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In our modern world, the State of Israel (along with Jews in general) has been singled out in
numerous ways for unwarranted condemnation, vilification, and treatment by those who harbor anti-Israel and/or
anti-Semitic biases, whether blatant or hidden. The media is daily filled with examples of this abhorrent behavior,
while too many of the supposedly good people of the earth continue to turn a blind eye to all of this. They just
wish that Israel and the Jewish people would disappear from the face of the earth in the vain hope that all the
problems of the world would vanish with them. What these people fail to understand – or remember - is that if
Israel and the Jewish people were to be eliminated, they would be the next ones to be attacked by the evildoers
in today’s world. History has repeatedly taught us this uncomfortable fact. As stared by George Santayana,
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Evil cannot be defeated by ignoring it or
by feeding it innocent victims.
The United Nations
The United Nations is composed of nations that might be considered to be united in only one
aspect, that of opposing the State of Israel! “An alien observing the United Nations' debates, reading its
resolutions, and walking its halls could well conclude that a principal purpose of the world body is to censure a
tiny country called Israel.
“Beginning in the late 1960's, the full weight of the UN was gradually but deliberately
turned against the country it had conceived by General Assembly resolution a mere two decades earlier. The campaign
to demonize and delegitimize Israel in every UN and international forum was initiated by the Arab states together
with the Soviet Union, and supported by what has become known as an "automatic majority" of Third World member
states.
“The campaign reached new strength in wake of the Arab oil embargo of 1973, when many
African states were pressured into severing relations with Israel. In 1975, following a steady drumbeat of
anti-Israel declarations pushed through the International Women's Year Conference in Mexico and then the
Organization of African Unity, the majority of the General Assembly adopted the {infamous} ‘Zionism is Racism’
resolution. At the same time, it instituted a series of related measures that together installed an infrastructure
of anti-Israel propaganda throughout the UN. . . .
“However, the legacy of 1975 remains fully intact: UN committees, annual UN resolutions,
an entire UN bureaucratic division, permanent UN exhibits in New York and Geneva headquarters -- all dedicated to a
relentless and virulent propaganda war against the Jewish state. Together, they have made the UN into
Ground Zero for today's new anti-Semitism, which is the irrational scapegoating of Israel with the true intended
target being Jews. [Emphasis mine] Not only do these anti-Israel measures incite hatred against Israelis
and Jews everywhere, but they have done not a thing to help the Palestinian situation. On the contrary: they give
strength and succor to extremists.
“Paradoxically, one of the greatest violators of the UN Charter's equality guarantee has
been the UN body charged with establishing and enforcing international human rights, the Human Rights Council.
“The UN's discrimination against Israel is not a minor infraction, nor a parochial
nuisance of interest solely to those concerned with equal rights of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Instead, the world body's obsession with censuring Israel at every turn directly affects all citizens of the
world, for it constitutes (a) a severe violation of the equality principles guaranteed by the UN Charter and
underlying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and (b) a significant obstacle to the UN's ability to carry
out its proper mandate.
- - -
“The countless anti-Israel resolutions and related debates consume an astonishing
proportion of the UN community's precious resources. . . . during the 61th Session of the General Assembly
(2006-2007), the time spent by ambassadors on enacting the 22nd anti-Israel resolution of the year was time not
spent on passing a single resolution on Sudan's genocide in Darfur. . . . Because every proposed UN resolution is
subjected to intensive review by various levels and branches of government, a direct result of the anti-Israel
texts is a crippling of the UN's ability to tackle the world's ills.
“UN bias against Israel is overt in bodies such as the General Assembly, which each year
passes some nineteen resolutions against Israel and none against most other member states, including the world's
most repressive regimes. The World Health Organization, meeting at its annual assembly in Geneva in 2005, passed
but one resolution against a specific country: Israel was charged with violating Palestinian rights to health.
Similarly, the International Labour Organization, at its annual 2005 conference in Geneva, carried only one major
country-specific report on its annual agenda -- a lengthy document charging Israel with violating the rights of
Palestinian workers.
“In the summer of 2004, the UN's International Court of Justice at The Hague issued an
advisory opinion that followed the script of a political campaign orchestrated by the PLO representative at the
UN . . . The busiest corridor of the Palais des Nations, the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, displays
no less than ten larger-than-life panels devoted to the Palestinian cause. The clear message, that the Palestinians
are the world's greatest human rights victim; the clear implication, that Israel is the world's greatest human
rights abuser.
“There are three special UN entities dedicated to the Palestinian cause. The oldest is the
Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other
Arabs of the Occupied Territories, created in 1968. In 1975, the General Assembly added the Committee on the
Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Supporting its work is the Division for Palestinian
Rights. Lodged within the UN Secretariat, the Division boasts a sixteen-member staff and a budget of millions,
which it devotes to the constant promotion of anti-Israel propaganda throughout the world.
- - -
“The anti-Israel apparatus within the UN, therefore, is of considerable magnitude, and
cripples the functioning of the organization. The overt bias practiced against one state undermines the UN's
credibility and integrity. . . .” (Ref. 1)
Unbelievably, the United States contributes to this anti-Israel bias through its financial
support of the United nations. One can only wonder whether withdrawal of American financial support would force the
United Nations to mend its ways.
UNESCO
“It cannot be ignored that {the} deadly Palestinian terrorist attack at the Temple
Mount comes {on Friday, 14 July 2017} less than two weeks after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed an anti-Israel resolution declaring Jerusalem’s Old City and its ancient walls
to be “occupied” and scandalously listed the areas as Palestinian heritage sites. [Emphasis mine]
“And the attack on the Mount – Judaism’s holiest site – comes one week after UNESCO
passed an anti-Israel resolution singling out another holy site. The UN body declared the Tomb of the Patriarchs in
Hebron – considered the second holiest site in Judaism after the Temple Mount – as another 'Palestinian' world
heritage site in danger. [Emphasis mine]
“The UNESCO vote would make Israel the ‘occupying power’ over the Temple Mount and Western
Wall and implies that the Palestinian Authority, which never had a state or legal entity in Jerusalem (or the West
Bank, for that matter) is the rightful authority over the ancient city of Jerusalem.
“In Friday’s attack, two Israeli Border Police Officers were murdered and a third was
wounded when three Palestinian terrorists opened fire at security forces near an entrance to the Temple Mount at
the Lions Gate and then fled into the Mount complex. The Palestinian assailants, reportedly carrying two rifles
and a pistol, were pursued by Israeli forces and were shot and killed as they tried to escape toward the mosques on
the Mount.
“The terrorists reportedly came from the Temple Mount and were walking toward the Lions
Gate exit when they attacked Israeli officers near the gate.
“{in still another anti-Israel/anti-Semitic rewrite of historical fact,} the Lions Gate is
included among the ancient walls declared by UNESCO as ‘occupied’ by Israel and the Temple Mount is located within
Jerusalem’s Old City that was the focus of the UN’s decision.
- - -
“. . . it is obvious that this was a premeditated attack. If the Temple Mount area had been
the intended target, then the attack just hit one of the most politically and religiously sensitive sites in the
world.
