Pipe Bomb Found At Joseph’s Tomb As 1,200 Jewish Worshippers Arrive
Image by Getty Images
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.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
