Why a Visitor Center Must be Built on Har Hazeisim, By Menachem Lubinsky

It was just before Yom Tov that word came that the Regional Planning Council had approved the construction of a beautiful Visitor Center at the foot of the 3000-year old makom kadosh, Har Hazeisim. Several days earlier, the same project had passed the Local Planning Council, under the leadership of Deputy Mayor Rabbi Yosi Deutsch. For the International Committee on Har Hazeisim (ICHH), the Visitor Center was to be the signature project of restoring the security and sovereignty of Har Hazeisim.

Almost from the day of its founding in May 2010, the ICHH has been lobbying for the Visitor Center to be built on an area just outside the cemetery and adjacent to the Ras al Amud Mosque (in the Ras al Amud Square). The Mosque itself was problematic in that it illegally expanded beyond its original allocated land and despite several Municipal “Stop Orders.” According to documents obtained by the ICHH, the area designated for the Visitor Center was never part of the cemetery and thus did not pose a problem. In fact, says Prof. Aharon Kimelman, the octogenarian historian of Har Hazeisim, the area designated for the Center was used as a road by the Turks during their occupation.

Outgoing Mayor Nir Barkat saw the construction of a Visitor Center as an important symbol of sovereignty that would once and for all serve as a marker of Jewish sovereignty, as if the 150,000 Jews buried there under Hebrew markings were not enough. Barkat and the national government nearly 6 years ago asked the ICHH to be a full partner in the construction of the multi-million dollar Visitor Center. This was to emphasize the fact that Har Hazeisim was indeed the “Arlington Cemetery of the Jewish people.”  We agreed.

Despite its broad support in the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the administration of Mayor Nir Barkat, the project constantly faced bureaucratic delays and at one point enough time had elapsed to require the permit application process to be reset. All of this was happening while the ICHH exerted enormous pressure on the government to end the violence on the historic holy cemetery. Up until late 2014, many cars ascending to Har Hazeisim were routinely stoned, with several resulting injuries. Tombstones were upended and desecrated almost daily with few arrests made. Fear had become the operative term for the oldest Jewish burial place and holy site overlooking the Makom Hamikdash. Most Israelis stayed away from the cemetery that includes so many kedoshim.

Responding to the worldwide pressure, led by the ICHH, enormous strides were made to secure Har Hazeisim. A network of 173 surveillance cameras and a 24/7 monitoring station were installed, a new police station was launched with a force of 24 police officers, a platoon of Border Police was stationed on the mountain, sanitation and grounds keeping services were restored, the infrastructure repaired and upgraded, and finally gating and fencing helped secure the cemetery. By 2015, security was restored to the bais hachaim. Hundreds of thousands came to the yahrzeits of the Or Hachaim Hakadosh, the admorim of Zhvill and Ger and to the saintly Bartenura, whose grave was previously a sight of blight and desecration. On one visit, I found Arab youths smoking pot.

The Prime Minister voiced support for the project in a meeting with the ICHH leadership earlier this year. His government had allocated NIS 10 million for the project nearly 7 years ago and despite the delays and attempts to reallocate the money, it remained in the budget until recently when Minister Moshe Kahlon’s Finance Ministry threatened to reallocate the money to other projects. The ICHH which has committed to at least match the funds has vowed to fight any attempt to remove the funds from this important project. Zev Elkin, the Minister for Jerusalem Affairs and his team, guarded the money up until recently. MK Rabbi Yoav ben Zur (Shas), who heads the unprecedented 67-member Knesset Caucus on Har Hazeisim, has also vowed to restore the funds.

The Visitor Center is slated to be a magnificent building with an amphitheater overlooking the historic cemetery where one can literally walk through 3000 years of history from the Neviim – Zecharia, Malachi and Chagai, to some of the greatest Gedolei Yisrael of the past generations. It is unfathomable that on the other side of Har Hazeisim, tens of thousands of tourists visit some of the 13 churches there, with dozens of busses lined up and on the Jewish side despite increased traffic in recent months, there is still somewhat of a feeling of fear.

The Visitor Center will include a gallery of some of the most prominent leaders buried there, including Roshei Yeshiva, Admorim and even Israel’s national leaders, including former Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his wife Aliza. It will be a place to educate young and old on the amazing history of the mountain, it serving the makom hamikdash, the place of the proclamation of the new chodesh, the burning of the ashes of the Parah Ha’adumah, and, of course, the future arrival of Moshiach. The Center will include a computer bank to help people locate an approximate documented 79,000 Jews who are buried there. There will be a room for lectures, seminars and special occasions. It will also include a comfort station with rest rooms and water. Plans call for a huge picture window with a splendid view of the Har Habayis, just across the road.

Of great importance will be a permanent police station that will be housed within the Visitor Center. It will include a modern communications hub which will connect it to the network of surveillance cameras and to the police sub-station on the upper part of the mountain.

The Visitor Center is extremely important in safeguarding the enormous security gains over the years and for preserving the Jewish character and sovereignty of the mountain. It will no doubt attract tens of thousands of visitors which will reinforce the importance of the concept of “there is safety in numbers.” The Center will assure that there is no further encroachment by the Arabs in the area. It will offer the police a modern permanent headquarters safeguarding Har Hazeisim.  It will send a strong message to the local Arab populace that Har Hazeisim will no longer be their dumping grounds of waste, construction materials and garbage, soccer fields, and drug-infested headquarters, all of which it was in the past. It will enable families of loved ones or leaders buried on Har Hazeisim to freely and securely visit the holiest Jewish cemetery.