”Attacks on the mount are rare, especially attacks utilizing guns. In 2015, the outlawed
Islamic Movement mobilized Arab youth in an attempt to smuggle fire bombs, pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails and stones
on to the site to attack Jews there. Riots broke out on the Mount in October 1990, ushering in the First Intifada,
and the Second Intifada kicked off in September 2000 after the Palestinians used a visit to the Temple Mount by
Ariel Sharon as a pretense to launch an orchestrated terrorist campaign after bolting U.S.-brokered talks aimed at
creating a Palestinian state.
“Now one week after UNESCO’s Hebron decision and ten days after its vote on Jerusalem’s Old
City and walls, a rare attack takes place on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City at the Lions Gate, a critical
part of Jerusalem’s ancient walls. (Ref. 2) Unrelated
coincidence? – I think not!
The Temple Mount and Other Jewish Holy Sites
In the past several years, the Temple Mount and Jerusalem have assumed major importance in
the Palestinian incitements to violence and in the World’s increasing implementation of a set of double standards
with regard to Israel and the Muslim world, particularly as it relates to the ongoing and escalating conflict
between the Palestinians and Israel. Muslims and Palestinians have put forth a variety of lies about Jewish
attachments to the Holy City and the Holy Mountain and much of the world has either remained silent when presented
with these blatant fabrications and distortions or they have bought into the untruths. To these anti-Semites,
anti-Israel bigots and/or pliant dupes, the Muslim/Palestinian narrative, demonstrably a set of untruths
without factual basis, is always accepted, while the Jewish/Israel narrative, backed up by historical and
archaeological fact, is always rejected.
“Jerusalem assumed significance as an Islamic holy site during the rule of the Umayyads
(661-750 CE). Facing challenge . . . from . . . a rebel who controlled Mecca, the Syrian-based Caliph . . . sought
to consolidate his leadership by establishing a place of worship for his followers in Jerusalem in place of Mecca.
He built the Dome of the Rock . . . in 688-91 CE on the spot where the Jewish Temples had stood.
“. . . in 715 CE, the Umayyads built another mosque on the Temple Mount which they named
the Masjid al Aqsa (The Furthest Mosque) to connote the ‘furthest mosque’ alluded to in the Quran (17:1). This was
the metaphorical spot from which Mohammed was said to have ascended to heaven in a vision (referred to in Arabic as
the Mi’raj) after a night journey from Mecca (the Isra) on a winged steed named Al Buraq.
“Although the Quran never mentions Jerusalem or the Temple Mount [Emphasis
mine], the designation of a concrete site to what had been until then just a figurative name provided Muslims with a
new religious focus. Several Qur'anic verses were subsequently construed to be obliquely referring to
Jerusalem. The Temple Mount was renamed by Muslims al Haram al Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary. [Emphasis
mine]
“Following the end of Umayyad rule in 750 CE, Muslim interest in Jerusalem faded until the
Crusaders took over in the 12th century CE. Kurdish leader Saladin ,. . . reconquered Jerusalem in 1187,
re-establishing Muslim rule there and embarking on a building campaign, which continued under his descendants, the
Ayyubids. During Ayyubid rule, there were periods when Jerusalem and its holy sites were ceded to the Christian
Crusaders, who built churches on the Temple Mount. Perhaps in reaction to Crusader conquests, Jerusalem {only
then} became established in Muslim consciousness as the third holiest city in Islam, after Mecca and
Medina. Even so, worship at this holy site was followed by long periods of Muslim neglect and
disinterest. [Emphasis mine]
“The Western Wall, where Jews gathered to pray since the Ottoman conquest at the beginning
of the 16th century, held little interest or significance for Muslims until the period of the British Mandate.
Following the British government’s Balfour Declaration in 1917 which supported the establishment of a national home
for the Jewish people in Palestine, the Western Wall began to assume national as well as religious significance for
Zionists and Jews began gathering there in larger numbers. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al Husseini, used
the Wall as a focal point for his anti-Zionist campaigns. He incited Muslims by proclaiming the Western Wall a holy
Muslim site which Jews were trying to seize. The Western Wall, after having been ignored for centuries, was
suddenly declared the spot to which Mohammed had tied his winged steed during his Night Journey. The Wall was
renamed Al Buraq after the horse. (Before this point, there had been several sites mentioned as the place where
Muhammed had tethered his steed, including the eastern wall and the southern wall, but never the western wall.)
Muslim riots in 1929 against Jewish worshipers at the Wall were instigated by the claim that Jewish prayer
endangered the mosques holy to Islam. [Emphasis mine] {Whenever the Muslims wanted to object to
Jews or Christians having any rights or claims, they simply made up a narrative and declared it be the truth,
regardless of the fact that that these claims had absolutely no basis in fact and were/are without historical and/or
archaeological basis!}
“While Jews were barred from entering and praying at their holy sites during
Jordanian rule (1948-67), Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were largely ignored as important Muslim holy sites. But
when Israel gained control of eastern Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in 1967, the area once again became a focal
point for Muslim religious fervor and incitement. [Emphasis mine] Despite the fact that Israeli authorities
turned control of the Temple Mount over to the Jordanian Islamic Waqf as a gesture of peace, Muslims have followed
the example set by Haj Amin al Husseini and have attempted to use the Temple Mount as a pretext to gain world
support against Jewish authority over Jerusalem. {Today, it appears that they may be succeeding as the U.N. and
much of the anti-Israel world rubber stamp Muslim distortions and demands.}
“During Jordan's 19-year occupation of eastern Jerusalem (1948-1967), Jewish holy places
were desecrated, vandalized and destroyed. Jews were denied access to their holy sites (including the Western Wall
and Temple Mount area) in violation of Article 8 of the 1949 Israeli-Jordanian Armistice Agreement. Christian
churches were prohibited from buying property in Jerusalem and Christian religious organizations were restricted
from owning property near Holy places.
“Upon Israel's 1967 capture of eastern Jerusalem containing Judaism's holiest sites,
Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan . . .
- - -
“. . . handed administrative control over the Temple Mount to Jordan's Islamic Waqf, and
[prohibited}Jews from holding prayer services there. At the same time, Israel retained sovereignty and security control of the
area and permitted non-Muslims, including Jews, to visit the site. This became the ‘status quo'. on the Temple
Mount.
- - -
“Israel's Ministry of Religious Affairs, bowing to the desires of the Muslim Waqf, has
steadfastly maintained the status quo prohibiting Jewish prayer at the site. The Israeli Supreme Court, as well,
while acknowledging that Jews have the legal right to access and worship on the Temple Mount, has declined to alter
the de facto ban on Jewish prayer there for fear that this would pose a security risk and could ignite a religious
war.
- - -
“Internal Muslim struggles for influence in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount compound have
been steadily increasing while Jordan's role as the protector of Islamic interests in Jerusalem is challenged by
various Palestinian and Islamist forces. . .
“These Islamic groups all engage in the anti-Israel libels, hate rhetoric and
incitement that have spawned violent intifadas and deadly attacks against civilians in Jerusalem. [Emphasis
mine] . . .
- - -
“In 2013, an agreement was signed between the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas and
Jordan's King Abdallah II, re-affirming the Jordanian king as the official ‘custodian’ of Muslim holy sites in
Jerusalem, especially the Temple Mount.
