Arabs Desecrate Kosel Hakatan

Arabs desecrated a section of the Kosel Hakatan over Shabbos. Jews who visited the site Motzoei Shabbos reported seeing graffiti on the Kosel, some of it anti-Semitic, and some of it sacrilegious. Channel 20 quoted Yerushalayim City Council member Aryeh King as saying that “an immediate and thorough investigation is necessary.”

The Kosel Hakatan is an extension of the Kosel Hama’arvi into the Muslim quarter, much of it covered by structures. The area of the Kosel Hakatan is opposite what is said to be the site of the Kodesh Kodashim of the Beis Hamikdash, and while not known to many tourists, it is a site where many people come to daven and say Tehillim. In the past, there have been other acts of vandalism at the site.

King said that upon hearing of the vandalism, he asked city officials to immediately remove the graffiti. “I call on Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to order police to conduct a full and thorough investigation. The entire area of the Kosel Hakatan is covered by security cameras, so establishing the identity of the vandals is possible. Our answer as Jews must be to flock to this site in huge numbers,” he added.