The hope is that the government at all levels will fully comprehend what people like Prime Minster Netanyahu, Mayor Barkat, Deputy Mayor Deutsch, and MK Yoav ben Zur fully grasp. A Visitor Center on Har Hazeisim will guarantee their investment of hundreds of millions of shekels to secure the mountain.

When my brother Avrohom and I launched the ICHH back in 2010, we could only dream that we would succeed in restoring the safety and glory to Har Hazeisim. It was as if our parents who are buried there pleaded with us to finally help them rest in peace. Now, Boruch Hashem, we are well on the way to achieving our goal. Let us hope that the Visitor Center will soon be the signature to a historic initiative.

Menachem Lubinsky is president and CEO of Lubicom Marketing Consulting. He, together with his brother Avrohom, are the co-founders and co-chairman of the International Committee on Har Hazeisim.

The Remarkable Story of the Soon to be Constructed Wall on HarHazeisim, By Menachem Lubinsky

It was in late 2012 after a spate of rock attacks and vandalism by Arab youths on Har Hazeisim that the idea of building a wall to protect Har Hazeisim first came to the fore. My brother Avrohom who two years earlier helped found the International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeisim(ICPHH) sat with an enlarged map of the 2.3 square kilometer 3000-year old cemetery, pointing to some of the open areas in the cemetery where the Arab vandals flee to the communities nearby after committing the crimes. They include Silwan and Ras al Amud, just two of several Arab villages and towns that surround the historic cemetery where 150,000 Jews are buried. It was the first time that I thought about building a wall around the cemetery, like the walls that enclose Jewish cemeteries all over the world.

On my next trip to Israel, I raised the possibility of a wall with officials of the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA or “Harli” in Hebrew) who were responsible for executing projects on Har Hazeisim and Yerushalayim in general. It was the JDA, for example, that served as the operational arm for the light rail project on behalf of the Municipality and the government. I was not prepared for the answer: “A wall would not be aesthetically pleasing, according to the City architect, and besides it would be a message of surrender.” The idea of a wall was a non-starter, or so it seemed at the time.

Meanwhile the ICPHH had managed to successfully lobby for the installation of 136 surveillance cameras, a 24/7 underground monitoring room and the establishment of a police sub-station. But in late 2014 and then in 2015 there were a number of vicious attacks that shocked Jews everywhere. They included several acts of vandalism in the Colel Polin section, a mass destruction of graves in the Afghanistan section, and several attacks near the maarah where two Gerer Rebbes are buried (the Bais Yisrael and the Lev Simcha). There were several attempts to penetrate the steel door but in the end all the Arab thugs could do was attempt to burn down the door. I once again raised the idea of the wall and this time began an intensive lobbying effort in the Knesset and the government. The response was overwhelmingly positive, especially with the newly formed government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Particularly encouraging were the positions of the Ministry of Housing and Construction, under Minister Yoav Galant, which is responsible for security on Har Hazeisim, and Deputy Police Commissioner Moshe Bareket, who serves as a key advisor to the Minister for Internal Security Gilad Erdan. The police were particularly enthusiastic about the prospect of a wall, arguing that it would greatly enhance their ability to patrol and secure Har Hazeisim. The discussions about the wall subsequently took a number of twists and turns. For example, officials felt that it was not necessary to build a wall around the entire mountain. They pointed out that many areas were already walled in and that others faced terrain that was not accessible. In any case, they pointed out, not all areas of Har Hazeisim were prone to vandalism.

What seemed to emerge from the officials was a plan to build the wall at first around the Eastern section of Har Hazeisim that included the oft-targeted sections of Ger, Polin, Afghanistan and Taiman. The plan called for the construction of a 10 foot concrete wall followed by 10 feet of iron gates. The gates would be topped by security cameras where there are none now and by new lighting. The estimated cost was NIS 4.5 million.

One of the strongest allies for the wall was MK Dovid Amsalem (Likud) who in his first meeting as Chairman of the Knesset Interior Committee, showed extreme impatience with the police that the wall was not yet built. First Deputy Mayor Yosef Deutsch (Yahadut Hatorah) became a key ally in pushing for City Hall support. Malcolm Hoenlein, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations, and a key member of the ICPHH, raised the idea of the wall with the highest officials he had met and found support unanimous. MK Yitzchak (Buzi) Herzog, led the opposition support for the wall.

By early 2016, the idea of a wall, albeit initially in the Eastern section of HarHazeisim, seemed well on its way. The idea that I first raised in 2012 seemed to be finally becoming a reality. The police, who were in the last few months put in charge of the project, finalized their plans. Now it was amere question of making sure that the funds were transferred so that the work could begin. Rabbi Hillel Horowitz, Director of Jewish Cemeteries in Yerushalayim was of enormous help.

