment. “The protection and security of our holiest cemetery just yards away from the Makom Hamikdash is our highest priority,” Mr. Lubinsky told the police officials.
The security measures have significantly increased the number of visitors to the sacred mountain. Police estimate that the average number of daily visitors has risen from less than 400 nearly five years ago to well over 2000 today. Tens of thousands ascend to Har Hazeisim on the yahrzeits of the Ohr Hachaim, the Rebbes of Zhvill, the Rebbes of Gur and others. A growing number of visitors visit the various kevarim of the leading sages over the generations, the burial place of the Nevi’im, the site where the ashes of the parah adumah were placed and other historic places associated with the period of the Bais Hamikdash.
As part of his whirlwind tour to promote the security of Har Hazeisim, Mr. Lubinsky and the other ICHH officials also met with Knesset members from diverse factions, including Rabbi Yitzchak Goldknopf (UTJ), who is slated to be the head of the Ministry of Housing and Development, which is responsible for security on Har Hazeisim. Shas members Rabbis Michael Michaeli and Yoav ben Zur pledged to re-establish a Knesset Caucus on Har Hazeisim, which in the past had as many as 76 members, the largest participation in any Knesset caucus in the history of the Knesset.