“The {Israeli} 1967 Protection of Holy Places Law mandates prior agreement from the
Ministry of Religious Affairs or Ministry of Education and Culture in order to carry out excavations in or near a
holy site. A 1978 Antiquities Law stipulates that where such a site is used for religious reasons, paving,
quarrying, and interment and other actions can only be carried out with the written agreement of the Director of the
Department of Antiquities.
“The Muslim Waqf, however, consistently refuses to recognize Israeli sovereignty or the
laws governing holy sites. Attempting to change the status quo of the Temple Mount, the Waqf has repeatedly
flouted these laws with excavations and construction of new mosques. Many believe that under the guise of
renovations on the Temple Mount, the Waqf is deliberately destroying archeological evidence of the site's Jewish
history. [Emphasis mine]
- - -
“The Israeli authorities repeatedly failed to enforce the antiquity laws or to stop the
Waqf's unauthorized excavations because they felt it would be harmful to Arab-Israeli relations. This prompted a
lawsuit against both the Waqf and Israeli authorities by ‘The Temple Mount Faithful,’ an Israeli group seeking to
rebuild a third Jewish temple on the site of the First and Second Temples. The Supreme Court ruled that the
Waqf had indeed violated Israel's antiquities laws on 35 occasions, causing irreparable damage or destruction to
antiquities, [Emphasis mine] but refused to intervene because of political sensitivities and the
understanding that the laws would be enforced appropriately in the future.
“But in 1996, the Waqf embarked on the conversion of the area under the southeastern corner
of the Temple Mount — Solomon's Stables and the eastern Hulda Gate — into what was to be the largest mosque in the
country with a capacity of 7-10,000. Calling it the Marwani mosque, the Waqf claimed that this was simply a
renovation of a pre-existing mosque, although archeologists stated that there was no evidence for this. Operating
without any archeological oversight and with no permits, the Waqf surreptitiously brought in heavy machinery and
proceeded to construct . . . Not wanting to escalate the situation, Israel's Labor government allowed the Waqf to
complete its work and open the mosque. {NOTE: Israel promulgates rational rules and laws to protect the
religiously and historically sensitive area of the Temple Mount and the Palestinians ignore the rules and laws in
order to hide the truth and to support their lies about the Temple Mount. The world pays no
attention.}
“Over the next few years, the Waqf continued with its unilateral, unapproved construction
and inaugurated a new mosque, called al Aqsa al Qadima. This incorporated the western Hulda gate double passageway
— the only complete passageway remaining from the time of the Second Temple.
“In 1999, after receiving approval to open an emergency exit in the Marwani mosque, the
Waqf used bulldozers to expand the Solomon's Stable mosque and excavate a massive opening (18,000 square feet by
36 feet). . . ‘For the first time since 1967, a fleet of dozens of bulldozers and trucks was put to work on the
Temple Mount, and 6,000 tons of earth from the Mount was dug up and removed.’ Workers dumped this rubble in the
Kidron Valley. {It was condemned as} ‘an archeological crime’ and ‘an assault on Jewish history.’
“. . . important artifacts from the First and Second Temples were found in this rubble,
and in 2004, a project to sift the dumped material was initiated. . . archeologists and volunteers have uncovered
thousands of rare and important artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods, as well as from Roman, Byzantine,
Ottoman and Early Arab periods. Among the finds are pottery shards, a conical stone seal, an arrowhead. and a rare
bulla, all dating to the First Temple period, and hundreds of opus sectile stone tiles dating to the Second Temple
period. {My wife and I have taken part in this sifting project. And still, the world remains silent to this
desecration and destruction at one of the most important religious sites in the world!}
“The Waqf cut off all access to the Israeli Antiquities Authority from the Temple Mount in
2000. . . Despite numerous legal petitions . . . to halt the Waqf's illegal construction, . . . the Supreme Court
continued in its refusal to intervene.
“In the summer of 2007, the Waqf began to dig a deep trench to replace old electric
cables . . . apparently damaging what was later found to be structures dating to the First and Second Temples.
- - -
“The reluctance to enforce Israel's laws protecting antiquities and evidence of its Jewish
heritage is rooted in the desire to prevent Arab violence and rioting. {Contrast Israel’s restrained behavior
with that of Palestinian and Muslim calls to riot and murder whenever the Islamic radicals want to stir up unrest
with the charge that the “status quo” is being threatened.}
{Muslim and Palestinian leaders rewrite history to suit their political interests.
Truth has no relevance to these revisionists. But what has become even worse is the failure of the world to call out
these liars. Instead, many in the world simply ignore historical fact and accept these lies. What Israel
and Jews have to say is ignored.} In 1924, the Supreme Moslem Council published an English-language tourist guide
to the Temple Mount entitled "A Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif," which stated:
‘The site is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest times.
Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal
belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.’
“But Muslim acknowledgement of a Jewish historic bond to this holy site changed following
Israel’s victory in the 1967 war, when Jerusalem came under Israel’s control. Palestinian and Muslim leaders began
to alter their line. While the stories they recount differ from one to another, they are consistent in their
attempt to erase the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and indeed all of Israel.
[Emphasis mine]
- - -
“Ambassador Dennis Ross, who shaped U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process as
Special Middle East Coordinator and who presided over President Clinton's failed Israeli-Palestinian peace summit at
Camp David in 2000, reported that Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat raised only one idea at the Camp David
talks – namely, to deny the core of the Jewish faith by claiming that the Temple had never existed in Jerusalem, but
in Nablus. [Emphasis mine]
- - -
“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, bolstered by the West as a moderate, similarly denies
that a Jewish Temple existed on the Temple Mount. . .
- - -
“The attempt to erase the Jewish connection to Israel is not limited to the
Palestinians. . . {T}his denial has caught on in the Arab and Muslim world . . .
- - -
“{For example,} On December 30, 1973, King Feisal of Saudi Arabia proclaimed on Radio
Riyadh
“The Jews have no connection whatsoever with Jerusalem and have no sacraments there. They
claim that the Temple of Solomon is there...The Temple of Solomon does not exist in Jerusalem...Therefore the Jews
have no connection or right to have any presence in Jerusalem, or any authority there.
- - -
“Historical revisionism has become part and parcel of Palestinian-Authority policy. The
libel that Israel fabricated a Jewish history and connection to Jerusalem holy sites for political purposes is
promoted by government officials and through Palestinian Authority-run newspapers and programs on state-run
television. . .
- - -
“It has become standard for the Palestinian media and Palestinian leaders to refer to the
Jewish Temples as ‘alleged’ . . .
In this way, the Palestinians (and Muslims) are indoctrinated to believe that Jewish
history and connections to Judaism's holy sites are bogus, fabricated as a ploy to damage Palestinian and Muslim
interests.
“On Nov. 5, 2014, the PLO's Department of National Affairs issued a warning to journalists
not to use the term ‘Temple Mount’ when describing the contested holy site. The media advisory admonished:
“All international media representatives are advised to adhere to international law and
correct any other existing terminology used. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is not a disputed territory and all other
terms, therefore, are null and void. {The PLO apparently believes that repeating a lie often enough will
result in the lie being accepted as truth.}
- - -
“While Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas continued to bypass direct negotiations
with Israel by seeking recognition of a Palestinian state through a unilateral declaration of independence at {the}
UN, {he} concomitantly employed historical revisionism to wage war on Judaism's connection to Jerusalem through
UNESCO, the first UN body to formally accept ‘Palestine’ as a member state.
