Posted: 10/22/2015 at 5:21am
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Palestinian rioters torch Jewish holy site Joseph's Tomb
By
Dan Wooding, Founder of the ASSIST News Service
NABLUS, WEST
BANK (ANS – October 21, 2015) -- Palestinians have torched a Jewish
holy site in the West Bank city of Nablus, amid soaring tensions with
Israel.
According
to the BBC, rioters on October 16, 2015, set fire to a tomb revered as that of
the biblical figure Joseph. The site, where Jews go to pray, was badly
damaged.
It
came hours after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Palestinian
leadership to stop a wave of attacks.
“Palestinian
leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the arson and said the site would be repaired,”
said the BBC.
Elsewhere
in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian disguised as a news photographer
stabbed and moderately wounded an Israeli soldier, the Israeli military
said.
It
said the Palestinian attacker was shot dead in the incident in the Jewish
settlement of Kiryat Arba, next to Hebron.
Violence
between the two sides has spiraled, with near-daily stabbings by Palestinians of
Israelis this month.
Seven
Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded in the stabbings and some gun
attacks. At least 30 Palestinians, including several of the attackers, have been
killed in the growing unrest.
“The upsurge
began last month when tensions at a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem revered by
Jews and Muslims boiled over amid rumors Israel planned to relax long-standing
rules to increase Jewish rights at the complex. Israel has repeatedly denied
such claims,” the BBC story continued.
In
the night-time attack in Nablus, dozens of Palestinians overran the tomb,
attacking it with petrol bombs.
Palestinian
police dispersed the crowd and firefighters extinguished the blaze before
Israeli security forces arrived.
Israel's
military spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said the attack was “a blatant violation
of the basic value of freedom of worship.”
He
said Israel would “bring perpetrators to justice and restore the site.”
Now
the Simon Wiesenthal Center has denounced the torching of Joseph’s Tomb by what
they described as “a large Palestinian mob.”
In
a statement, the center said that the Jewish holy site has been desecrated
repeatedly in the past, rebuilt, and assured of its security by President
Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority.
“Extremist
Palestinians have once again demonstrated their hatred and disdain for Jews and
Judaism,” charged Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Rabbi Yitzchok
Adlerstein, Interfaith Director of the leading Jewish Human Rights NGO.
“The
current brutal campaign against Israelis was instigated and sustained by blood
libel that Israel, which has protected the rights of religious minorities for
decades unlike any Muslim country, plotted to change the status quo of the
Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Palestinian mob in Nablus may have been motivated by this
big lie, but how do we account for the overwhelming silence of nations,
religious leaders and NGOs who are silent in face of this desecration while
lending credence to the outrageous claims about Al-Aqsa”, Center officials
concluded.”
Joseph's
Tomb (from the BBC):
*
Revered by Jews and Muslims as the burial place of the biblical figure Joseph,
son of Jacob
*
Located in a compound in the city of Nablus, transferred to Palestinian control
in 1995
*
Ransacked and burnt by Palestinian rioters at start of second uprising in Oct,
2000
*
Jewish pilgrims permitted to visit at night, once a month, under Israeli
military protection
*
Visits coordinated with Palestinian authorities
Photo
captions: 1) Flames at Joseph's Tomb near Nablus on Oct. 16, 2015. 2) A 2010
photo of ultra-Orthodox Jews walking through the compound of Joseph's Tomb in
the West Bank city of Nablus. (Photo: Flash 90/Kobi Gideon, EPA). 3) A Jewish
worshipper prays in Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus (Reuters). 5)
Dan Wooding pictured outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
About
the writer: Dan Wooding, 74, is an award-winning winning author, broadcaster and
journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now
living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married
for more than 52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six
grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder and international
director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST
News Service (ANS). He is also the author of some 45 books and has a radio show
and two television programs all based out of Orange County,
California.
**
You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST
News Service (www.assistnews.net)
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