Kever Yehoshua Desecrated, Officials Demand Action

Officials preparing the site of the kever of Yehoshua Bin Nun for visitors expected to visit the site during the Pesach period, were shocked to discover Sunday morning that the kever had been desecrated by Arabs. Swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti in Arabic was discovered on the building.

Kever Yehoshua is located in the Arab village of Kifl Harith, located in central Shomron across from the city of Ariel. Entry into the village is permitted only by special IDF permit, which are generally issued five times a year, including during the Pesach period. When it is opened to Jewish visitors, the site attracts thousands.

This is not the first time the site has been desecrated, and other mekomos hakedoshim in the Shomron, including Kever Yosef, the kevarim of Itamar and Elazar. sons of Aharon Hacohen in the village of Awarta. Officials said that while each desecration was devastating, the desecration they found Sunday was “particularly painful.”

Shomron Council head Yossi Dagan said that he “expects to hear loud condemnations and a serious investigation, as we would experience if a Muslim or Christian site were desecrated. I expect the government and the Prime Minister to condemn this and to find a solution to the ongoing desecration of the national and historic holy sites of the Jewish people that remained safe for thousands of years, but are now being desecrated as we return to our homeland. The Palestinian Authority is incapable and uninterested in protecting Jewish holy sites. The sovereign state of Israel must protect them. If imposing de facto sovereignty is what it takes to do that, then so be it.”