More than 2,500 Israelis prayed at Joseph’s Tomb this week, which is located in a large Arab town in Samaria that was the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel. Jews are now harassed and attacked when they visit.
By United with Israel Staff
On Monday night, thousands of Jewish worshipers arrived at Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem, a Jewish pilgrimage site dating back to biblical times that is now in a town the Arab’s renamed Nablus.
Israeli soldiers and security forces escorted the Israeli group, which arrived as one of the monthly visits the IDF arranges, TPS reported.
While the group prayed in peace during this visit, previous pilgrimages have been rocked by Arab violence and terror.
In 2011, Palestinian Authority police officers shot at three cars of Israeli worshipers after prayers at Joseph’s tomb, murdering 25-year-old Ben-Joseph Livnat. In 2015, a Palestinian mob attacked Jews Praying at Joseph’s Tomb, with an an IDF soldier injured in the attack.
In 2019, the IDF thwarted a terror attack near Joseph’s Tomb, discovering a pipe bomb prior to the arrival of 1,2000 Jewish worshipers.
“Shechem/Nablus is under total Palestinian control … [and] the pilgrimages are frequently met with rock-throwing, Molotov cocktails and even gunfire attacks on Israeli troops,” JNS reported at the time.
The prayers on Monday night were attended by Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, who explained that the event served as a supplication focusing on Israel’s impending extension of sovereignty over Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
“We are here to convey a clear message: The people of Israel, the State of Israel, will not give up the holy places, will not give up Joseph’s Tomb, Rachel’s Tomb, the Cave of the Patriarchs and other holy places in Judea and Samaria,” he said, TPS reported.
“We will not accept symbolic sovereignty,” he added.