Vandals desecrate graveyard of monastery near Beit Shemesh

Police are investigating the vandalism of a cemetery belonging to the Salesian monastery Beit Jamal, located near Beit Shemesh, after its cruciform tombstones were pushed over and many of the tombs were destroyed.

An Italian monk from the monastery, Antonio Scudo, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that a group of monks who supervise the cemetery discovered the desecration during a routine visit on Sunday. The crosses, Scudo noted, are made of concrete. “That means they pushed them over with a lot of force.”

He also noted that this is the third time the cemetery has been desecrated, the first time in 1981 and the second in December 2015.

In addition, the monastery’s church has been a target of hate crimes in the past; in August 2013, it was attacked with a firebomb, which caused minor damage, and the words “price tag” were spray painted on an exterior wall of the building. In September 2017, vandals shattered stained-glass windows depicting passages about Jesus; destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary; and damaged furniture at the monastery.

Police dispatched a forensic team to the scene and are investigating the incident. At this stage, they do not know when the incident occurred.

Yesh Atid leader MK Yair Lapid reacted to the incident saying: “Harm done to cemeteries is a despicable act and must not pass without widespread condemnation when it is carried out in Israel.”

Adviser to Church Leaders in the Holy Land Wadie Abunassar said in a statement that in previous cases of vandalism against the monastery, “The security systems failed to bring anybody to justice for these acts, and we wonder if today’s incident would meet a similar fate!”

“It is of regret and anger to see ourselves busy condemning such criminal acts, which were repeated many times in recent years, while we almost don’t see security and/or educational treatment to this dangerous phenomenon by the state authorities, especially while top officials in the country claim as if Christians are doing very well in it,” he continued.

“While we demand the state, with all its relevant bodies, to work for punishing the attackers and educate the people not to make similar offenses, we pray to the Almighty for the retreat of the attackers and hoping that all peoples, especially at our Holy Land, learn to coexist with each other in love and mutual respect, regardless of the diversities among them,” Abunassar concluded.

Anti-racism organization Tag Meir Chairman Dr. Gadi Gvaryahu visited the cemetery on Wednesday afternoon, met with monks from the monastery and expressed solidarity with them.

“The Tag Meir Forum condemns with disgust the desecration of the Christian cemetery in Beit Jamal, which adds to a series of hate crimes committed in the past few days,” a statement put out by the organization said, referring to recent reports of the vandalism of 28 vehicles in the West Bank village of Asira al-Qabaliya, graffiti found on a mosque in the Palestinian village Krayot and a riot in the Adei Ad outpost.

Tag Meir also called for a completion of the investigation into the death of Aysha al-Rabi, a Palestinian woman who was killed last Friday when a stone was thrown at her car as she was driving with her family on Route 60 near the Tapuah junction. Israeli police and the Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) were investigating the possibility that a Jewish extremist threw the stone.

“The Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria must be protected from terrorists, just as Israeli citizens are protected,” Tag Meir said.

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