Two Jews Shot at Joseph's Tomb After Palestinians Vandalized Site for Second Time

Deborah BrandApril 11, 2022

Two Jews were shot and wounded enroute to Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday morning.

The Hassidic men entered the city through an unmanned checkpoint. Jewish Israelis are not allowed in the Palestinian territories, and worshipers to the Jewish holy site need an armed escort to pray there.

The site was vandalized a second time on Monday. Footage shows Palestinian vandals hurling blocks at the wall above the destroyed tomb.

The incident comes a day after Palestinians first vandalized and torched the shrine. One hundred Palestinians broke into the site, smashed the gravestone and set the room on fire.

#شاهد انطلاق مسيرة غاضبة في مخيم بلاطة بــ #نابلس، تجاه قبر يوسف، نصرة لـ #جنين. pic.twitter.com/4Ypi9meih7

— Newpress | نيو برس (@NewpressPs) April 9, 2022

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan condemned the shooting of the Hassidic men on Monday and called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a “terrorist” for allowing it to happen.

“Nothing justifies the brutal murders and terrorism from the Palestinian Authority’s seminary headed by the terrorist (Abbas),” he said according to the Jerusalem Post.

“Just yesterday morning [there was] an ISIS-style barbaric destruction at the so sacred site of Joseph’s tomb and today [there was] a cold-blooded shooting at Jews who came to pray,” said Dagan.

“The responsibility lies solely with the terrorists of the Palestinian Authority and no less so with the people who continue to obsessively market this group of terrorists. As their ‘partner’ they need to surrender the heart of the Land of Israel. To bring this reality to the entire State of Israel.”

Saturday night’s vandalism came amid clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops nearby. The IDF arrested eight Palestinian terror suspects. Armed terrorists lined the streets with burning tires to stop the IDF.

The aunt of the Palestinian terrorist responsible for a shooting attack that killed five people in a Tel Aviv suburb last week spoke openly of her support for him, stating she was “happy” he became a martyr. https://t.co/W9SL0qdth7

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 5, 2022

The raids were in response to a deadly terror attack in Tel Aviv on Thursday night in which three Israelis were gunned down. On Sunday, the brothers of Raed Hazem, the terrorist who went on the shooting spree in downtown Tel Aviv, were shot at by Israeli troops in a car.

Human rights lawyer and CEO of the International Legal Forum Arsen Ostrovsky slammed the international community, including the U.N.’s agency for preserving heritage sites, for their failure to condemn the vandalism.

“The attack by Palestinian vigilantes on Joseph’s Tomb, one of the holiest sites in Judaism, was a despicable act of desecration, made even more heinous coming on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover,” Ostrovsky told Breitbart.

“Where is the international outrage? Where is UNESCO? Only deafening silence,” he added.

📹 عدد من الشبان يتمكنون من الدخول إلى قبر يوسف وتحطيم محتوياته لليوم الثاني على التوالي pic.twitter.com/rcdk2qkUrl

— وكالة صفا (@SafaPs) April 11, 2022

Ostrovsky slammed the PA for the “flagrant violation” of its commitments to protect and preserve holy sites under the 1993 Oslo peace accords.

“Whereas Israel does everything to allow freedom of worship and protection of holy sites for Muslims, it is inexplicable and outrageous that the Palestinian leadership would turn its back and allow this kind of defilement, which is also a flagrant violation of international law and the Palestinian Authority’s commitments,” Ostrovsky told Breitbart.

Thursday’s attack was the fourth one in two weeks, bringing the death toll to 14. Since then, there have been attempts at further attacks. Apart from Monday’s shooting, a Palestinian woman was shot and killed by IDF troops on Sunday after stabbing a soldier in the flashpoint city of Hebron in the West Bank.