For the ICPHH, the construction of the wall was part of the next phase of securing Har Hazeisim. In the past six months, security had greatly improved with few incidents reported. Minister Erdan had kept his promise to the ICPHH and increased the police presence. A contingent of Border Police reinforced the police and the Ministry of Housing and Construction continued to offer armed escorts to visitors who requested it despite the much safer conditions on the mountain, for now. In addition, thanks to the efforts of Deputy Mayor Deutsch, a multi-million dollar Visitors Center and shul will soon be built. The Visitors Center will be financed through a grant from the government and funds to be raised by the ICPHH. Finally the ICPHH is planning to restore some of the 23,000 graves destroyed during the Jordanian occupation (1948-1967).

But despite the national consensus on the wall, there was still the issue of the funding. The ICPHH solicited the support of Eli Groner, the Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, who pledged to do whatever he can to build the wall immediately. According to sources, the transfer is imminent and the work on the much awaited wall should begin within a few weeks. The idea that began with a shrug by officials and eventually turned into a national consensus is now only weeks away from becoming part of the future security and development of the coveted Har Hazeisim cemetery.

With a spate of knifings and other attacks in Yerushalayim and elsewhere it recalled the flooding of the Danube during the days of the saintly Chasam Sofer. It is said that when the tzaddik was asked how to stop the floods and the suffering of the Jews, he suggested checking the cemetery and indeed the wall was breeched. The 150,000neshomos on Har Hazeisim will certainly appreciate the wall and perhaps the eternal peace that they seek.

'People Are Afraid to Bury Their Dead on Mount of Olives' Jerusalem Director of Cemeteries, Rabbi Hillel Horowitz, urges government to increase penalties for desecration of graves.

Mount of Olives desecration.

Anonymous

Jerusalem Director of Cemeteries, Rabbi Hillel Horowitz, told Arutz Shevathat the many acts of desecration at the cemetery on the Mount of Olivesmust not be ignored.
Dozens of graves have been destroyed at the site over the past few months. Security cameras at the cemetery have also been destroyed, and fires set on the tombs of hassidic leaders.
Jewish visitors have filed hundreds of complaints regarding rock-throwing attacks by Arabs, and vandalism of the graves of loved ones.
"Unfortunately, in recent months we have witnessed a real war. They destroy tombs and burn graves," Rabbi Horowitz said, "Tishrei saw three pogroms in which the grave of the Admor [Grand Rabbi] of Gur was desecrated. We hope that the situation will be repaired. In the past few days, police have greatly increased their presence Jerusalem and also their presence in the cemetery."
Rabbi Horowitz stressed the need to increase punishment against grave violators.
"Last Monday, police arrested three suspects. These terrorists have already admitted it, but some of them were released. We need to make harsher punishments."
Rabbi Horowitz is referring to three suspects, aged 22, 15-and-a-half and 12, all residents of the north-eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Tur, who are thought to have destroyed graves at the site over the course of the past month.
The 12-year-old suspect was sent home under restrictions and a report about him was sent to welfare officers. The other two older suspects were to be brought on Monday at 1 p.m. for a discussion on an extension of their detention at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court.
"I went to the President and asked him what would have happened if this had occurred in Poland. There, they would call desecration anti-Semitism. Here, in the heart of Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives, the Holy of Holies, [the incident] goes by quietly.
"We demand there be harsher punishment for desecration of graves in the law code."
Rabbi Horowitz added that the near-constant desecration of graves on the Mount of Olives has caused many people to not want to be buried there.
"On Mount Hamenuhot there is no room for field burial, only burial saturation. Mount of Olives has plenty of room for the thousands of graves in the traditional field burial. Just yesterday I suggested to an important family to have the head of their family buried there, but they did not want to."

Amidst the ancient Jewish graves are the tombs of "Absalom (from left to right), Zacharias and James," in the Kidron Valley (Chatham University Archives, circa 1890)

Disrupting their eternal rest Considered the most important cemetery in Judaism, its dry earth is sent all over of world. Yet despite its importance, and even though the state comptroller issued a harsh report about it, The Mount of Olives is still open and unprotected, at the mercy of the residents of east Jerusalem. Menachem Begin, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, S.Y. Agnon and Rabbi Kook are turning over in their graves

If they only knew what was going to be happening someday in the future, it may very well be that Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, S.Y. Agnon, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Menachem and AlizaBegin would have thought twice before requesting to be buried on the Mt. of Olives. The most ancient and largest Jewish cemetery in the world, and in all likelihood the most important, has in recent years been abandoned to vandals, criminals and illegals who turned it into an abused public area, more closely resembling a garbage dump.

Exactly two years ago, in May 2010, then-State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss referred to conditions on the Mt. of Olives in a report. “Rehabilitation of the cemetery is proceeding at a snail’s pace, its level of maintenance is unsatisfactory, security is extremely low, and vandalism and criminal incidents continue to occur in it. We strongly suspect that if security is not ensured, all of the monies and work invested in will go down the drain,” Lindenstrauss wrote at the time.

Related stories:

• Report: Security at Mt. Olives slipping
• Vandalism returns to Mount of Olives cemetery
• Yeshiva on Mount of Olives to get 24 more housing units 

Several years before, the government decided in “Priorities – Reinforcing the city of Jerusalem,” to allocate more than NIS 80 million (about $22M) to deal with this issue. “There are serious doubts that the investment of millions of shekels in restoration and development works will go down the drain,” wrote the comptroller, in an understatement.

In the two years since, there was little change. After all, the dead are unable to protest, and the authorities are turning a blind eye, resulting in no real change on the ground. The site, where many of the outstanding Jewish leaders of the past few centuries along with tens of thousands of other people are buried, has been abandoned and forgotten.

