An unidentified attacker was caught on video Tuesday throwing firebombs at Kever Mordechai and Esther in the Iranian city of Hamada.
The site is revered as the tomb of the biblical Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai.
The Jewish holiday of Purim, held in February or March on the Gregorian calendar, commemorates Esther, a Jewish woman who became queen of Persia and was able to save its Jews from a plot that would have seen them all executed. Purim observances include reading from the Book of Esther.
The shrine that is regarded as the final resting place of Esther and Mordechai is located in Hamadan, which was a resort for the Persian royal family in Esther’s time. Hamadan now lies within the Kurdish region of Iran. It has been venerated by Jews, Christians, and Muslims for centuries, and became especially important to Iranian Jews who could not visit Jerusalem.
The structure has been renovated several times (including by rampaging Mongols in the 14th century). It has fallen into some disrepair since the Iranian theocratic revolution of 1979, including the destruction of exterior features with symbols, such as the Star of David, that the ayatollahs found objectionable.
The Tomb of Esther and Mordechai has witnessed political demonstrations and desecrations in recent times. The tomb was firebombed in May 2020, prompting criticism from the Simon Wiesenthal Center that Muslims once “safeguarded Jewish holy sites from Persia to Morocco,” but “all that has changed under the ayatollahs and the terrorist movements they have spawned.”
After the terrorists of Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, and Israel launched its military operation in Gaza, someone hung a Palestinian flag at the entrance to the Esther and Mordechai shrine. Israeli flags have also been burned outside the tomb since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Israel’s Ynet News and dissident Iranian news service Iran International reported on the Tuesday night arson attack, in which an unknown assailant threw Molotov cocktails at the entrance to the shrine and set it ablaze.
Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League said on Wednesday he was “deeply alarmed” by the video.
“The antisemitic targeting of a site associated with the Jewish tradition is unacceptable. The desecration of a holy site is a disgrace and should be condemned by the international community,” Greenblatt said.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman said on Wednesday the firebombing offered a dismal preview of how the Palestinians might be expected to handle non-Muslim holy sites and relics if they are given a state of their own.
“Biden’s two state delusion would give some of Judaism’s and Christianity’s most holy sites over to Palestinian control. This is what that would look like,” Friedman said.