- - -
“In April 2016, a resolution on Jerusalem drafted on behalf of the Palestinians by seven
Muslim countries was adopted by the Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO). The resolution essentially erased the Temple Mount's Jewish history, referring to it only as
‘al-Aksa Mosque/al-Haram al Sharif and its surroundings’ and to the Western Wall as the ‘al-Buraq Plaza.’ It
entered the realm of conspiracy theories [Emphasis mine] by absurdly accusing Israel of Judaizing Jerusalem
through the ‘planting of fake Jewish graves’ in Muslim cemeteries and ‘the conversion of many Islamic and Byzantine
remains into the so-called Jewish ritual baths or into Jewish prayer places.’ And it condemned Israel for exercising
security measures on the Temple Mount, demanded that Israel cease its own excavations in eastern Jerusalem as well
as any oversight of the Waqf's construction on the Temple Mount. {And what was the response of the supposedly
rational elements in the world? SILENCE!}
“Three months later, in July 2016, the Palestinians, together with Jordan, introduced a
resolution at UNESCO again challenging Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount and calling for a return of
the Temple Mount to its alleged 'historic' status quo before 1967 when Jordan occupied eastern Jerusalem.
“Although voting on this draft resolution was postponed, another UNESCO resolution was
passed on behalf of the Palestinians in October 2016, calling for the Waqf's ‘exclusive authority on Al-Aqsa
Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif’ and using only Muslim terms to describe the Temple Mount compound. It called for an
immediate end to all Israeli construction in the Jewish Quarter and Western Wall plaza while at the same time
demanding that unlimited Waqf construction take place without any restriction or oversight by the antiquities
authority. {Again, the silence of the supposedly rational elements in the world was deafening! Reality had
given way to fantasy.}
“Jordan's Press Association proclaimed that the resolution ‘was a result of joint efforts
between the Jordanian and Palestinian political leaderships’ and praised the resolution for ‘clarifying that there
are no Jewish religious connections to Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif’ and affirming ‘Muslims' full right over
the historical and religious site.’
“In December 2016, the Palestinians initiated and succeeded in having the UN
Security Council adopt a controversial resolution (UNSC 2334) that labeled the Temple Mount, Western Wall, Old City,
Jewish quarter and Jewish holy sites in eastern Jerusalem that Israel captured in 1967 ‘Palestinian
territory.’ [Emphasis mine] {By this action, the world admitted that it had lost its senses and all
connections to reality. Black was now white and all fact was now fiction. Truth had lost all meaning. Fairness and
even-handedness in dealing with the Israel-Muslim were out the window. The world had accepted the Palestinian/Muslim
lies and had denied the truths about Israel and Judaism.}
“{Continuing the debacle,} In May 2017, UNESCO's executive board passed a resolution . . .
referring to Israel as an ‘occupying power’ in Jerusalem, declaring Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem ‘null and
void,’ to be rescinded, and condemning all archeological excavations in the Old City under the auspices of the
Israeli Antiquities Authority, as well as any works and maintenance or construction projects under Israeli
authorities in and around the Old City.
- - -
“Even while they attempt to change the status quo of the Temple Mount, Muslim leaders
oppose any Jewish effort to visit, investigate, excavate, repair, or renovate the area. From the 1920's onward,
Arab leaders have repeatedly incited anti-Jewish violence and jihad in the name of ‘defending’ Muslim holy sites,
a pretense for jihad in the name of Islam.
“In September 1928, a small group of Jews erected . . . a divider to separate men and women
during prayers . . . for Yom Kippur prayers at the Western Wall. The British forcibly dismantled the divider, but
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al Husseini used this incident as a pretext to incite Muslims. He accused the Jews
of attempting to seize Muslim holy sites, including the al Aqsa Mosque.
“A virulent propaganda campaign calling for jihad against the Jews resulted in the frequent
beating and stoning of Jews worshipping at the Wall and culminated in widespread, murderous riots across Palestine
in August 1929. ‘Defend the Holy Places’ became the battle cry.
“. . . After Israel gained control of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, large-scale
archaeological expeditions near the Western Wall area were begun . . . They uncovered layers of history over 2000
years — from the First Temple period to Ottoman times– which were preserved and displayed. Despite the valuable
historical finds — several of them Muslim, they were met by resistance and often violent efforts to obstruct Israeli
excavations under the guise of Israeli ‘aggression’ toward Muslim holy sites.
“An ongoing tunnel project to explore the length of the Western Wall . . . exposed the
Herodian walls and a complex of subterranean vaulted spaces that extend along it with dramatic archeological
finds — a Herodian promenade alongside the Mount, cisterns, ancient masonry, Muslim construction, and an ancient
Hasmonean aqueduct. . . . {T}he area was open to the public in 1987. Over the next nine years, several attempts were
made by Israel's Religious Affairs Ministry to open a second exit at the north end of the Hasmonean aqueduct/tunnel
at the ground level near (but not within) the Temple Mount so that visitors would not have to retrace their steps
through the narrow tunnel. These attempts were met by riots incited by Waqf leaders who called upon Arabs to defend
their holy sites, falsely claiming that the Jews were trying to undermine Muslim shrines.
“In 1993, Israeli authorities started to construct an exit tunnel and staircase from the
Hasmonean tunnel that exited on the Via Dolorosa — a considerable distance (more than 200 meters) from the Al Aqsa
Mosque. . . Israel had negotiated with the Waqf, accepting limited Muslim worship in Solomon's Stables in exchange
for Waqf acceptance of the new doorway. Nevertheless, Palestinian reaction was swift and violent, with Waqf members
joining in.
“PA leader Yasir Arafat called upon Palestinians to protest this ‘big crime against our
religious and holy places.’ {A} Palestinian Council member . . . fabricated on television that ‘the Israelis...
announced that they will open this tunnel in order to build ... a new temple now in the place of the Al-Aqsa
Mosque.’ The Palestinian Authority orchestrated violent protests, reminiscent of those in 1929. For the first time,
PA police fired upon Israeli soldiers. Hundreds of people — both Israeli and Palestinian were killed or
wounded.
“When Knesset member Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount (but none of the mosques there)
in September 2000, Arafat used it as a pretext to launch a violent and bloody intifada against Israel that lasted
for years and in which thousands were killed or maimed.
- - -
“As greater numbers of Jews attempt to visit the Temple Mount, Palestinian imams and
leaders incite their followers by insisting that Israel is planning to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque and build a Temple
in its place. . .
- - -
“Hamas official {had even} urged Palestinians to launch rockets toward Jewish targets in
Jerusalem in response to Jews visiting the Temple Mount. . . .
- - -
"In the fall of 2014, a renewed campaign by Palestinian President Abbas and his Fatah
movement promoted ‘defending the Al Aqsa compound by all means.’ Public speeches by the president, broadcasts on
PA TV, and Fatah's Facebook page encouraged the use of violence to protect Muslim holy sites from impending danger
at the hands of Jewish visitors. The result? Two terrorist attacks by Palestinians from eastern Jerusalem who rammed
their cars into crowds of pedestrians at public transportation stations. These attacks, which resulted in the deaths
of three and the injuries of many more, occurred within two weeks of each other (Oct. 22-Nov. 5).
- - -
“In September 2015, PA President Mahmoud Abbas again trotted out the ‘defend Al Aqsa’
battle cry to foment a new intifada/wave of violence against Israeli civilians. Abbas was televised on official
Palestinian Authority TV (and on his website) at a meeting for ‘activists for the defense of the Noble Sanctuary’
blessing {the} group for their actions harassing non-Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount . . . , blessing ‘every
drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem,’ and promising that every ‘shahid’ (Palestinian language for a
terrorist killed or wounded in action) would be rewarded by Allah. He continued:
“The Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is ours, and they have no
right to defile them with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to
protect Jerusalem.
"A nearly year-long wave of violence against Israelis ensued, with stabbing attacks, car
rammings and murders of civilians. This was encouraged by . . . incitement on Fatah and Palestinian Authority social
media and on PA-state run television, as well as on the radical Hamas media.
- - -
“The Palestinians, together with the Muslim world, are waging a war on several
battlefronts to separate Jews from Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, the heartland of Judaism. By denying any Jewish
connection, claiming Judaism's holiest places as Muslim, inciting violent jihad with the false pretext that Jews are
trying to destroy Muslim shrines, and insisting the non-Muslim world accept all of this as truth, they hope to
win.” [Emphasis mine] (Ref. 3)
Many of the supposedly fair-minded and civilized nations and peoples of the world have
either largely remained silent or supported the Palestinians and Muslim elements who have been conducting their
campaign of disinformation, lies, historical revisionism, outright violence against Israel and their blatantly false
denial of the Jewish people’s thousands of years’ connection to the Land of Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and
other holy sites in the Land of Israel. These same nations and peoples have turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the
legitimate rights and claims of Israel, based on historical fact, archaeological evidence, the norms of
international law, and common decency - one set of rules for the Palestinians and Muslims and another set of
rules for Jews and Israel.
Metal Detectors at the Temple Mount
Following the murder of two Druze Israeli Border Police Officers and the wounding of a
third, “Muslims {were} protesting outside the Temple Mount all week long, most of them refusing to
enter the compound as long as there {were} metal detectors installed at the entrances.
- - -
“. . . it is suspected that they had assistance from some Waqf officials on the Temple
Mount.
“The Waqf . . . called for all mosques in Jerusalem to be shut down on {the following}
Friday, and for all Muslims to come to the street outside the Temple Mount to pray and protest the metal
detectors. (Ref. 4)
Why is it that Jews and other non-Muslims who ascend the Temple Mount can peacefully go
through metal detectors, but Muslims riot when encountering the same security procedure? Why is it that visitors to
the Western Wall, Jew and non-Jew, must pass through metal detectors to access the site but Muslim visitors to the
Temple Mount object to being subjected to the same security procedure? Why does one set of security rules apply to
all non-Muslims while a different set of security rules applies to Muslims? The procedures here are purely security
related and have nothing to do with religion. The Muslim religion (and the Koran) says nothing about being subjected
to security precautions to prevent terrorism and murder. Metal detectors are used throughout the world, including
virtually every Muslim country. But if Israel attempts to do the same at the Muslim entrance to the Temple Mount,
it’s a no-no! One set of rules for every nation in the world - a different set of rules for
Israel!
“. . . the perpetrators of the {Temple Mount entrance} attack came directly from the Temple
Mount with weapons they had smuggled there that same morning. And it is not as if metal detectors and security
cameras are not routinely used everywhere -- from airports to religious sites -- to avoid such attacks. Visitors to
the Western Wall pass through metal detectors, as do visitors to Mecca.
“But this was simply another pretext for Abbas and his Fatah party to once again sound
their battle cry ‘Defend Al Aqsa’, as they've done before and as did their predecessors before them -- to great
effect. Their calls for violent jihad on the basis of the bogus allegation that Jews are trying to destroy or take
over Muslim holy sites has resulted in the murders and maiming of hundreds of Israelis, Jews and foreign
visitors.
“The last time Abbas used this pretext, calling on Muslims to defend their holy sites from
Jews who would ‘defile’ the site with ‘their filthy feet’, the result was a wave of violence . . . in which dozens
of innocents were killed and hundreds more wounded. Thus, the installation of metal detectors provided a new excuse
to re-invigorate anti-Israel violence. But after just a week of riling up the masses with calls to defend Muslim
holy sites (a week in which three people at a Shabbat meal were slaughtered in a bloody terror attack inspired by
the incitement), Abbas and his cohorts {were} not yet ready to stop, never mind the offending metal detectors and
cameras {were} removed. . . {T}hey continue to accuse Israel of taking steps to change the status quo and Abbas, as
well as Hamas,{were}calling for a ‘Day of Rage’ {i.e., increased violence} . . .”
(Ref. 5)
Check Points
“Critics of Israel claim Israel’s security checkpoints ‘restrict’ and ‘humiliate’
Palestinian travelers. They say the checkpoints force Palestinians to wait in long lines and disrupt their lives.
They even say the existence of the checkpoints proves Israel still ‘occupies’ the territories.
“There’s one more fact about the checkpoints I should mention, because Israel’s critics
never do: The checkpoints save lives. Many lives. [Emphasis mine]
“Last week, a car with six Palestinian Arab passengers approached the Mizmoriya checkpoint,
which is situated between the Har Homa neighborhood of southern Jerusalem and the nearby Palestinian
Authority-controlled city of Bethlehem.
“Not every Arab car that approaches an Israeli checkpoint is stopped or searched. Israeli
soldiers are trained to look for suspicious signs. An alert soldier noticed the front license plate of the car at
the Mizmoriya checkpoint didn’t match its rear license plate. So they stopped the car.
“The Obama administration used to claim that such stop-and-search activities were
‘humiliating’ to the Palestinians. President Obama repeatedly accused Israel of failing to respect the Palestinians’
‘dignity.’ Former U.S. envoy Dennis Ross has claimed that Israel ‘controls the movement’ of Palestinians and
therefore is still guilty of ‘occupying’ them (even though the PA, not Israel, rules 98 percent of the
Palestinian Arabs [Emphasis mine]).
“{Fortunately,} the soldiers at the Mizmoriya checkpoint decided to ‘control the movement’
of those six Palestinians for a few minutes last week. Because guess what they found hidden in the car?
“Knives. Stun grenades. Materials for making firebombs.
“Imagine for a moment if Israel had surrendered to the carping and whining of its critics
around the world, and those soldiers didn’t ‘control the movement’ of those six Arab terrorists. What would have
been the result? Those knives and firebombs would have been used to stab and burn Jews.
“Of course none of this was reported in The New York Times or on CNN. Palestinian terrorist
attacks barely attract the attention of the international news media; attempted attacks receive no attention
whatsoever.
“The Israeli media, however, does report them. Israeli media coverage of the Mizmoriya
interception mentioned that the previous week, another Palestinian terrorist was caught en route to an attack. At a
different checkpoint near Bethlehem, an Arab woman with a knife was apprehended. The 36-year-old woman, a resident
of the PA-ruled town of Yatta (near Hebron), confessed she was on her way to Jerusalem to stab Jews.
“The six terrorists in the car, and the stabber from Yatta, may have felt ‘humiliated’ that
they were searched at Israeli checkpoints. Perhaps their ‘dignity’ was offended that Israel was ‘controlling their
movement.’ Too bad. It’s a small price to pay for keeping everyone else safe.