The first problem the Mount has is its location – east Jerusalem, fertile ground for nationalist-based vandalism. In recent years, hundreds of headstones in the cemetery were destroyed and shattered or covered with garbage and excrement. Families who came for gravesite visits to their dear ones’ final resting place found empty liquor bottles, used condoms and other evidence of especially lively ‘night life.’

“In the mornings, we have been finding charcoal grills, used syringes, and all sorts of ugly sights among the graves of leading Jewish leaders and thinkers,” is how Rabbi Haim Miller, former Deputy Mayor and head of the Movement for Jerusalem and its Residents, described the situation.. “It has become a nightclub and brothel for the Arabs of east Jerusalem who are destroying the gravestones and turning sections into dog dens. There is no greater shame for the Jewish State than this. It embarrasses me to state that in the largest Jewish cemetery in the world there is not even one toilet stall, and all of the faucets and benches have been stolen or destroyed.”

Mt. of Olives cemetery (Photo: Jeff Daube / ZOA, ICPHH)

The first Jews were buried on the mountain during the Bronze Age. With the construction of the Holy Temple on the adjacent mountain, the cemetery became popular among Jerusalem’s departed, because Jewish tradition holds that whoever is buried on the Mt. of Olives will not undergo painful torments during the resurrection of the dead (when the Messiah comes), and worms will not devour the body. Throughout the entire world, Jews are buried with a small sack of dust from the Mt. of Olives by their side.

In the late 1950’s, construction of a small mosque was begun in the Ras al-Amud Square on the old Jerusalem-Jericho road. Even before the Jordanian laws which were then applicable to the West Bank, construction of the mosque was never legalized. Only after the Six-Day War was the building completed, and a decision was made to maintain the status quo – the mosque would remain as built, but the land adjacent was declared State land because it is part of the ancient cemetery.

US Congressmen Jerrold Nadler and Eliot Engel (both from New York) with Conference of Presidents' Malcolm Hoenlein and ICPHH's Abe and Menachem Lubinsky (Photo Jeff Daube / ZOA, ICPHH)

However, when the siren for Memorial Day for the Fallen in Israel’s Wars and Terror Attacks recently echoed throughout the country, young people and the families of fallen soldiers standing in the ancient cemetery found it difficult to concentrate. Sounds of power hammers and machines for concrete were pounding away in the mosque adjacent to the cemetery fence, heard throughout the mountain. The laborers working so energetically were not doing so to deliberately disturb mourners, but simply because it’s the only day of the year they can build the illegal additions to the mosque without anyone disturbing them. The story of the mosque provides an instructive example of the Municipality of Jerusalem’s failure in handling open and transparent criminal acts.

More than 300 meters (984 feet) of the area belonging to the Mount of Olives cemetery has already been annexed to the mosque, which presently stands 10 paces from the plot belonging to the man who revived the Hebrew language, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and his family, and only a few meters from the graves of Menachem and Aliza Begin. The former Prime Minister refused to be buried in the plot reserved for the great leaders of the Jewish People (on Mt. Herzl) and requested that, “when the time comes, I ask to be buried on the Mt. of Olives, near Meir Feinstein and Moshe Barazani.” Imprisoned by the British, his two underground comrades killed themselves rather than be hung, and now Begin is buried in a simple plot overlooking the Temple Mount from afar, but adjacent to the mosque.

The area on which the mosque is built is considered especially prestigious due to its proximity to the site of the Holy Temple (Beit Hamikdash) and the price of a tiny piece of land (a plot for a grave) begins at $20,000 – to the Burial Society (Hevra Kadisha). The demand is so high that the gravestones are situated very close to one another, and sometimes the only way to place a stone on a grave (Jewish custom upon leaving a gravesite visit) is to throw it from afar.

Photo: Yair Altman

In October 2010, right-wing activist Arieh King filed a first complaint with the Jerusalem Municipality. A few months afterward, Ofir May, head of the Municipality’s Inspectorate, wrote to Legal Counsel Adv. Amnon Merhav and to the Municipality’s Chief Prosecutor Adv. Einat Ayalon, “In the eastern section of the city, there are several mosques constructed without building permits, constituting construction felonies. Criminal case files were opened for them, however, the enforcement processes did not succeed in applying the Law, due to the sensitivity involved.”

May continued, and stated that “In the past, I contacted the Municipality’s Attorney on the issue, and he contacted the Attorney General about this, (however), I do not know whether there was an answer or what it was. The issue has recently come up again due to the construction work going on without a permit, enlarging the mosque in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood. I wish to receive clear directives on how to handle the mosques.” As of now, these directives have still not been received.

Since then, the mosque has only become bigger, and expanded into the cemetery area. Although Jerusalem City Hall claimed that this involved “an internal renovation of the bathrooms and moving the faucet installations,” they did demand that the Waqf cease adding to the building. Since then, the construction work has been conducted at night and on weekends, with the building serving as lodging for illegals.

A Jerusalem Police official estimated that this is a deliberate policy so as not to inflame hostilities. “Here there is a super-explosive potential in one of the most flammable places in the whole world,” said the Police official. “For one building, it’s not always worth it to set fire to the entire area. Sometimes it’s easier not to enforce every violation.”

