Pipe Bomb Found At Joseph’s Tomb As 1,200 Jewish Worshippers Arrive

Image by Getty Images

By Marcy Oster July 30, 2019

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli soldiers found a pipe bomb hidden at the Jewish holy site of Joseph’s Tomb prior to the visit of 1,200 pilgrims.

The bomb was neutralized in a controlled explosion, according to the Israel Defense Forces, which had been carrying out a security check prior to the late Monday night visit.

Palestinian rioters burned tires and threw rocks at the soldiers guarding the tomb during the visit. The IDF said it used non-lethal dispersal methods to control the riot. Up to 12 Palestinian rioters were reported injured.

Joseph’s Tomb is holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians. Israeli Jews must receive permission to visit the purported burial place of the Jewish patriarch.

Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the site was to remain under Israeli control, but the Israeli army evacuated the premises in October 2000 during the second intifada and the tomb was burnt down by Palestinians. It was renovated and restored, but then torched and vandalized again in October 2015.

Jewish worshippers, in coordination with the military, make monthly nocturnal pilgrimages to the refurbished site.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO