The holy Jewish Tomb of Joshua bin Nun was renovated on Wednesday night by members of the Samaria Regional Council and IDF soldiers after it was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.
The tomb, located in the Palestinian village of Kifl Hares in the West Bank, was defaced with graffiti in support of Hamas and the October 7 massacres, including the phrase "Death to the Jews," names of terrorists, support for Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other inscriptions.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, along with volunteers from the Joseph's Tomb Administration and the council, came together with troops from the IDF's Battalion 9221 of the Ephraim Brigade. The inscription "Death to the Jews" was painted over with white paint by Dagan and the commander of the reserve battalion, Lt.-Col. Shmulik Friedman. The work took about two hours.
'We are the light, they are the darkness'
"We are the light, and they are the darkness; the light will always defeat the darkness!" Dagan stated from the tomb.
"We are in the tomb of Joshua bin Nun – the first Jewish chief of staff from the nation of Israel," he said. "Here are our roots of holding on to the Land of Israel, here are the roots on which the State of Israel was founded, and these days, when we are fighting a barbaric and cruel enemy who slaughters women and children, it is no wonder that the same enemy who does this with one hand, tries to damage and destroy our holy sites with the other."Together with the soldiers of the IDF, we are here strengthening the entire people of Israel everywhere – in the North, in the Gaza border communities, in the South, and in Jerusalem," Dagan said. "We are as one iron fist, and we will defeat this barbaric enemy. We are here to rectify this act of terrorism by ISIS, the damage to the tomb of Joshua bin Nun, and we say from here that the nation of Israel lives [Am Yisroel chai]. The nation of Israel will win!"
The Tomb of Joshua bin Nun ("son of Nun," pronounced "noon") is maintained by the Joseph's Tomb Administration and the Samaria Regional Council. The place is visited by tens of thousands of Jewish worshipers a year, who are allowed to visit the site on a number of pre-arranged excursions each year, which are organized by the council and take place under the escort and security of the IDF and Israeli security forces.The village of Kifl Hares contains other sites considered by Jews to be holy. Tradition holds that the tomb of Caleb ben Yefuneh, one of the 12 spies along with Joshua, is located in the village, as is the tomb of Nun, Joshua's father.