The official response from the Jerusalem Police was that “enforcing the construction laws is the Municipality’s responsibility. The Police emphasize that each time it was asked to help Municipal Inspectors in delivering injunctions or enforcing them, they were accompanied by police officers who made sure to execute them fully and completely.”

Jerusalem City Hall stated. “The Municipality operates according to the Law and pursuant to instructions from the State’s Attorney on handling construction infractions in religious institutions. There is a construction infraction on that site, which is being handled by the Municipality in court. Continued handling of the issue is in coordination with all of the relevant authorities.”

Meanwhile, what is saving the Mount is the fact that among other graves are also the parents of a number of very wealthy Jews from all over the world. The brothers Avraham and Menachem Lubinsky, businessmen from the US, recently came to visit their parents’ graves and were shocked by the situation. They established the “International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim” and began to exert heavy pressure on the Israeli government and the Jerusalem Municipality.

The Americans find it difficult to grasp the feeling of insecurity that visitors experience at the Mount – a feeling to which most Israelis apparently have become accustomed. The pressure that they are exerting is now beginning to bear fruit in the form of widespread renovation of destroyed gravestones, the installation of 137 security cameras throughout the cemetery, and the arrest of dozens of young Arabs for vandalism.

For now, the overall effect of rehabilitating the Mount is displacing some of the terrorist stone-throwing activities directed at Jews traveling to the Mt. of Olives. Each week, drivers are stoned on the A-Tur and Ras al-Amud roads, usually by bored adolescents. The International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealing for an increase in the punishment to minors in the cemetery area, since they are usually detained and then immediately released.

“We are obligated to restore security and holiness to the Mt. of Olives,” declared American businessman Avraham Lubinsky, the Committee Chair. “In the majority of western countries and many US States, there is specific legislation requiring imprisonment for defilers of graves, up to several years in prison.”

The letter was signed by leaders of the Rabbinical Council of America, the National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America and the Orthodox Union, as well as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein. All of the organizations benefit from a very strong lobby in Israel and the US. If not for tradition and history, perhaps it is through politics that those buried on the Mt. of Olives will have their honor restored.

Vandalism (and assault) at the World's oldest Jewish cemetery

JPost is spot-on in this editorial about the World's oldest Jewish cemetery: The Mount of Olives. 

It is not difficult to imagine the deafening outcry that would have arisen had Jewish stone-throwers attacked Arab mourners and visitors to a major cemetery. The chorus of condemnation would have become shriller yet, had the attacks not been isolated but daily harassment and outright physical endangerment.

It is safe to assume that the violent assailants would have been castigated as despicable racists and that all-out manhunts would have been mounted to apprehend them.

But as it happens, the assailants are Arab while the mourners and visitors are Jewish. Hence there is no outcry, no condemnation, no manhunts and the word “racist” is on nobody’s lips. No one talks about the regular predations on Jews trying to reach Jerusalem’s ancient Mount of Olives Cemetery, regarded by many as the second holiest Jewish site anywhere.

It is almost as if brutal onslaughts and lynching attempts against Jews are only to be expected and even accepted as the norm.

It is a sad testament to an even sadder state of affairs that Diaspora Jews feel obliged to take action to preserve the world’s largest Jewish cemetery, while successive Israeli governments serially fail to stem lawlessness, vandalism and neglect there.

Read the whole thing.  The solution is really quite simple....

Letter to Netanyahu Pleads for Safety On Har Hazeisim

The International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeisim today made public a letter sent to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu focused on the state of Har Hazeisim, imploring him to further secure access to the ancient cemetery. The burial site is the oldest and largest Jewish cemetery in the world - consisting of 150,000 graves and in continuous use for 3,000 years - where many Jewish leaders dating back to the Nevi’im as well as modern-day Israeli notables have been laid to rest.

The communication commends the Prime Minister for the great strides made by his government to secure and protect the ancient Jewish cemetery - which has increasingly come under attack in recent years with continuous violence against visitors, rampant grave desecrations, dumping of refuse, and gross defilement of the cemetery by local Arab youths. - but the letter also outlines the remaining actions necessary to sustainably safeguard the expansive burial ground.

The letter was signed by an unprecedented group of the leadership of American Jewish organizations. It included such major Orthodox groups as the Rabbinical Council of America, National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, and the Orthodox Union. In addition, the letter was signed by Richard Stone, Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations as well its Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein on behalf of the members of the Conference. Mr. Hoenlein,, who is also an active leader of the ICPHH, personally delivered the letter to the Prime Minister during his organization’s recent mission to Israel.

The Jewish organizations note the marked security improvements initiated by the Prime Minister’s Office and implemented through the Jerusalem Development Authority, such as the installation of security cameras and the establishment of a permanent Police presence which has led to a sharp rise in the number of arrests of violent perpetrators at the Har Hazeisim Cemetery.

Yet the letter also details the ongoing violence directed towards Cemetery visitors along access roads and requests that Netanyahu fully complete security camera installation and the deployment of Police within a wider radius. In addition, the International Committee asks that the Prime Minister support Knesset legislation which includes significant punishment for minors committing Cemetery-related offences as well as mandating stiff punishment to address attacks carried out in cemetery perimeter areas, which are directed at visitors to intimidate and/or cause direct bodily harm.

