MK Tzvi Succot (Religious Zionist Party) has rejected claims published by Haaretz reporter Yaniv Kubovitz that he insisted on entering Joseph's Tomb in Nablus during daylight hours on Sunday in violation of military regulations.
According to the report, the IDF warned that securing the visit would require an unusually large deployment of forces and could place soldiers operating in the area at risk.
Succot strongly denied the allegations, stating that his visit to the site was conducted only after all necessary approvals had been obtained from the relevant authorities.
The lawmaker said the visit was coordinated together with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan and carried out through the standard approval process. “I submitted a formal request that was approved by all the relevant authorities through the usual channels," Succot said.
He stressed that the visit proceeded without incident and did not create any burden or danger for the security forces accompanying it. “Not a single stone was thrown, there was no unusual event, and any attempt to portray the visit as an unnecessary risk to the forces is completely false," he said.
Succot argued that the report reflects what he described as an ongoing effort to delegitimize Jewish presence at sites of historical and religious significance.
“This is absurd on every level. The entire article is built on claims that never happened," he said. Succot accused critics of creating a misleading narrative instead of reporting the facts surrounding the visit.
Concluding his response, the Knesset member criticized those who, he said, seek to portray worshippers negatively. “When a Jew requests to pray at Joseph’s Tomb and does so with full approval and without any security incident, there are still those who will try to present it as a threat," he said.
Succot further claimed that such criticism reflects hostility toward Jewish worship at holy sites rather than the reality of what took place during the visit.