Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon visited the town of Mitzpeh Yericho, in the wake of the desecration of the synagogue in the town recently. The yeshiva, Netivot Yosef, was vandalized by Arabs who broke into the town several weeks ago.
The vandals destroyed books and several objects, smashed doors and furniture – and defaced a Torah scroll in the synagogue. The synagogue was located in a compound that housed, among other institutions, the local yeshiva.
During his visit to the town, Danon was briefed on the incident by the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Shabtai Sabato, deputy Binyamin Regional Council head Roni Snir, and Binyamin Regional Council Education Director Rabbi Yaakov Libby.
Danon said that lessons on improving security needed to be learned from the incident. Danon added that the public needed to speak out on this incident of vandalism, and make their protests heard. “What would have happened if they had broken into a Muslim or Christian institution,” Danon asked rhetorically.
Avi Ro'eh, head of the Yesha Council and director of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, sad that the incident was a “very serious one, because it involved not only vandalism and destruction of a place of worship, but an invasion of a school. We are relying on police to make every effort to find the guilty parties and bring them to justice.” Police are still searching for the culprits.