Khaberni - Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, continues his provocative and incendiary tours in Arab towns and against Islamic holy sites, in what appears to be part of an ongoing political campaign aimed at attracting votes through field escalation and racist rhetoric.
These movements have intensified recently, amidst escalating police operations accompanying him, turning each tour into a platform for launching extreme political messages targeting the Arab community and its holy sites, with threats of escalation of demolition, while the responsible body under Ben-Gvir's oversight fails to combat crime within the Arab community.
In this context, the Israeli police, at dawn on Wednesday, stormed Al-Qassam cemetery, built on the ruins of the deserted town of Sheikh near Haifa, directly supported by Ben-Gvir and with the participation of the head of the Knesset's Internal Affairs Committee, MK Yitzhak Kroizer from the “Otzma Yehudit” party, to remove a tent erected near the tomb of Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, along with signs and cameras.
According to a statement issued by the “Otzma Yehudit” party, the operation was carried out at five-thirty in the morning, described by the party as a “broad step in facing illegal control and memorializing terrorism symbols in the public domain”.
The statement said the force "demolished the tent set up by the Waqf, and removed the surveillance cameras and the sign that glorified Izz ad-Din al-Qassam," according to their expression. The statement also mentioned that a Waqf guard came to the site and yelled towards the forces: "What are you doing?", to which Ben-Gvir responded by saying, "Out, out," according to the text of the statement.
Ben-Gvir launched a series of incendiary statements during the raid saying: "We are here surrounding the tomb of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam in Nesher, this is a major terrorist, a key terrorist named after him the brigades of terrorists. Our message today is clear: the party is over".
He added: "There was a tent overlooking the grave and guarded by someone from the Waqf. The sign and tent were removed. And we hope that the grave will also be removed, because there is no place in the state of Israel for manifestations of incitement. When incitement is allowed, terrorism increases. Terrorism must be eradicated from its roots, and this tent and this grave must be demolished."
Ben-Gvir called on the mayor of Nesher to issue additional demolition orders, saying: "This is a time to exhibit sovereignty. We took an important step here, and the city must continue and issue demolition orders."
As for the head of the Internal Affairs Committee, Kroizer, he said: "Wherever there is an assault on sovereignty, we will be there. The police and the enforcement agency will act here like an iron fist. Every place that the Waqf thinks it controls, we will deal with it."
He further incited: "Here in particular, in the vicinity of the major terrorist Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, whose name the Qassam rockets and elite battalions that committed crimes on October 7 carry, we are demolishing the Waqf's facilities and restoring sovereignty."
Kroizer said that removing the tent "is considered the first step towards achieving a bigger goal: removing Al-Qassam's grave," considering it part of a "clear policy to enhance governance and eliminate incitement sites within the state."
Israeli police had earlier this Wednesday carried out a demolition of the tent erected in Al-Qassam historical cemetery, built on the ruins of the deserted town of Sheikh. Local sources stated that the tent had been recently erected near the tomb, which carries national and historical symbolism, and that the removal took place amidst a heavy presence of police and direct supervision by Ben-Gvir.
The Wafa and Reform Party explained that the police "removed the tent, the identification sign, and the solar power unit under a demolition order", considering it "part of systematic efforts to finish off what remains of the cemetery land" in the face of previous political threats to remove the grave itself.
Ben-Gvir had publicly incited in August to relocate Al-Qassam's grave and demolish it during a session of the Interior Committee in the Knesset. At the time, Kroizer said that "the shrine should not be a pilgrimage site for terrorism supporters", while Ben-Gvir asked the Nesher municipality "to demolish the grave immediately".
Al-Qassam cemetery is one of the most important historical cemeteries in Galilee, as it includes the tomb of Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam and a large number of martyrs from the region and religious and national figures from before the Nakba, and it has been subjected to dozens of assaults over the past decades, including the demolition of parts, vandalization of graves, drawing the swastika on the tomb, and attempts to cut parts of it for infrastructure projects.
The recent storming comes in the context of a political escalation led by Ben-Gvir against the cemetery, amid fears among the residents of Haifa and neighboring towns that the removal of the tent might be a preliminary step to broader measures that might affect al-Qassam's tomb itself, amidst official rhetoric promoting the removal of the cemetery on grounds of "enhancing sovereignty".