“Yes, it’s a shame that peaceful, law-abiding Palestinians have to be inconvenienced by
waiting in line just because a minority of Palestinians likes to stab and burn Jews.
“It’s also a shame that peaceful, law-abiding citizens of every country have to wait on
line at security checkpoints in every airport in the world, just because there are terrorists who like to hijack and
blow up planes.
“But that’s the world we live in. Israel does not have to apologize for trying to survive
in it.” (Ref. 6)
It should be noted and appreciated that nearly 100% of Arab terrorist attacks in
Israel are perpetrated by “Palestinian” Arabs from either the West Bank or from the Gaza Strip. A miniscule number
of terrorist acts are committed by Israeli-Arabs. Anywhere else in world, checkpoints at national borders
and elsewhere are the norm. Checkpoints at airports, both international and domestic, throughout the world are
standard. Only in Israel are checkpoints that thwart terrorists called “humiliating” and “degrading” - one
set of rules for the rest of the world and a different set of rules for Israel!
”Settlements”
“The US considers Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem to be
illegitimate – even though international law allows Israel to build in the disputed territories it took control
of in a defensive war in 1967.” (Ref. 7)
The United States defeated Spain at the end of the 19th century and took possession of the
Philippines, Guam and Cuba – all legally under international law and no one objected. Guam is still under the
possession of the United States. But let Israel defeat the Arab nations of the Middle East and repossess its
ancient lands of Judea and Samaria and the world is up in arms. Possession of territory conquered in a defensive
war is recognized as legal under international law. In 1967, Israel, took posession of Judea, Samaria and Gaza from
Jordan and Egypt, who had taken these territories by aggression against a legitimate and independent nation in 1948.
Jordan and Egypt, as aggressive occupiers of foreign land, controlled the captured territories for
17 years without making the territories an independent nation and without allowing the Muslim residents to become
citizens of their countries.
Israel, by allowing its citizens to build and live in its ancient land, recaptured from two
foreign occupying countries, has simply been doing what what every other nation is allowed to do under international
law. The "settlements" are not illegal - they are cities and towns in the ancient Land of Israel. - Still one more
example of one set of rules for the world and a different set of rules for Israel!
”Palestinians” are Treated One Way and Israel Another Way
“It’s high time for the international community to wake up to certain Palestinian realities
that many would rather avoid.
“Recent events in the region, including the brutal killing of two Israeli policemen and
three members of an Israeli family, as well as the wild conspiracy stories circulated in regard to the Temple Mount
in Jerusalem, only underscore the point.
- - -
“For too many observers of the region . . . their obsession with Israel and what it should
(and should not) do blinds them to the other side of the equation—what the Palestinians should (and should not)
do.
- - -
“. . . how can there be serious talk of a two-state accord when the Palestinians are
divided between the West Bank and Gaza?
“As a reminder, when Israel withdrew all of its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005,
it gave the residents of Gaza the first chance in history to govern themselves, something no one else, not the
Egyptians or any other occupiers, ever even remotely considered.
“What happened? By 2007, Hamas, labeled by both the United States and the European Union a
terrorist organization, was in power, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) was physically ejected. Since then, PA
President Abbas has never, not once, visited Gaza. So all this talk today about two states {is an exercise in pure
fantasy.}
- - -
“. . . whenever we hear about Gaza, we inevitably hear about ‘refugee camps.’ But, pray
tell, why are there refugee camps in Gaza?
"It’s been 12 years since Israel left the coastal strip. What is the purpose of maintaining
these camps, which have only served to perpetuate the notion, generation after generation, of a displaced people
hankering for their ‘return’. Return to where? To Israel, presumably, and that would mean the end of the Jewish
state.
“. . . The Palestinians are not the first refugee population in the world, far from it,
nor, incidentally, are they the only refugee population from the Arab-Israeli conflict. Nearly a million Jews were
forcibly evicted from their homes in Arab countries, but all of them resettled elsewhere rather than opt to languish
in refugee camps ad infinitum. {Why does the world obsess about “refugees” from a war that occurred 70 years ago,
but not about the 1 million Jews from the same war? Why are the “Palestinian refugees” the only ones maintained by
the U.N year after year for 70 years? Why are ‘“Palestinian refugees” treated differently than any other
refugees?}
“. . . the Palestinians . . . are the first to be designated by the UN as ‘refugees in
perpetuity,’ handing the title to their children and their children’s children. How long must this unique status on
the planet go on? Shouldn’t there be some statute of limitation in order to begin to change the mindset and put a
halt to these camps, which serve as incubators of hatred and revenge?
- - -
“. . . why doesn’t the international community show more backbone in insisting that
Palestinians take responsibility for their own behavior? {The international community certainly castigates Israel
almost daily for what it considers Israel’s bad behavior.}
“For example, the Palestinians could have had a state on more than one occasion between
1947 and 2017, yet they rejected each opportunity. That’s not an opinion, but a fact.
“But, of course, the price to be paid was recognition of Israel as a sovereign nation
alongside the Palestinian state, a price they have been unwilling to pay. {The “Palestinians” likely also
understand that they cannot survive as an independent state.}
“. . . while Israel has {been willing} to accept Palestinian nationalism, there has been
no reciprocal movement on the Palestinian side to accept Jewish self-determination as its complement.
- - -
“{There are those who claim} that Jews are ‘outsiders,’ ‘interlopers,’ ‘colonialists,’ and
‘crusaders’ . . . Jews are indigenous to the region. The age-old link between the Jewish people and the land
is documented and irrefutable. [Emphasis mine] {On the other hand, evidence shows that many, if not most
“Palestinians” are Arabs who migrated to Palestine following the destruction of the Second Temple some 2,000 years
ago. Many of these Arabs came to Palestine when Jewish returnees created economic opportunities for these Arabs that
they did not have in the Arab lands from which they came.}
“{Far} too many countries are willing to go along with {the} trumped-up Palestine/Arab
narrative, as evidenced, for instance, by recent votes at the UNESCO Executive Board and its World Heritage
Committee.
“To deny the Jewish link to Jerusalem is tantamount to denying the Muslim link to Mecca or
the Catholic link to Rome. . . Indulging the Palestinians in their fanciful history allows them to live in an
alternate universe, one where Israel doesn’t exist, or, if it does, is only a ‘temporary and illegitimate'
phenomenon.
“. . . the world should make it clear: Terrorism is terrorism is terrorism. {Terrorism
committed against Israel is not resistance to “occupation” or acts of “freedom fighters” – it is terrorism}
“. . .when it comes to attacks against Israelis, the language often changes, sometime
subtly, other times overtly. There can be a hint of rationalization here, an immediate call for Israeli restraint
there. Phrases like ‘cycles of violence’ appear, implying that no one really knows, or cares, who started the
process, or that this is really just a Hatfield-McCoy spat without any distinction between the two sides.
“{But} there must always be a clear distinction between the fireman and the arsonist, the
democrat and the despot, as there is in Europe and elsewhere when such outrages occur. . .”
(Ref. 8)
The World accepts Palestinian Lies and Ignores Truths About Israel
A major obstacle to achieving peace in the Middle East has been the continuing Muslim denial
of Judaism's historical and religious ties to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and other sites in Israel. The enlistment
of international bodies to pass resolutions negating Jewish claims to these areas is both unconscionable and
unprecedented.