“The International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim is committed to returning safety and sanctity to Har Hazeitim,” said American businessman and ICPHH Chairman Abraham Lubinsky. “Even after our imperatives are met and all are free to visit their departed in peace in an appropriate environment befitting this immensely important Jewish cemetery, we will continue to watch over the hallowed ground to assure that violence and vandalism never again plague this place. Only then will generations of Jews buried on Har Hazeitim truly be able to find eternal rest.”
A primary focus of the organization, said Mr. Lubinsky, is to end the “perception of fear” amongst Jews worldwide and to significantly increase tourism to Judaism’s second holiest site.

Jerusalem: Jews Confront Arabs after Stabbing Residents of Maale Zeitim say they've had enough after renowned Rabbi Tau's son is stabbed.

Jews confronted Arabs outside the Jerusalem neighbor hood of Maaleh Zeitim on the Mount of Olives Saturday evening, 24 hours after Arabs stabbed a Jewish man there.

The stabbing victim is Avraham Tau, son of the Dean of Har Hamor Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rabbi Zvi Tau, a venerated Torah sage in the religious Zionist sector. Avraham Tau, whose wounds were defined as "moderate," is in the Intensive Care Unit of Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital, and is reportedly in stable condition.

Two Jews who tried to block the road in the course of the protest were detained by police. Arabs fired some fireworks into the air in order to intimidate the Jews. Police detained an Arab who tried to attack a policeman.

Avraham Tau and another Jew were walking together from the Western Wall toward Maaleh Zeitim when two terrorists attacked him, stabbing him in the back. The two Jews kept on walking toward Maaleh Zeitim, where the injured man received initialtreatment.

Jerusalem activist Aryeh King said that more than 50 Jews have been attacked in the same spot outside the neighborhood in the past two years. Residents demanded that police establish a deterrent presence in the location.

Photos: Yishai Fleisher

The Renewal of Jewish Life atop Har Hazeitim

Israel Relents: Authoritie​s Promise Full Security On Har Hazeitim

Israeli authorities are moving rapidly to beef up security as well as taking a number of other measures to improve conditions on Har Hazeitim (Mt. of Olives). This was the essence of a report given by Avrohom Lubinsky during a telephone conference yesterday with members of the International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim, which he founded in May 2010 and currently chairs. The report followed a whirlwind mission that included meetings with Israeli officials, including the Prime Minister’s Office, Mayor Nir Barkat of Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Development Authority, police officials, leaders of the Chevra Kadisha (Burial Society) members of Knesset and government ministers.
Mr. Lubinsky reported that 63 of a planned network of 138 surveillance cameras was operational, contributing to increased security over the past six weeks, following the destruction of 30 graves in July, mostly of American citizens. He said that security will be further improved in the coming weeks with the deployment of a police garrison. “The presence of a significant police contingent will dramatically change the landscape of conditions on Har Hazeitim,” Mr. Lubinsky added. He praised Mayor Barkat for taking the initiative in building walls and fences around violence prone areas in the cemetery as well as his general support for making the area a visitor and tourist friendly site.
In other significant developments that will have a major impact on Har Hazeitim, officials are planning to add lighting and signage, particularly singling out areas that include the burial sites of three Jewish nevi’im and other Jewish luminaries. They are also continuing to restore some of the 38,000 graves destroyed by Jordanian authorities prior to 1967. Mr. Lubinsky was joined at the meetings by Harvey Schwartz and Jeff Daube, leaders of the Israeli section of the International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim. The committee leaders also met with Knesset members and staff in promoting legislation that will impose mandatory jail sentences on perpetrators of violence and destruction in any cemetery in Israel.
Said Mr. Lubinsky: “Thanks to the efforts of our committee there is a strong commitment by Israeli authorities to preserve Har Hazeitim at all cost. We are extremely grateful to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mayor Barkat, and ministers like Eli Yishai who responded to the demands of the Committee to finally do justice to the holiest and oldest cemetery in Jewish history.”
Committee Slams State Department’s Equation of Violence on Har Hazeitim with Fraudulent Muslim Graves in Mamilla
“Jewish tombstones on the Mount of Olives cemetery were vandalized, and the Jerusalem Municipality demolished tombstones in the Muslim Mamilla cemetery it deemed were constructed illegally,” the US State Department noted in its annual International Religious Freedom Report released on September 13th and covering the period of July-December 2010. While this was the first time that the State Department called attention to the violence and abuse on Har Hazeitim, it absurdly linked the wanton violence against tombstones and visitors on Har Hazeitim with the Jerusalem Municipality’s removal of fake graves planted by Muslims to prevent the development of the area.  The State Department noted: “The desecration of Muslim and Jewish cemeteries in Jerusalem continued throughout the reporting period.” In its attempt to balance the report, the report also included the fact that “trash commonly littered both cemeteries, and maintenance was largely insufficient.”
Jerusalem city officials said last year that there was “clear and indisputable evidence” that the 300 tombstones that were discovered inside the ancient Muslim cemetery in Mamilla were fraudulent. Jerusalem Municipality released photographs and a clear timeline of what officials described as “one of the largest deceptions in recent years,” detailing how “Islamic officials” had used permits obtained for the purpose of cleaning and renovating tombstones at the site to instead erect hundreds of “fictitious graves” on a neighboring plot of land.
Jeff Daube, who represents the Zionist Organization of America in Jerusalem and is a member of the Israeli section of the International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim, had lobbied the State Department to include the violence on Har Hazeitim in its annual report of abuses of religious freedom. Mr. Daube was shocked and dismayed that the State Department had decided to make such an absurd comparison. Said Mr. Daube: “I was incensed to see that they had resorted to the worst form of relativism, even in this post-modernist age, by equating the removal of tombstones over faux-graves in Mamilla where there is no abuse of visitors to the desecrations on Har Hazeitim. There was also no mention of stonings and harassment.”
Mr. Lubinsky said the State Department’s report was disappointing “since much of the violence perpetrated on Har Hazeitim is against graves of Americans who chose to be buried on the holy 3000-year old cemetery. American visitors are also frequently the subject of violence including stone throwing and even Molotov cocktails in one instance.” He concluded: “One would think that the State Department would assist Americans rather than making such an absurd and ridiculous comparison of neglect.”

