A group of French Jews who have just made aliyah, on Sunday came to the Slichot service at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron carrying Israeli flags, only to be stopped by a large Border Police force that confiscated their flags, a resident of Hebron reported.
The entire Jewish holy site is open to Jews today, and thousands have already visited, and tens of thousands are expected to visit by this evening.
According to the report, the police closed down the cave before incoming Jews until all the Israeli flags had been taken away because they constitute a political Jewish symbol.
The French group could not believe that this was the attitude towards Jews in the Land of Israel, and told the cops: “We thought we were proud of our flag here.”
Needless to say, it didn’t help when the same policemen were reminded that local Arabs are not stopped when they enter the cave carrying Palestinian flags.
Back in 1969, IDF military police beat up Jewish settlers who protested the removal of the national flag from the Cave of the Patriarchs on Israel’s Independence Day.
The initial ban on Israeli flags at the cave was issued in 1967 by then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, who also planned to give control of the site back to the Arabs. Later administrations rescinded the ban and Israeli flags are allowed at the cave.
לא יאומן!שתפו!יהודים ציוניים שעלו מצרפת הגיעו למערת המכפלה לסליחות וקצין מגב מחרים להם את דגלי ישראל כי זה סממו פוליטי?!השתגעו?!מה קורה לנו ?לבכות!!מערת המכפלה נסגרה ליהודים עד שהדגלים יצאו.אגב אין לקצין הזה שום סמכות לעשות זאת !קרדיט לעופר אוחנה התותח pic.twitter.com/IOpjouuGj8
— nati rom (@natirom)
Hebron spokesperson Yishai Fleisher describes the room of Isaac and Rivka in the Tomb:
