Major General (Res.) Gadi Shamni, former head of the IDF Central Command, on Thursday criticized the conduct of the State of Israel at Joseph's Tomb and claimed that the IDF should stop securing the entry of Israelis who go to pray at the compound, which is located in the city of Shechem (Nablus).
"The entire story of Joseph’s Tomb is one big mistake," he said in an interview on Reshet Bet radio. "This is a huge operation of bringing people, transportation and other events around the prayers."
Shamni added, "There are parties who earn a lot of money there and there are many political interests. We have to stop endangering soldiers. Every entry into the site causes friction and it's only a matter of time until a disaster happens there."
Shamni's words are reminiscent of the harsh criticism of Deputy Minister Yair Golan of Meretz, who said in an interview on Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) earlier on Thursday that "Joseph's Tomb is a crazy hallucination."
"I have been there many, many times, it is crazy. Just to think that IDF soldiers might be killed just to provide security haredi groups who don't even serve in the army," he added.
The Deputy Minister's statement generalizes against the entire haredi sector, since quite a few of them do serve in the army. Golan also ignored the fact that many people come to Joseph's Tomb during the year, both religious and secular.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, responded to Yair Golan and said, "Yair Golan is an attention-seeker. Yair Golan's culture of hatred of Israel and the fake news he spreads are pitiful. The people of Israel are healthy and will return to Joseph’s Tomb in full force."
The chairman of the Agudat Yisrael Party, Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknopf, added, "It is frightening to recognize among us the scary processes that took place in Germany 80 years ago." The remarks are a reference to Golan’s 2016 speech in which he appeared to draw comparisons between modern-day Israel and Nazi Germany.