At Least 14 Kevorim Destroyed in New Rampant Destruction and Abuse on Har Hazeisim

In a development of events that continues to infuriate Jews worldwide, fourteen kevorim were destroyed on Har Hazeisim over the in the past few days, including the kevorim of several American Jews. Most of the damage occurred within the Kolel Polen and Agudas Achim sections of the cemetery. Two of the kevorim were near the burial place of two Rebbes of Gur. The latest desecration comes after the Israeli government continues to delay implementation of proper security measures in and around the ancient cemetery, including the activation of surveillance cameras installed around the area’s perimeter.

Avrohom Lubinsky, Chairman of the International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeisim, a group dedicated to restoring and securing the cemetery said that “every day that the security measures are delayed is a day when mourners and visitors are routinely stoned, kevorim desecrated, and garbage strewn throughout a sacred place.” Further, Mr. Lubinsky placed the blame squarely on government bureaucracy saying that, “It seems that every time we take a step in the right direction, the government takes two steps backwards. It is ironic that while local Arab workers refurbish kevorim, Arab criminals are destroying kevorim.”

The most recent spate of violence comes in the wake of both Nakba (day Arabs called Catastrophe which is the day Israel declared its independence in 1948 and Naksa (a day of “Setback” for Arabs which actually marks the reunification of Yerushalayim) during which many newly installed cameras were damaged.  Additionally, as a further blow to the site’s sanctity and burial place of so many esteemed Jewish residents, a mosque is being illegally expanded a mere sixteen feet from the grave of the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.  Mr. Lubinsky called it “outrageous” blaming the Yerushalayim Municipality for not stopping the construction.

In a further absurd development, the Committee has learned that the electricity controlling the new cameras and lighting on Har Hazeisim may in fact be controlled by the East Yerushalayim Electric Company instead of the Israel Electric Company. Officials have vowed to assure that control over the electricity remains with the Israel Electric Company. Residents of the new Maaleh Zeitim development across the road have opted for private generators rather than come under the control of the Palestinian East Yerushalayim Electric Company.

Mr. Lubinsky revealed that a new bill imposing stiff penalties against perpetrators of crimes in cemeteries was currently in the works. Sponsored by MK Yoel Hasson of Kadima, the bill that would give the police new authority to make arrests, mandate tough penalties and sentences, and even hold the parents of minors who desecrate kevorim responsible for damages. With time, this bill may help to alleviate some of the criminal activity that currently takes place on Har Hazeisim.

The International Committee consists of representatives of major Jewish organizations including Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Recently, the Committee announced the establishment of an Israeli chapter to be their representatives on the ground. The chapter will be headed by Harvey Schwartz, chairman of the AmericanIsraeli Action Coalition (AIAC), a well known activist, and Jeff Daube, the Israeli representative of the Zionist Organization of America and the man responsible for bringing the situation on Har Hazeisim to the attention of American consular officials in Yerushalayim, including several congressmen and politicians as well as the state department. For more information about the Committee and its activities please visit www.harhazeisim.org.

Delays Continue on Securing Har Hazeisim

Hopes that at least two troublesome access points to Har Hazeisim would be permanently closed to local Arab traffic were dashed as a result of changes in the police brass in Yerushalayim. According to Avrohom Lubinsky, founding chairman of the International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeisim, the police were to have closed the roads used by Arabs as a thoroughfare through the ancient bais hakvoros but as a result of a shakeup in the Jerusalem police command, the action has been delayed.

“The latest delays in taking concrete measures to secure Har Hazeisim are very disappointing,” said Mr. Lubinsky. “These access roads are the root of much of the violence, destruction, and general lawlessness that has created an untenable security situation on Har Hazeisim.” Mr. Lubinsky said that he hoped that the Jerusalem Development Authority and the Office of the Prime Minister would move to improve security, including the installation of some 200 surveillance cameras and the stationing of a police garrison on Har Hazeisim.

The Committee intends to step up its efforts to push for the security measures on Har Hazeisim. It has secured the support of a cross section of prominent Knesset members who have taken a lead role in the worldwide campaign to bring change to the 3000-yaer old cemetery which is the eternal resting place of some of the most prominent figures in Jewish history, including three Nevi’im, rabbonim, admorim, and other leading figures. The Knesset members include Moshe Gafni (Yahadut Hatorah), Danny Dannon (Deputy Speaker of the Knesset - Likud) and Yoel Hasson (Kadima). The committee will be meeting MK Hasson during his visit to the US later this month in the offices of Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and a prominent member of the Committee. Another staunch supporter of the Committee’s efforts is Minister Eli Yishai (Shas).

