Jewish cemeteries desecrated – this time in Israel’s own backyard

The Bedouin youth vandalized, smashed and desecrated gravestones in the Jewish cemetery.

By World Israel News Staff

In a shocking display of anti-Semitism in Israel’s own backyard, Bedouin youth documented themselves on video vandalizing the Jewish cemetery in the Jewish moshav, or town, of Nevatim in the Negev.

The youths videoed themselves vandalizing, smashing and desecrating gravestones in the moshav’s cemetery. They then uploaded the video to social media app TikTok.

In recent weeks, the fence around the cemetery was spray-painted with Arabic graffiti, and sections of the fence were torn away.

Israeli Police said, “We consider vandalism and such acts of bullying to be serious… the police opened an investigation in order to track down those involved and in order to prosecute them.”

The moshav along with the Regavim movement filed a complaint on Thursday demanding that the vandals be brought to justice. Regavim is an NGO focused on land-use issues in Israel.

“These horrific images are the result of the ongoing lack of governance of the State of Israel in the Negev,” says Evyatar David, Regavim’s Field Coordinator for the Southern District. “There is no nice way to say it, and there is no way to whitewash the scope of the problem. We will pursue this case until the criminals are brought to justice.”

Moshav Nevatim is located in the central Negev, five miles southeast of Beer Sheba. It’s surrounded by clusters of illegal Bedouin squatters’ camps and has suffered for many years from crime, vandalism, burglary and agricultural theft.

So dangerous is the area due to the Bedouins’ depredations that the moshav itself is protected not only by a fence but by a moat, dug to guard it against heavy vehicles.

However, the cemetery is located outside the moshav and has been vandalized repeatedly. The most recent incident is a serious escalation as it involves the desecration of tombstones and the posting of videos after the crime.