The State of Israel has reached new heights of hypocrisy.
Several years ago, during construction work on an emergency room at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon that would provide protection against rocket attacks, ancient graves were discovered at the work site.
All attempts to prevent unnecessarily harming them were in vain. Though chareidi representatives spoke out and waged an unbending campaign at the behest of gedolei Yisroel shlita, dozens of graves were unearthed in a high-speed operation conducted by the Antiquities Authority.
The wide-reaching chilul Hashem and the disrespect for the dead deeply pained chareidi Jewry in Eretz Yisroel and the Diaspora wherever battles are fought to prevent the destruction of Jewish graves.
Now the construction work on the reinforced emergency ward is being delayed because of an "ancient" sycamore tree growing in the middle of the site. The same figures who backed the disinterment of the graves, explaining that it was a matter of "pikuach nefesh" and public safety, are now holding up the project for several weeks to accommodate the tree, which is said to have "nostalgic" value.