Mr. Hoenlein and Menachem Lubinsky, another prominent member of the Committee briefed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu last July on the deteriorating state of Har Hazeisim. The Prime Minister’s office has since taken a more active role in the planned restoration and security plans for Har Hazeisim. The Committee includes leaders of Agudath Israel of America, National Council of Young Israel, Orthodox Union, and the Rabbinical Alliance of America as well as community activists and lay leaders from several countries.

Mr. Lubinsky noted that the Committee was growing inpatient with the bureaucratic delays in implementing a plan that was to already have been in place by now. He said that in the coming weeks, chapters of the Committee would begin functioning in Jerusalem as well as Europe.

In recent months, the government has taken steps to restores some of the 40,000 graves that were destroyed by the Jordanians during their 19-year rule over Har Hazeisim. It has also begun to wire the cemetery for the cameras, but there are still frequent reports of mourners and visitors being stoned. The cemetery also is routinely used as a dumping ground by local Arabs for used construction materials, garbage, and waste from animals that pass through the cemetery.

“World Jewry is united behind securing Har Hazeisim, making it imperative that the government move quickly to fulfill its promises to secure Har Hazeisim, especially since the funds were already allocated,” Mr. Lubinsky concluded.

Shameful dereliction at the Mt. of Olives Cemetery; Acquiescence in the dereliction of a landmark of such central emotive importance to Jews blemishes Israel’s honor.

It’s a sad testament to an even sadder state of affairs that Diaspora Jews are feeling obliged to take action to preserve the Mount of Olives Cemetery, while successive Israeli governments have allowed lawlessness, vandalism and neglect to reign there.

An international watch-committee set up by overseas Jews hopes to reverse the desecration inflicted systematically by neighboring Arab vandals on the Jewish people’s most ancient burial ground – the final resting place of a veritable pantheon of religious, spiritual, cultural and national paragons, including the biblical prophets Zechariah, Haggai and Malachi.

The initiative was formally launched on Saturday night at Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue. It was triggered by a recent visit of members of the Lubinsky family of New York to relatives’ graves on the Mount. There, they noticed adjacent tombstones were wrecked, according to Menachem Lubinsky, with “the kind of maliciousness that defies the imagination.”

Stirred by what they witnessed, the family reached out to well-known Jews and Jewish organizations worldwide to set up a framework to keep an eye on the cemetery.

It’s not as if the sorry situation were unknown. Last December, the Prime Minister’s Office announced moves to heighten security there. In May, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss excoriated the ongoing neglect of the issue: “Repair work proceeds at snail’s pace, maintenance standards are inadequate, security is sorely lacking and vandalism and criminal acts continue unabated, accentuating the danger that funds and labor already invested at the site will go down the drain,” he said.

Many words and still more months later, little appears to have changed. Mourners are still stoned frequently near the cemetery and headstones are regularly defaced and smashed. This on the mountain slopes where Jews have been interring their dead for over 3,000 years. Its proximity to the Temple Mount, as well as the traditional proscription against burials within Jerusalem’s walls, made the Mount of Olives hallowed as far back as First Temple days.

The chain continued unbroken, save for 19 years of Jordanian occupation (1948-67), during which the cemetery was despoiled in a callous breach of the Hashemite Kingdom’s undertakings to safeguard holy places. The destruction was unbridled and premeditated. Ancient tombstones were ripped out to be used as latrine floors, urinal walls and pavement stones. The Intercontinental Hotel and Jericho Road were constructed over graves. Garbage was regularly dumped on the tombs.

After the Six Day War, when the area came under Israeli sovereign control, prominent Israelis like former prime minister Menachem Begin, Nobel laureate Shai Agnon, poet Uri Zvi Greenberg, and rabbis Shlomo Goren and Zvi Yehuda Kook asked to be laid to rest there. Nevertheless, this did not bring the necessary allocation of resources for upkeep and security at a cemetery of peerless historical continuity and significance.

The preferred target of the vandals, who recurrently raid after sundown, is enigmatically the Gerrer Rebbe’s grave, but Begin’s has also been damaged. Vandals have smeared human feces on tombs and deluged them with household rubbish and construction debris. Markers have been daubed in tar and paint. Hate-graffiti has been scrawled and gravestones have been hammered and shattered.

Because of the frequent daytime assaults on visitors, many fear going there. Vehicles are routinely stoned from the yard of a nearby Arab school in an especially dismal expression of enmity.

Had a minuscule proportion of such aggression occurred in Jewish cemeteries abroad, Israel would have lodged formal complaints and demanded better protection.

It is long overdue for the government to practice what we preach.

Official Israel should be shamed by the fact that private American Jews have had to recruit major Jewish organizations to take upon themselves what our government should have done long ago.

Fences, electronic surveillance, cameras and the like are frequently promised but have not yet been completed or installed. The government, Knesset committees and Jerusalem’s Municipality regularly announce impressive renovation projects to rebuild, record and map thousands of destroyed graves. The results fail to match the hype.

Acquiescence in the dereliction of a landmark of such central emotive importance to Jews blemishes Israel’s honor. It also makes a mockery of Israel’s declared aspiration to keep its capital undivided.