"The Palestinian Authority and Hamas have repeatedly inflamed the passions of Palestinians
and Muslims with the battle cry, ‘Defend Muslim Holy Sites’ by all means — a specious anti-Jewish call that has been
used repeatedly since 1929 as a call to violent jihad and which has resulted in brutal murders and pogroms across
the country. Every so often, the Palestinian Authority and its Muslim supporters, stir up Muslim fury and incite
anti-Israeli violence and murder with this dishonest call to violent jihad. {The world ignores these calls to
violence and murder, but condemns Israel for defending itself against or responding to the resulting mayhem.}
“On the media front, the PLO's National Affairs Department has issued an ‘advisory’ to
international journalists to replace the term ‘Temple Mount’ with ‘Al Aqsa Compound’ to describe the holy site.
{All too many in the media meekly acquiesce to this blatant attempt to delegitimize the Jewish people’s historical
connection to the Temple Mount.}
“And the attempt to influence world opinion against Jewish rights to its holiest sites
intensifies as Palestinians and Arab states have turned to international bodies like UNESCO to pass resolutions that
distort history, verbally erase the ‘Temple Mount’, and block the Israeli Antiquities Authority from monitoring or
carrying out excavations in the Holy Basin. {The world turns a blind eye to this desecration.}
“The Palestinian Authority has also attempted to reverse international legitimacy not only
for the Jewish state but for Judaism’s holiest sites, through UN resolutions and retroactive attacks on previous
international resolutions and mandates recognizing those rights.
“Both Israel and the Palestinians lay claim to Jerusalem and its holy sites. Israel
maintains security and legal control over the Temple Mount while the Muslim Waqf has religious, economic,
administrative, and some security control there. Past negotiations have faltered on Palestinian denial of
any Jewish religious or historical connection and rights to the Temple Mount and their efforts to erase Jewish
connections to the area are increasing. [Emphasis mine] {Meanwhile, much of the world ignores or supports
the ridiculous Palestinian narrative.} During the July 2000 negotiations at Camp David, Yasir Arafat refused to
acknowledge Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, claiming the Jewish Temple never existed there. When talks resumed in
Taba later that year, the Israelis agreed to full Palestinian sovereignty on the Temple Mount, but requested
Palestinians acknowledge the sacredness of the Temple Mount to Judaism. They refused.
- - -
“Since 1967, there has been a growing attempt by Palestinians to marshal the religious
fervor of the Arab and Muslim world in order to wrest Jerusalem from Israeli control. . . their campaign involves
denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount while advancing Jerusalem and particularly the
al-Aqsa compound’s sacredness in contemporary Islam. It also involves reinventing history to create
an Arab connection to Jerusalem that predates and replaces the Jewish one.”
[Emphasis mine] (Ref. 3)
One glaring example of the falsity of Palestinian and Muslim claims that Israel has no
historical ties to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and to the Two Temples that Jews built there exist on the Arch of
Titus in Rome. “Israel has announced will erect a replica of the Arch of Titus as an exhibit at the UN Education,
Science and Cultural Organization in Paris to remind the world that the historical truth of Jewish history was
engraved in stone by a non-Jewish ruler 600 years before Islam appeared in the world.
“The exhibit, to be created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will display the
seven-branched Menorah that was carried into exile, out of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, by the Jewish slaves who
were captured by the Romans.
“The replica will also include a written explanation in English, French, Hebrew and
Arabic.” (Ref. 9)
This is just one small step by Israel to demonstrate the undeniable fact that Jews were
expelled from the Temple Mount by force some 2,000 years ago and well before the start of the Islamic religion. This
is in contradiction to the blizzard of lies from the Palestinians and Arab countries who claim Jews have no
historical connection to Palestine, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. It further proves that the Second Jewish Temple
existed and was located on the Temple Mount long before Islam came into existence.
What’s Murder to Everyone is Compassion to the Palestinians
Palestinian Authority media presented the barbaric terrorist who slaughtered three Israeli
family members as “compassionate” because, they claim, the murderer didn’t go after the children.
"Following the murders of the two Israeli-Druze policemen at the Muslim entrance to the
Temple Mount and Israel’s installation of metal detectors there, a Palestinian terrorist burst into the home of an
innocent Jewish family eating Shabbat dinner and celebrating the birth of a grandchild and began stabbing them to
death. A nearby off-duty IDF soldier heard the screams and killed the terrorist, thereby preventing further
bloodshed.
“Meanwhile, the mother, whose husband was one of the victims, rushed her children upstairs.
Had the terrorist not been stopped, it appears certain that he would have proceeded upstairs to continue his
murderous rampage.
"However, Palestinian Authority (PA) television, which continuously incites violence and
hatred against Israelis and Jews, presented the murderer as 'compassionate', claiming he spared the lives of the
children.
“When {the 19-year-old Palestinian} entered the home of {the} Israeli family . . . and
began slashing them to death with his knife, he knew he was acting with the tacit approval of a Palestinian civic
and political leadership that has lavished praise and compensation on those who deliberately kill Israelis. Indeed,
under the Palestinian Authority’s program to pay those who commit terror attacks — sometimes called a ‘Pay-to-Slay’
program — {the murderer’s} family is reportedly slated to receive a monthly stipend of more than $3,100 in
perpetuity from the Palestinian government, as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for {the} murders. {The murderer’s}
mother announced to the world that she was ‘proud’ of her son for slaughtering {the} 70-year-old {grandfather} and his
children . . . and for doing his best to kill the other family members who had gathered for what they thought would
be an ordinary, if festive, Sabbath dinner.
“The harsh and horrible truth is that Palestinian society has come to glorify a butcher
mentality, naming schools, sporting events and public squares after those who have massacred Israelis.
“The killing of the {Israeli family} followed inflamed tensions that well illustrate the
hate and irrationality that so suffuse Israel’s neighborhood, and the ways in which those who have a stake in
stoking that hate and irrationality can be reliably expected to do so. . .
- - -
“Palestinian leaders, eager to play to the lowest common denominator on the Palestinian
street and happy to drive that common denominator down even further, {had} wasted no time in urging that an obvious
step to keep more murders from taking place be treated as an assault on Muslim holy sites. The Palestinian
Authority’s ruling party, Fatah, called on Palestinians to stage a ‘day of rage’ to protest the {installation of}
metal detectors. Hamas did the same, saluting those whose killing of the police officers had prompted the measure in
the first place as ‘martyrs.’ {What’s murder to every civilized person in the world is compassion and
martyrdom in the warped minds of many Palestinians and many Muslims.}
- - -
“. . . {I}t simply is impossible to make peace with a society that doesn’t merely indulge
the taking of life, and doesn’t merely encourage the taking of life, but positively venerates it. {The
Palestinian-Israeli } conflict will never end as long as Palestinian leaders deify death, and teach their kids that
killing is something to be proud of.” (Ref. 10)
One Set of Rules for Muslims and a Different Set for Jews
“More than 1,000 Jews braved a searing heat wave Tuesday morning to visit the Temple Mount
on Tisha b’Av, the saddest date on the Hebrew calendar, while thousands more sat on the floor – a traditional Jewish
sign of mourning – at the Western Wall Plaza to commemorate the destruction of ancient Jerusalem by the Roman Empire
in the year 70 CE.
