What is the Capital of Israel?

There appears to be some a misconception about which city is the actual Capital City of Israel. The question is most often between Jerusalem, where the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament is located along with the Prime Minister and the Presidential residences, and Tel Aviv, where the overwhelming numbers of foreign governments have placed their embassies. What is interesting is to look throughout history and determine what cities have served as the Capital City or the center of power in Israeli history from ancient times and in the present. Hevron, now spelled Hebron on most maps and articles referencing it, was King David’s first capital city of Judah which he transferred to Jerusalem once the twelve tribes had been united under one banner as a single national entity. Hevron was also the lands where Abraham settled when called by the L0rd to leave the house of his family and travel to the land G0d promised to give to him and his descendants. Furthermore, according to the Bible, Hebron is the burial place of Abraham and Sarah. Genesis 23:17-21 tells the story of Abraham’s purchase of a cave, the Cave of Machpelah, for a tomb in which he and his descendants could be buried.

Going back to immediately after the initial conquest for the Promised Land had been accomplished under Joshua, the Israelites (Hebrews) established the resting place for the Tabernacle in Shiloh making it the place where sacrifices were brought and established the city as the seat of power. In Joshua 18:1 it is explained that now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the Tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them. So Shiloh was the very first city which could have been defined as the Capital City after the Exodus from Egypt during the time of the early Prophets and before the times of Kings. Putting the ancient centers of power starting with Abraham we have Hevron before the four hundred years of travails and bondage in Egypt followed by Shiloh as the initial seat of power with the establishing of the Tabernacle within the city followed by Hevron again as the seat of power under King David and finally Jerusalem became the final and everlasting Capital City of Israel. In modern times the Capital city of Israel has been Jerusalem with Tel Aviv temporarily serving as the seat of government as relating to embassies and other worldly affairs as from the founding of Israel until June of 1967 Jerusalem was a divided city with the eastern parts, which included the Temple Mount and the entire Old City, occupied without recognition by the world at large with two exceptions, Great Briton and Pakistan, by Jordan. The Jordanians had invoked by force the complete and total cleansing of every single Jew from the areas of what was intended to be land for the Jewish State of Israel but occupied by Jordan after the 1948-49 Arab Israeli Wars, the first also known as the Israeli War for Independence.

Resultant of the Six Day War in 1967, Israel liberated lands occupied by Jordan, which had been held under the British Mandate in trust to be utilized for the Jewish State of Israel consisting of everything between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Immediately after these hostilities ceased Israel had reclaimed all of Jerusalem and had incorporated the entirety as officially part of the State of Israel and dedicated the whole of Jerusalem as their Capital City. With the levels of violence being much higher in Jerusalem than were the risks of similar attacks in Tel Aviv being significantly lower, virtually every government retained their embassies in Tel Aviv and chose not to move them into Jerusalem, not even to the more modern areas of western Jerusalem. This act of convenience directly led to the Palestinians claiming that Jerusalem was their Capital City to which the Jews had no proven history or claim making Jerusalem the Israeli Capital. This is a fabrication, just like the fabrications from the Palestinian Authority and the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) about there existing a rich history of Palestinian Arabs residing in these areas going back as much as nine thousand years, denial of there ever having been a First Temple, let alone a Second Temple which they also deny existed, and numerous other claims utilized to discredit dismiss, and vacate any Jewish claims of attachment to any lands in the entire Middle East.

An analogy can be made which would easily explain the intrigues and the ridiculous calls to forbid Jewish sovereignty and ownership over a united Jerusalem and especially no attachment either historically or religiously to the Temple Mount and Old City of Jerusalem. Back in the history of the United States there have been cities other than Washington DC which served as the Capital City for the new country. Both Philadelphia and New York had been considered and utilized as the American Capital. Soon after the founding of the new country of the United States and the final and current governance was implemented, Annapolis became the temporary capital of the United States. This occurred after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Once the trappings and mechanisms of the American’s government had returned to Washington DC, what effect would it have had if countries left their embassies in Annapolis and continued to state as their policy that Annapolis remained as the Capital city of the United States? This is the same scenario regarding the conflict over which city is the true and actual Capital City of Israel, Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Fortunately, foreign peoples and governments have little power in deciding in which city any country declares as its Capital City. All of this boils down to the simple facts that Washington DC is the Capital City of the United States while Jerusalem is once again and hopefully for all of eternity the Capital City of Israel. So, the spin doctors utilized by the current government of the United Sates can twist, bend, spindle and mutilate the answer to question of where does the Administration of Presidency Obama perceive and act upon as the Capital City of Israel, Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Perhaps, for security’s sake, all the nations who retain the Tel Aviv location for their Embassies should also move their embassies in the United States to Annapolis.

