Is Askhenazi Claim Correct that Turkey Will Act Sanely?

Israeli former IDF Commander General Askhenazi commented on the Turkish Courts issuing charges Monday against four former commanders of IDF branches that, “cooler heads and logic would prevail.” General Askhenazi, while being overly kind in his references to Turkey, further explained, “Turkey is an important country and both Israel and Turkey have an interest in stabilizing the Middle East. I am sure that at the end of the day, logic will prevail on this matter. From the beginning, I chose to appear in all forums, often by myself, in order to defend the IDF soldiers who did their work in the field for the nation of Israel. If the price of standing up for those soldiers is that I will not be able to visit Turkey, I am prepared to pay that price.” Should the insanity prevail in Turkey, may the direct affect be barring the travel by these respected Israeli military leaders solely from Turkey and not all of Europe, NATO member countries, anywhere under Interpol jurisdiction, or any country which would be willing, or even eager, to carry out requests for extradition to Turkey for these men to serve prison terms after convictions.

Where General Askhenazi feels confident in granting Turkey the benefit of the doubt, in our assessment of the path Turkey has taken over the last decade under Prime Minister Erdogan’s guidance, Mr. Erdogan has taken a predominantly modern progressively sectarian country and turned it onto a path that is taking Turkey towards yet another Islamic influenced state or possibly even to a theocratic country where Sharia serves as the law of the land. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has neutralized the Turkish Military starting back in the early parts of 2004 with the assistance of the leaders of the European Union, several leaders of many European governments, and President George W. Bush whose intervention in Turkish internal politics prevented Turkey’s Military Leadership fulfilling their Constitutional responsibility. This prevented their removing Prime Minister Erdogan and his AKP ruling coalition in order to hold new elections to return Turkey to sectarian governance as they are tasked to do should the government bend towards Islamist predominance and governance as proscribed by the Turkish Constitution. This betrayal of the procedures and safeguards put in place by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the father of the modern State of Turkey, has allowed Turkey to slip so far towards Islamism as to no longer have any possibility of returning to the path laid out in their Constitution and the guidance of Ataturk. This has all come to a distinct turning point with the top military commanders resigning en masse on Friday, July 29, 2011. Prime minister Erdogan simply continued as if this was a nonevent and quietly appointed new military commanders who would be more agreeable with the direction he was steering the country. Now the Parliament of Turkey has started writing a new constitution which will drastically limit the powers assigned the military placing them under civilian control while granting Prime Minister Erdogan near absolute power. And these are the situations and people who General Askhenazi feels confident will act in a manner that he would equate with sanity. Why do I still doubt that?

Sometimes I really wish I could see the same beautiful flowers and sunshine and lollipops that so many others appear to see. I look at the same painting and see nothing but storm clouds and swirling winds reaching groundward. With Turkey sometimes seeming to stand beside Iran and supporting their views for a new alignment of the world and other times standing slightly askew viewing the new Caliphate as does Iran with the slight adjustment placing Turkey once again at the head of the Muslim World reestablishing the Ottoman Empire, the time has likely long past for reassessing Turkey’s place in world politics and thus a reassessment of their membership in NATO might prove wise before they drag all of NATO into an undesirable position. I am not really sure that there is sufficient difference between the two views though I might prefer Turkey as when comparing Turkey to Iran, I just might agree with General Askhenazi and his view of Turkey as acting sanely. Otherwise, I fear Turkey has turned a corner from which she may never return. Sanity, as we define it in my little corner of the world, is not something we would attribute to many of the countries in the Muslim World. But then again, my little corner of the world probably would be found to be lacking when judged by most of the Muslim World. WOW! Who would have thought that?

Beyond the Cusp

Temple Mount Destructive Desecration an Insult to Archeology

In the majority of modern cultures the greatest of respect is usually given the antiquities and the sites in which they are unearthed. These areas are often set aside and protected from any forms of construction or other activities which might endanger these irreplaceable and precious artifacts of the historic civilizations in humanities past. Such respect is often enforced through legal edicts and building codes though in most societies such are a mere formality. Throughout the vast majority of our planet if any archeological items, even the smallest of shards are unearthed during construction the entire site shuts down and authorities are brought in to assess the site before any further damage may be caused, even inadvertently. But such is not the case in what is probably one of the most treasured and well known sites on planet Earth, the Temple Mount.

 

After the reunification of Jerusalem under Israeli Rule after the June 1967 Six Day War, Defense Minister General Moshe Dayan suggested Israel make a magnanimous offer to leave the Temple Mount under the authority of the Muslim Waqf as a sign that Israel was not intending to isolate the Muslims but rather include them and welcome them as an integral part of Israeli society. In return, over the years the Waqf has enforced a partial moratorium on allowing Jewish activities upon the Temple Mount, especially prayer or anything which could be taken as a religious act. Over the last twenty years or so they have also taken increased liberties by employing heavy construction equipment and dug up and destroyed literally tons of archeological material in an attempt to eradicate every vestige of proof of Jewish history to the Temple Mount. Archeologists have combed through the tons of earth dumped at an impromptu dumping area just outside of Jerusalem and been able to recover some smaller items and the shattered remains of many archeological treasures in such deteriorated condition as to be rendered unrecognizable. This wanton destruction of Jewish history and human history has continued with rarely any complaint of protest outside of Israel. Had similar acts been perpetrated in most places the reactions and protests by peoples and governments everywhere would be loud and persistent. Such was the outrage after the senseless destruction of the 1,500 year old ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan. Yet the destruction taking place with mechanical precision and industrial efficiency does not appear to even raise a peep of protest.

