Anti Zionist Jews Protest Brutality at Ancient Cemetery in Beis Shemesh
Anti-Zionist Jews Protest Destruction of Cemetery
Friday, August 16, 2013
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Over the last few days, anti-Zionist Jews in the Holy Land have held a series of protests against the construction of a housing project over an ancient cemetery in Beis Shemesh, a city near Jerusalem. For some demonstrators, the protest came to a tragic and bloody ending.
The construction of 1000 apartments is taking place in an area known as the Golovenzitz compound. So far, 327 ancient burial caves have been discovered. The current incident differs from previous cases in which the Israeli antiquities authority moved ancient bones to make room for construction (which is also forbidden by Jewish law). In this case bulldozers are simply digging up and destroying the entire cemetery at once. Such wanton disregard for a cemetery would not be tolerated by any other nation or government.
The protests began outside the construction site on Monday, August 12 at 6:00 AM. About 3000 Orthodox Jews attended the protest that day. When three bulldozers arrived to begin digging, some of the protestors entered the construction site and threw themselves on the burial caves, kissed the soil and refused to move in order not to allow the destruction of the graves of their ancestors and teachers. Of course, none of the protestors were armed or carried out any acts of violence.
The riot police and guards then attacked the protestors, beating them mercilessly. Many of them had to be treated for bloody wounds. A total of 29 people were arrested.
On Tuesday, Aug. 13, seven leading rabbis from Jerusalem and hundreds of others protested outside the site. The police chased them away with blows. In one case, one of the security guards picked up a stone weighing about 100 pounds and threw it at Gershon Tepp, one of the protestors. Miraculous, he was not badly hurt. After this incident received embarrassing publicity, this murderous guard was fired.
On Wednesday, Aug. 14, three more bulldozers arrived on the scene. A large group of protestors showed up, led by Rabbi Reuven Merzbach, a leader of Neturei Karta of Jerusalem. They were accompanied by a lawyer to verify that the protestors were completely within their rights and to record the reaction of the police. The demonstration continued throughout the day. At 5:15 PM, when the tractors left, Rabbi Merzbach's son Mordechai Yoel entered the site to see what damage the bulldozers might have done to the graves and to pray and ask forgiveness from the dead to what is happening. Suddenly, a security guard arrived riding on a four-wheeled off-road vehicle and ordered him to leave the area. As he was starting to leave, the guard ran him over twice in a row with the off-road vehicle. He is now critically injured and hospitalized.
On Thursday, three more bulldozers arrived, for a total of nine, in order to expedite the work. Hundreds of protestors were on the scene, and over 20 were arrested. Today, Friday afternoon, hundreds are protesting in Jerusalem outside the compound where the arrestees are being held. Friday night prayers are being held in the streets there.
For decades, Orthodox Jews have been protesting both the existence of the State of Israel and its government's actions against Judaism and their oppression of Orthodox communities. The protests are sometimes against particular offenses, and other times against the very existence of the state, which violates Jewish religious law. According to the Torah, Jews are in exile and may not have a sovereign state of their own. They await the time when the Almighty Himself, without any human intervention, will end the exile. This will be a time when all humanity as one will serve Him in peace and harmony. Jews in exile are not permitted to maintain an army and fight wars against other nations, or harm them in any manner. Besides the violation of these Jewish laws, Orthodox Jews believe that the State of Israel places Jews, spiritually and physically, in harm's way in the Holy Land and elsewhere in the world.
Judaism teaches that the soul is eternal and we must respect its resting place, the body. Therefore, it is never allowed to destroy a cemetery. Bones should be left to rest in peace, whether they are bones of Jews or non-Jews. In this case, it is almost certain that these are burial caves from the Biblical period of the Judges. The fact that the Zionists display such callousness toward Jewish graves, and murderously beat Jews who stand up for their preservation, shows how far removed they are from Judaism and the Jewish people. Just as they deny the Jewish belief in exile and redemption, and seek to free themselves from exile without G-d, so too they deny the eternality of the soul. Digging up graves shows a lack of fear of the Almighty, immorality and insensitivity to the human race.