- - -
“One person, a 15-year-old boy, was lightly wounded when a Muslim worshiper threw a chair
at him. He was given first aid by security officials and did not require further treatment. The man was not
arrested.
“Throughout the morning, hundreds of people stood in line adjacent to the Mughrabi Gate,
the only entrance to the Temple Mount for non-Muslims, to visit the site. There are 11 entrances for Muslims
only.
“Entering the ramp leading to the Mount, Jewish visitors passed through metal detectors and
thorough security checks to ensure no forbidden items, including prayer books, religious items and Israeli flags,
made it up to the Mount. Officers briefed visitors on visitation rules, including prohibitions on praying and bowing
down. {It’s OK for Muslims to pray to God on the Temple Mount but it’s not OK for non-Muslims to pray to the
same God there! Non-Muslims have to go through metal detectors, but Muslims don’t.}
- - -
“The event, the largest visit by Jews to the Temple Mount in years, {came} on the heels of
weeks of tension surrounding the holy site that began . . . when three Arab-Israeli terrorists murdered two Druze
Israeli policemen at the compound, leading Israel to install metal detectors {which were later removed} and security
cameras for the Muslim worshipers. This was followed by massive Muslim protests outside the site and a 12-day
standoff, during which a Palestinian terrorist slaughtered three members of a Jewish family in Samaria, among other
acts of violence and terror.” (Ref. 11)
Truth is One Thing to “Palestinians”/Muslims When it Benefits Them, But Something Else if it Benefits
Jews/Israel
Historically, a Jewish presence has existed in Palestine for over 3,700 years. Throughout
this period of time, the Jewish people have maintained a presence and a Hebrew language in this, their homeland.
Muslims controlled the Land of Israel from the end of the 12th century until 1918. They never disputed
the Jewish historical relation to the land or its holy sites throughout that period of time. Why? Because, it was
under Muslim control. From the end of the 19th century and still more recently, when control of Palestine slipped
from the control of the Islamic Ottoman empire, the Muslims began to rewrite history, with ever-escalating claims
that there had never been Jewish ties to the land or its holy sites. Why? Because, Palestine was no longer under
Muslim control. When Jews resumed regained control of a portion of the Holy Land in 1948 and later, in 1967, of all
of the Holy Land west of the Jordan River, the Muslim rush to revise history became a veritable stampede.
Up until Israel captured Judea and Samaria from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt in 1967, there
was no push for a “Palestinian” state. Why? Because, up until 1967, Judea, Samaria and Gaza were under Muslim
control. After 1967, Israel controlled these areas. Until 1948, a Palestian was someone who lived in Palestine
– Jew, Arab, Christian, druze, others – all
were Palestinians if they lived in Palestine. After 1967, Arab and Muslim propagandists unilaterally redefined the
appellation "Palestinian" to mean only Arabs/Muslims who lived in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. Why? Because
Israel now controlled these regions in the Holy Land.
Why is it that when Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip were controlled by Jordan and
Egypt, there was never a concept of a “Palestinian State”? The idea of a “Palestinian State” only originated when
Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip came under Israeli control. There simply is no historical or rational basis for
such an entity.
Clearly, throughout the centuries, the Muslim world has shown that they care little for
much of the lands and the people that have been under their control. However, when these lands and peoples come
under someone else’s control, all that changes. Suddenly, history is rewritten, historical facts become irrelevant
and holy war is instituted. This is particularly true of the relationship between “Palestinians”/Muslims and Israel
and Jews. In all of this, truth is irrelevant to “Palestinians”/Muslims – they claim that the Koran permits them to
lie if it helps them to achieve their end goals. Unbelievably, much of today’s world is allowing
“Palestinian”/Muslim lies and distortions to go unchallenged. And, as evidenced by recent history, if you
repeat a lie often enough, the lie will acquire the mantle of fact.
“Palestinians {and Muslims} have no compunction about telling lies and see truth as
irrelevant. . . .
"They are products of a culture in which to tell a lie . . . creates no dissonance . . .
They don't suffer from the problem of telling lies that exists in Judeo-Christian culture.
"Truth is seen as an irrelevant category . . . There is only that which serves your
purpose and that which doesn't. They see themselves as emissaries of a national movement for whom everything is
permissible. There is no such thing as 'the truth'. “
(Ref. 12)
One Set of Rules for Every Nation in the World - Except Israel
Today, the Jew and Israel are treated as no other people and no other nation in the world.
The world imposes one set of rules on all the nations of the world, but a totally different and biased set of rules
upon the State of Israel and upon Judaism. In spite of this, Israel stands out as the one beacon of democracy,
tolerance and an unyielding adherence to the founding tenets of the three great monotheistic religions – Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. As Mark Twain wrote, the Jew “has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all ages; and
has done it with his hands tied behind him.” (Ref. 13) The same
can be said of the State of Israel. Israel and most Jews have now finally recognized that trying to be nice to the
more intolerant adherents to Islam doesn’t pay. Those Muslims take any attempts at conciliation and any concessions
offered as a sign of weakness and they simply demand more and more. Give them an inch and they demand a mile – the
decades-old attempts at achieving a Middle-East peace are proof of this. So are the disputes and increasingly
greater Muslim demands over the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and the Land of Israel itself. The Muslims promote
ever-escalating terror and Israel offers peace. The world demurs to the unreasonable Muslim demands and calls to
violence, while castigating Israel for defending itself and for not surrendering to the Muslim demands for its
destruction. The world demands of Israel what it demands of no other nation – national suicide. The world
has drawn up a common set of laws and rules for every nation on this planet - every nation except
Israel.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References:
- UN, Israel & Anti-Semitism, UN Watch, Accessed 25 February 2015.
- Temple Mount Terrorist Attack Follows UNESCO Anti-Israel Vote On Jerusalem, Aaron Klein,
breitbart.com,
14 July 2017.
- Updated: The Battle Over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, Ricki Hollander, CAMERA,
24 July 2017.
- Israel Installs Security Cameras on the Temple Mount, Jewish Press News Briefs,
19 July 2017.
- Israel Dismantles Security Measures, But Palestinian Leaders Continue to Encourage Riots,
Snapshots:A CAMERA Blog, 26 July 2017.
- Another Israeli Checkpoint ‘Humiliates’ Arab Terrorists, Stephen M. Flatow,
Jewish Press, Page 6, 14 July 2017.
- Netanyahu to Kerry: Samaria building plans don’t constitute ‘new settlement’, Aryeh Savir,
World Israel News,
9 October 2016.
- Stop Infantilizing the Palestinians, David Harris, AJC: David Harris Blog News,
25 July 2017.
- Israel to Place Permanent ‘Arch of Titus’ Exhibit at UNESCO in Paris, Hana Levi Julian,
The Jewis Press,
13 February 2017.
- Glorifying murder the barrier to peace, Jeff Robbins, Boston Herald, Page 17,
26 July 2017.
- ‘Unprecedented’: Over 1,000 Jews ascend Temple Mount on Tisha b’Av morning, World Israel News,
United With Israel, 1 August 2017.
- Lying is cultural trait of Arabs, says Barak, Brian Whitaker, The Guardian,
22 May 2002.
- Concerning the Jews, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Harper’s Magazine 99, no. 592,
September 1899.
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