Minister of Culture and Sport Miki Zohar and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu visited Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem (Nablus) overnight Wednesday.
Thousands of worshipers arrived at the site as part of the Samaria Local Council’s regular visits accompanied by the IDF. Among the visitors were MK Tzvi Sukkot and Hadassah International chairman and Medal of Valor recipient Lt. Col. (Res.) Moshe Levi.
Minister Zohar called for unity. “I chose to visit the tomb of Joseph the Righteous since we all see what’s happening in the nation of Israel. The nation is split, and Joseph was the one who unified the tribes of Israel. He chose to forgive everything his brothers did to him and saw peace in the nation of Israel as the most important thing.
In the end, unity in the nation of Israel is our strength as a nation to be strong and to defeat the many enemies that the nation of Israel unfortunately has. At this opportunity, I call on all of Israel to unity and mutual responsibility since we have no other land,” Zohar added.
He also called for a return to Joseph’s tomb. “It’s sad to see that to come here, we needed a lot of military forces to protect us even though the site belongs to the people of Israel. This is absurd, and we need to fix it.

Minister Amichai Eliyahu led the prayer for IDF soldiers at the site and stated: “It is a great privilege to pray at the tomb of Joseph the Righteous, the first Jewish minister in history. Joseph’s tomb is one of the most important Jewish heritage sites, coming here connects you with our nation’s deep roots. We pray that the day will come when the Israeli flag will again fly here through full security for the worshipers.”
Samaria Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan thanked the volunteers from the Samaria Regional Council’s Joseph’s Tomb Authority, the IDF soldiers, and the district commander Col. Shimon Sisu for their assistance in visiting Joseph’s tomb.
Dagan concluded: “We stand in Joseph’s tomb and receive strength from the Jewish nation’s roots. Despite everything, Joseph chose unity with his brothers, and we need to learn from him. There are ideological arguments, but a man must not lift a hand on his brother. There is a minority in the country trying to divide the nation because of an ideological argument, we learn from Joseph who, with all of the difficulty, connected with his brothers.”
Dagan also demanded to return to Joseph’s tomb: “When we come to Joseph’s tomb at night, on the one hand, the heart grows since we have the privilege to be here, but on the other hand, the heart shrivels up from the great pain that we need to come at night like robbers to one of the holiest places to the Jewish people. The nation of Israel expects the government to give the power to the defense establishment to return our hold on Joseph’s tomb. Only the nation of Israel can protect this holy site.”