 

This criminal atrocity being perpetrated against the historical record of the origins of the three Abrahamic religions aside, there are other considerations which could lead to tragic events should this irresponsible, reckless, destructive desecration continue. The destruction is being carried out without the planning and concerns which designed engineering would be able to prevent, the potential collapse of areas and structures upon the Temple Mount. With the potential for triggering immense violence reacting to such an event warrants that any excavations and placement of new structure, including the digging for foundations and the running of water, sewage and drainage pipes, should be taken only with planning and extreme care done by a professional engineer and not just wantonly performed.

 

What makes running such risks even more inexcusable is that most of the large scale excavations are not being performed in order to build but simply in order to destroy archeological evidence of any Jewish history on the Temple Mount. Such efforts are, in reality, quite useless as there are sufficient other archeological sites which have proven the facts of the Jewish history in the lands so that this risky activity actually serves no purpose other than spite and furthering hatreds. There are those who call for the removal of the authority of the Muslim Waqf over the Temple Mount and turning such authority over to a board of archeologists and religious figures composed of representatives of all three of the religions whose history is tied to the Temple Mount. Unfortunately, even if a fair and equitable arrangement were to be offered there is absolutely no chance on Earth that the Waqf or the Muslim World would ever permit its implementation. The same violence which would result should erosion and damage from the needless destruction and sacrilege being performed on the Temple Mount cause the collapse of any Muslim building or structure would ensue simply to prevent any implementation of shared responsible management of the Temple Mount. Seems there is some unwritten law unto which the world is presumed to be obliged to obey that anything that was once graced by the presence of a Muslim must remain under Islam. Should this fail to occur, seemingly especially if the Jews are involved, then it is taken by some members of the Islamic faith as an act for which the declaration of war or Jihad is necessitated to return the possessions to Islam. This idea may prove very problematic in the near future, very problematic.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

What are Leftists so Scared of at Ir David Dig?

The Ir David dig is the private archeological excavations at the site of the City of David. This privately funded research has unearthed numerous interesting discoveries as well as the standard artifacts, potteries, utensils, and similar artifacts. The recent attempts to bring a halt to the research and digging at the site through the court system has spurred MK Yisrael Hasson (Kadima) to propose a law before the Knesset that would formerly legalize private, not-for-profit archeological excavations in an attempt to put an end to the over-the-top hysteria over this one particular site. Now, a group of 150 archaeologists and students sent a petition to Environment Minister Gilad Erdan and Sport and Culture Minister Limor Livnat asking them to drop their support for this law claiming it will allow for the politicization of archeology in Israel. They claim that “privatization of archaeology” would be the death knell of archaeology in Israel. This is hyper-hysteria as there are already numerous private digs being operated currently and such has been the case for as long as many can remember. What is disturbing is this entire dust-up began only recently as the research at the City of David dig has revealed some artifacts that, surprisingly enough, have proven enlightening and to affirm some of the history written in the Bible. Apparently, this automatically transforms this research from being scientific into some form of political activism as it has shown that there really were Jews and Jewish Kings and Priests and an actual City of David, and this is something these leftists cannot allow to see the light of day.

Normally, something like this I might let pass as it does not, on the surface, appear to be a story with much of an implication beyond those concerns of a few academics and history enthusiasts, but this time it just rang a bell as being the perfect story to reveal the hatred and complete disdain for anything of true and pure Jewish heritage that so infuriates the leftist Jews who always want to apologize for their Jewish existence. This whole affair really begs the question of what is it the Leftists are so scared of that might come from this actually wonderful research being carried out at a truly historically important Jewish, yes, I dare say it again, Jewish site? The actions of these leftists wishing to prevent any proof of Jewish attachment to the land of Israel are absolutely baffling. These are the same people who will demonstrate at the drop of a hat for the rights of the make-believe “Palestinian people” but will move heaven and earth, or not move earth in this case, to prevent any historical or, and this is their worst fear, religious binding to Eretz Yisroel of the Jewish people. These are the same people who will claim in highest indignation that the lands of Judah have no connection to Jews. Where do they think the word Jew comes from if not the tribe of Judah and the lands occupied by said tribe since the end of the Exodus is beyond me.

The attempts to close down this one archeological dig at Ir David failed in the courts, yet that did not slow down the assault by the left. You simply reword your complaint and back to the courts. Eventually, this tactic will bankrupt those you are attempting to prevent and that alone will stop their abhorrent actions. So, as they were revving up for their next assault, a Minister of the Knesset saw reason and proposed a law to prevent their continued harassment. Oh the pain and suffering this must have caused in the coffee shops in central Tel Aviv. The angst, the gnashing of teeth, the foaming rage, how dare anybody use the rule of law against the masters of legal lynching. When this law passes its final reading, hopefully in the nearest possible future, expect challenge upon challenge to be brought before the Israeli High Court until this evil law, which will allow research proving that the Israelites were a real people who lived in these lands, is ruled to be the affront to sensibilities it truly must be. How can any responsible leftist allow something to continue that might upset their Arab allies and actually prove that Jewish is more than an evil title they are ashamed to be labeled with.

Get over it and try just once to understand that those religious Jews in the funny clothing are practicing their ancient and truly enlightened religion in the land of its birth, the land promised to them and, somewhat unfortunately, to you by a higher power. Another little fact you may find troubling is that the settlers are residing in their ancestral areas and Judea and Samaria were and should remain as part of historic and modern Israel and not be used to form some mythical place that’s sole purpose will be a base from which to kill you and other Jews. And, as much as it might pain you and your distaste for anything more Jewish than speaking Hebrew, the Jewish people belong to this land and the land belongs to the L-rd our G-d who has tasked us to care for His land and has instructed us that it is not to be divided up by man. Learn and live with it.

Beyond the Cusp