The vandals who entered the cemetery in Kifel Hares during the night between Thursday and Friday and smashed tombstones, threw garbage and scrawled graffiti not only desecrated graves, they pulled the moral basis for protesting disrespect for the dead out from under all of Israeli society. Israel will have difficulty from now on garnering support for its justified complaints against the desecration of Jewish graves in Europe.

The rabbis who distanced themselves from these acts, as well as those who tried weakly to justify them, said, as they always do in such cases, that the tombs' desecrators are extremists who do not represent the bulk of those who pray at the graves of holy men. This is a wretched argument, based on the fact that most of the public does not understand what a group of fanatic Bratslav Hasidim and extremist "hilltop youth" (along with a few settlers and ultra-Orthodox who wander from one Jewish tomb to another) were even doing there, and wrongly believes that nobody in the settlement leadership encourages nationalist-racist acts. Those who teach that Bible stories have an immediate connection to daily life in the occupied territories cannot absolve themselves of responsibility for enthusiastic disciples who seek to turn the eradication of the Canaanite nations into a brutal current event.

The disingenuous worshipers came to Kifel Hares as they do at least twice a year: once on the 26th of the Hebrew month of Nissan, to commemorate the death of Joshua bin Nun, and again just before the reading of the Torah portion Shlach Lekha, which tells the story of the 12 spies Moses sent into Canaan. In memory of Joshua and Caleb bin Yefuneh, who are buried (according to tradition) in the heart of this Palestinian village not far from Ariel, groups come from all over the West Bank and within the Green Line. They hold a ceremony whose center is the reading of Numbers 13:30, "We should go up at once and possess [the land], for we are well able to overcome it," which glorifies the conquest of the land by force.

	Advertisement

The desecration of the graves, which was carried out in honor of the story of the spies, is a nationalist-religious provocation intended to terrify and ignite hatred, in the hope that residents of the villages will take the hint and be so kind as to leave of their own accord. Not a single one of the rabbis of the West Bank has done a thing to prevent such activities, and therefore, they are responsible for it. However, the Israel Defense Forces bear even greater responsibility, as they always provide security for such organized groups when they enter the village. Photographs of the event, distributed proudly by its organizers, show IDF soldiers, weapons cocked, protecting the group. The IDF explained that its provision of security to organized groups "prevents individuals from entering the village without authorization, at great risk to themselves."

That is a strange reason, not to say a misleading one. Since when is the army supposed to protect potential lawbreakers from themselves? According to this warped logic, the police should accompany robbers in organized groups to major bank branches so that they do not endanger themselves by holding them up alone. The government must punish such vandals more severely and prohibit them from entering Kifel Hares. Perhaps that would make the disciples of Joshua think twice before organizing a prayer service whose intentions are anything but pure.