Two Arab youths from eastern Jerusalem were detained for vandalizing tombstones of Israel Defense Forces soldiers at the Mount of Olives military cemetery, Ynet reported on Friday.
In video footage of the Oct. 2 incident obtained by the news outlet, the suspects, who were reportedly 13 years old, can be seen picking up a large rock and using it to destroy the headstones of three IDF graves.
The desecrated tombstones belonged to the graves of Command Sgt. Maj. Meir Shlomo Cohen (1947-1985), Sgt. Michael Sharvit (1950-1973), and the ashes of a soldier who served in the Red Army during World War II.
תיעוד שהגיע ל-ynet קצת לפני יום כיפור:
— רוני גרין שאולוב - Roni Green Shaulov (@Ronigreensha) October 11, 2024
שני נערים ממזרח ירושלים משחיתים ושוברים מצבות של חללי מלחמת יום כיפור בהר הזיתים
המצבות המושחתות בציוץ הבא: pic.twitter.com/ss3SnwhErx
The Israel Police tracked down both suspects early last week and arrested them, only to release them to five days of house arrest. Charges against the two have yet to be filed, according to the report.
“After the investigation, the case will be transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office and will be examined, as is customary in cases where the suspects are minors under the age of 14,” the Israel Police said in a statement.
Issachar Yered, who discovered the destruction when he attended a memorial ceremony for his brother at the cemetery, told Ynet: “Arabs simply went from tombstone to tombstone and broke them brutally. The fact that out of the tens of thousands of graves on the Mount of Olives, they chose to vandalize specifically the military plot, indicates that this is an act of terrorism for all intents and purposes, and not vandalism.
“I call on the Israel Police to arrest these terrorists today and to punish them to the full extent of the law so that the phenomenon of vandalizing the headstones on the Mount of Olives will stop today,” Yered said.
