To stop police from closing the purported tomb of King David and the room located above it which is the purported site of the Last Supper for the visit of Pope Francis, a group of Orthodox youths took the building over Saturday night and then violently rioted when police came to remove them.
Above: File photo of haredim throwing stones at police in July 2011
Orthodox Youth Take Over Purported Tomb Of King David To Protest Pope’s Visit, Riot
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
To stop police from closing the purported tomb of King David and the room located above it which is the purported site of the Last Supper, a group of right wing Orthodox youths took the building over early Sunday morning and then violently rioted when police came to remove them, the Jerusalem Post reported, throwing rocks and bottles at police.
Additionally, there were about 200 other people outside the building who participated in the protest.
Some of the protesters and rioters appear to be linked to Kahanist-inspired groups.
26 rioters, including one IDF soldier who threatened police with his weapon, were taken into custody.
At least two police officers were injured and propery was damaged.
The site is the purported tomb of King David, although few Zionist Orthodox and haredi rabbis actually believe with any degree of certainty that King David is really buried there.
The room above the tomb is important for Christians because it is the purported site of the Last Supper.
Like the Kotel (Western Wall), the tomb is a national heritage site that some people use as a place of prayer.
In 2010, haredim defaced a statue of King David that had been donated by a church and placed outside the tomb area by the government.
In 2012, a haredi man smashed many of the hundreds of years old Muslim-era handmade tiles inside the tomb. The man told police that he came to the tomb to pray for a wife. He claimed that a second man, who fled before police could arrest him, told him that the only way for his prayers to be answered would be if he prayed directly to the stones of the tomb itself and not to the ceramic tiles placed on top of them hundreds of years ago. The two men then proceeded to smash the tiles.
The site is technically under government control and can be used for other events or temporarily closed as necessary – as it was for a few hours this weekend to allow for the pope’s visit to the area.
Rumors started by Zionist Orthodox rabbis claim that the government is planning on giving control of the upper room – which has not been a site of Jewish prayer and has no intrinsic holiness to Jews – to the Catholic Church.
The protest and riot are meant to prevent the ‘ceding’ of any part of the land of Israel to non-Jews.
Last week, a haredi kabbalist ruled that Jews are forbidden to look at the pope and that those who see him by mistake are required to immediately rush to the nearest mikva (ritual bath) to immerse to remove the spiritual impurity caused by seeing him.
Related Posts:
Don’t Look At The Pope, Rabbi Says.
Haredi Man Arrested For Smashing Up King David’s Tomb.
Haredi Protest May Evict King David From His Own Tomb.