Beyond the Cusp

A Truth Revealed on Tel Aviv Streets

Over this past weekend the leftist organizers, students, unionists, anarchists and their supporters held a demonstration protesting the Tel Aviv government refusal to issue them a license to establish a repeat of last year’s tent city anti-capitalism, pro-socialism protests. Adding fuel to their fiery disposition was the arrest of their outspoken leader Daphne Leef and the small group who attempted to erect tents in central Tel Aviv Friday afternoon. The protesters emotion escalated until fights broke out between the separate factions while anarchists and others set to throwing rocks and bricks through bank and store windows and attacking the police when they attempted to restore order using minimal force. Eventually everything escalated completely out of control and the result was the arrest of over eighty-five demonstrators Saturday night. None of this was the truth revealed on the streets of Tel Aviv. For that we need to look in a completely different direction.

The first item to be gleaned from the violent demonstrations Saturday night was the attitude of law enforcement personnel towards those who were destroying private property, resisting the police instructions which soon escalated to violent response to the police which is what eventually left the police little choice other than to arrest the most violent instigators. What was most revealing about the police and their initial attempts not to arrest or even overly restrict these demonstrators until well after their actions turned to violence and destruction was the stark difference between the attitude and civility shown these demonstrators, almost as if they were privileged people, with the outright contempt and disrespect shown by the violence used against both Haredi demonstrators at their similarly unsanctioned demonstrations and settlers during evictions and destructions of West Bank communities or illegal outposts. Such restraint and respect has not been the rule of law enforcement when dealing with Haredi demonstrators, nationalist and Zionist demonstrators, and settler families who have been treated with extreme prejudice and very rough treatment being awakened in the wee hours of the morning to be thrown into the cold darkness, children and all, and herded like animals while their homes are destroyed right before their eyes, often by hired Arabs from neighboring villages who take to their tasks with exuberance and glee and without any respect for property or the victims. In Amona the police utilized rubber bullets against the Jewish residents during their eviction and showed such vile disregard for their countrymen that eventually some of the officers were disciplined for using overly and unnecessary violence against the residents. In Tel Aviv on Saturday the police initially requested the cooperation of the demonstrators and only resorted to arresting people after the entire situation was pushed beyond any reasonable measure by the demonstrators who were set on provocation and destruction in order to force a situation. But even this contrast is not the really big truth revealed on the Tel Aviv streets.

The real truth came Sunday morning when the news shows and newspapers came out with their coverage of the disgraceful behavior by the leftist and anarchist demonstrators who provoked a confrontation despite all restraint and deference shown by the police. But this was not the story from the leftists who populate much of the media. Our trusted media in Israel told a different story when reporting on the poor, unfortunate young victims who were simply attempting to bring needed social ills and inequalities to the attention of those evil members of the government who refuse to implement honest and compassionate socialist governance. According to the reports on Sunday, these innocent and gallant defenders of the downtrodden had gathered peaceably in order to raise conscious awareness and focus the public attention on the inequalities in Israel. The police used unnecessary violence and a demeaning attitude showing complete contempt and disrespecting these paragons of virtue thus instigating the violent confrontations. Had the police not viciously attacked these innocents there would have been nothing but peace and virtue. It was despicable that these peaceful innocents were set upon as if they had resisted and acted just like those horrid settler types who have always forced police to utilize a heavy hand by their disrespect for law and order and these poor children did not deserve such disrespect and ill treatment. The entire violence was the result of the government’s evil ideology and the overreaction of the police who were not provoked in any manner. This complete whitewashing of this story by the media was the real truth revealed on the Tel Aviv streets. The reporting was so over-the-top slanted that if one did not have a reason to doubt the objectivity and honesty of the leftist press coverage in Israel before the reporting of this confrontation, they most certainly should have that evidence in spades. All one need do is to compare the coverage given by the apologist media with the video of the actual events and the police reports to understand how far the leftist media goes to purvey opinion as fact and sell a world view that is, honestly, inimical to the very existence of Israel itself. And if one still has doubts and is insistent on following the story woven by the mainstream media, then please go one small step further and take a quick trip to central Tel Aviv on Rothschild Street and witness the damage to the banks and businesses themselves and ask, where was this in the reporting about those poor innocent victims of an out of control state. Who are you going to believe, the sold-out press or your disbelieving eyes?

Beyond the Cusp

Ominous Clouds Gather Over Beit El Community

A pair of salvos fired, one intentional, one indirect, at the Givat HaUlpana section of the Beit El community in the Judea and Samaria areas east of the Green Line are raising concerns among those opposed to the demolitions of Jewish neighborhoods. The first shot was made by Defense Minister Ehud Barak when as part of his speech to the Conference of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv where he stated, “If it is impossible to reach an agreement with the Palestinian(s), we should consider an interim arrangement, or even a unilateral disengagement.” The second salvo came from IDF Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier General Haggai Mordechai when he met with Beit El Mayor Moshe Rosenbaum and requested that the Mayor ask the residents of Givat HaUlpana to voluntarily leave their homes in order to avoid a confrontation.

