Vandals have smashed gravestones at a Maronite Christian cemetery in a village near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, Israeli police say.
Police opened an investigation after receiving a report about damage to a number of graves at a Christian cemetery in the village of Kafr Bir’im, spokeswoman Luba Samri says, indicating that the tombstones were “broken and displaced.”
Kafr Bir’im is a derelict Palestinian Arab village whose inhabitants were evicted by the Israeli army in 1948, six months after Israel was established. The village was almost totally razed by the army in 1953.
Last year, Lebanese patriarch of the Maronite church Beshara Rai paid a historic trip to the Holy Land during which he visited Kafr Bir’im, pledging to help the displaced villagers return. There are some 11,400 Maronite Catholics living in Israel.
— AFP
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
