Holy Targets: Joseph’s Tomb Is Just the Latest

Shortly after a raging mob demolished the traditional site of Joseph’s tomb near ancient Shechem, first dismantling it stone by stone and then setting it aflame, a newspaper reporter called me for comment. Like most people, I was sickened by the violence. He wanted to know about endangered archaeological sites. The hate, the fierceness of the anger, the crowd behavior was new, but unfortunately the lack of respect for ancient Jewish sites was not. Within days of the destruction of Joseph’s tomb, another stone-throwing mob destroyed an ancient synagogue in Jericho with a simply lovely mosaic floor that had […]