Judging from the long record of Ehud Barak favoring demolitions as an expedient and preferred method of dealing with any challenge to the legal ownership of areas east of the Green Line upon which Jewish housing or businesses have been built makes any such reference from him as a direct threat, even those built at the request and with the assistance of the Government. Defense minister Barak has even gone so far as to find avenues in order to remove Jews from their legal residences after agreeing to a compromise to delay such as was the case of Beit Hamachpelah where Barak fabricated out of thin air a danger to the peace in order to order the removal of fifteen Israeli Jews from their legally purchased small apartment building. Now the Defense Minister who has near total control over such actions in Judea and Samaria making a statement directly making reference to the option for unilateral disengagement from Judea and Samaria as occurred in Gaza in 2005 is indeed a chilling event. It immediately produces visions of Katyusha and even larger rockets being fired from the Judean hills overlooking central Israel just as has been the rule resultant from the unilateral disengagement from Gaza. Such a threat would endanger the lives and livelihoods of over three-quarters of the Israeli population.

When you add in the request from the commanding general over the forces which would be tapped in order to execute such a disengagement making a request for the residents of a long established community to surrender their homes for demolition just adds to the perception of impending doom. This also begs the question of where does Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu stand on this issue. When one looks at the Prime Minister’s recent actions concerning attempts by numerous members of the Knesset, including many from his own Likud Party as well as others from his original coalition before Kadima joined, his spoken commitment to do whatever it takes to save these neighborhoods becomes rather suspect. When legislation was being proposed to alter the selection process for Supreme Court Judges, as well as all other judges, which would give elected Knesset Ministers the predominant advisory role in the process replacing the Supreme Court Judges, Attorney General and high officials from the Lawyers Guild, once again Prime Minister Netanyahu demanded the Knesset bury the proposed legislation. Despite the method used in almost every Western country giving elected officials direct approval over candidates for judgeships, Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed with the elite far leftists who claimed doing such would destroy the democratic system by neutralizing the court’s near monopoly on power and subjecting judges to review by elected ministers. While agreeing with the far leftist view, the Prime Minister first ordered strict coalition discipline to defeat the motion and then used his position to press for the legislation to be refused introduction to the Knesset floor. The legislation died in committee. He has demanded that coalition members withdraw motions to legalize the challenged settlements in Judea and Samaria. After the first time Prime Minister Netanyahu killed legalizing legislation, Defense Minister Barak used the opening to have two separate housing communities destroyed well in advance of the deadline set by the Supreme Court in their ruling. Just last week he requested firmly that Knesset Minister Yaakov “Ketzaleh” Katz to withdraw the latest motion to legalize the communities in question claiming the need for more time to find a different avenue to save the communities in question.

It has come to be time for a small revolution by those who support legalizing the communities which are under judicial assault by the Supreme Court in conjunction with leftist NGOs which bring charges of Arab ownership of properties on which exist established Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The purpose of utilizing the Supreme Court for these demolition rulings is that the Supreme Court is not tasked with verifying the ownership claim and can rule purely on political emotions and slant. With the Supreme Court being extremely slanted to the leftist progressive post-Zionist political philosophy, they will take virtually any opportunity to rule to destroy Jewish homes east of the Green Line. When cases have been adjudicated in the lower courts where proof of ownership must be proven, there has yet to be a proven case of Arab ownership of these lands. Past President of the Supreme Court Dorit Beinisch made a ruling in the last month of her term setting a vindictive precedent for all future cases. She made a ruling that all lands which were not State Owned Lands, regardless of who held deeds of ownership, were to be considered and adjudicated as Arab owned lands. This immediately voided every deed which denotes Jewish ownership of lands in Judea and Samaria. These are the typical actions and attitudes taken by the Supreme Court, Defense Minister Barak, B’Tselem plus similarly oriented NGOs, and numerous European backed Arab and leftist groups which make the need for a sweeping piece of legislation that neuters all these enemies of Zionism and as such, Israel, and unilaterally end this onslaught against the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. To legalize these homes and communities one-by-one is too risky and has proven unworkable. There needs to be definitive steps taking care of the two threats which have reared their heads and threatened the destruction of Israel through stages just as Yasser Arafat had predicted would occur.

The courts and black robed tyrants need to be neutered and their wings clipped placing sane limits on the overbearing application of judicial activism. Also, security has to be legislated for the Jews living in Judea and Samaria as the ceaseless incremental destruction of homes and neighborhoods slowly digesting every vestige of Jewish life in Judea and Samaria simply must to be ended once and for all. So, allow me to make a plea, Prime Minister Netanyahu, be brave, forget your desire to be loved by all; that can never happen as you must act and action by its nature will displease one side, the other, or both. Take the bull by the horns and allow coalition members freedom to vote their consciences and let legislation to legalize all of Judea and Samaria to be vetted and voted. Secondly, it would restore the balance of Israeli democracy if the appointment of new judges would be vested outside of the judiciary and related interests. The people must be given some selective voice and having the Knesset approve the appointments of judges even if the initial selection is proposed by the judges themselves. The current allowance of the complete appointment procedure being virtually monopolized by the Supreme Court and related influences does not serve democracy, it preserves a strictly enforced hierarchy that has produces a priesthood consisting of lawyers and judges who are usurping the powers which should lie with the other branches of the governance. Trust the people and their elected representatives. The more power placed with the people, the better the government will serve the people and not serve an elite cadre with narrow interests.

Beyond the Cusp