Settler leaders: Joseph’s Tomb attack cannot ‘pass silently

Tomb should be under Israeli rule to prevent attacks, group says; Ben-Ari blames those who funded, trained PA security forces.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Michael Ben Ari 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Michael Ben Ari 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The Palestinian attack in Nablus against the Joseph’s Tomb worshipers cannot “pass silently,” the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip said Sunday.
The council, along with other settler groups and right-wing politicians, reacted harshly to the pre-dawn attack that came earlier in the day when Palestinian Authority policeman fired on Israeli vehicles as they left the tomb. Ben-Yosef Livnat, 25, was killed, and four other Breslav hassidim were wounded, including one seriously.
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The council and its chairman, MK Dani Dayan (Likud), drew a link between Sunday’s attack and the one that occurred last month in the Itamar settlement, in which five members of the Fogel family were brutally stabbed to death by two Palestinians who invaded their home. Jews have been killed as a result of the PA’s incitement against them, the council said, and now a murder has been carried out by the PA itself.
Joseph’s Tomb, the council added, must be placed under Israeli control to prevent further attacks.
Danon called on the US to reconsider its funding of the Palestinian security forces, as well as the training it provides. He passed this request on to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee.
“We expect that the objective of this training would be to ensure Israel’s security, and not the killing of its citizens,” he said.
The Samaria Citizen’s Committee said the Joseph’s Tomb attack underscored the threat posed by the Palestinian security forces – that every policeman is a potential terrorist.
MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) said those who had funded and trained Palestinian security forces were directly responsible for Sunday’s incident. He called on the IDF to collect all weapons in the hands of these forces, and demanded that the government allow the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, which had once been located at Joseph’s Tomb, to return to the area.
Right-wing activist Baruch Marzel called on the IDF to allow massive numbers of worshipers to visit the tomb in the coming days.
The Knesset Lobby for the Land of Israel said the attack only proved what had been learned from blood spilled in the past, and that the IDF must have the freedom to act in all of Judea and Samaria.