Pro-Palestinian Pressure Pushing President Obama

 

The hounding of hate is hammering President Obama to act unilaterally to recognize the Palestinian State and declare the borders as the Green Line before it is too late. The claim is by taking on such a bold endeavor he will forever place his name into the history of the Middle East as the man who achieved the impossible. The two leaders have already launched their opening salvos with President Jimmy Carter sounding off in the New York Times with two days later Dennis Ross following up in the Washington Post with both sounding their same sirens song of doom. President Jimmy Carter never misses an opportunity to display his visceral hatred for the Jewish State while Dennis Ross is simply a misguided soul forever attempting to make right his deep and enduring trust that Yasser Arafat and, by inference, his understudy Mahmoud Abbas are statesmen who have forgone their terrorist pasts and become men in the mold of Gandhi. Needless to point out that both we here at BTC and history have proven both men horrifically misguided. In the case of President Carter it is a true hatred while Dennis Ross took a wrong turn back around 1990 and has never recovered and found the highway to the future and continues down one dead end after another. The real problem is that President Obama shares both men’s shortcomings when it comes to Israel and particularly Prime Minister Netanyahu. The question is does this situation portend some imminent disaster or will Israel survive these last six weeks unscathed by the wrath of the White House.

 

Dennis Ross (center), with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 1998

 

Truth be told, it does not bode well for President Obama to actually make good on his indications that there is no last minute surprise in store for United States policy in the Middle East, particularly for Israel and the Palestinian situation. The problem comes to a head the day after Christmas and was set in motion by the Israeli Supreme Court. According to a ruling by the Supreme Court of Israel, in response to a leftist petition claiming Arab ownership of lands which the community of Amona is using, with an absentee deed issued by Jordan during their illegal occupation of Judea and Samaria as the proof of Arab ownership, the community has been ordered destroyed. The owners of these lands never built any structure there, likely never tread their feet on said soil, probably could not locate their land on a blank map of the area and were given honorary title largely to make claim to prevent Jews from ever owning the land. Jordan gave out such deeds in name only covering the majority of the lands of Judea and Samaria as a reward and as a stop against squatters while they possessed the lands and now this ploy is being used against honest development of the area by post-Zionist leftists. The sickening part of all this is these are Israeli Jews whose NGO’s are largely European supported and have next to no Israeli funding but register as Israel due to lack of legal requirement for NGO’s to have predominately domestic funding, a law found in the United States and virtually every European nation but denied Israel by Western, mostly European, demands and protests every time the Knesset considers such a law plus the Israeli Supreme Court, ever the backer of all idea European, threatens to negate any such law which is made into law. This is an example of another problem brought on by an out of control judiciary where the Supreme Court has taken on the position of final arbiter of all things legal to such an extent as to have negated laws they disagree with politically and writing new laws they believe are necessary to extend and further empower themselves. When additionally, the Supreme Court itself has veto power over any proposed sitting of Judges replacing any jurist who dies in office or steps down, plus also appointing their Chief Justice; this has produced a Supreme Court which rules as if the year is still somewhere around 1970, standing immeasurably to the left of the Israeli public and governance who are all but powerless against this abuse of power. The runaway Supreme Court relishes handing out destruction orders for any Israeli development, even to include legally built communities which were granted government approval and have every piece of paper required for ownership, simply by any NGO claiming they know of previous Arab ownership of the land in question and ruling without any process to determine whether such deed exists or right of ownership. According to Justices sitting on the Supreme Court it is not their place to determine ownership and they need not question such claims as who would make such a claim falsely. Well, as it turns out, these NGO’s would and have done so with actual cases where they found an Arab who would claim ownership, nobody along the way required proof and when the suit of ownership finally reached a lower court the claimant usually is nowhere to be found fearing filing false claims charges. This has occurred more than once and more often than not no claim for ownership is ever filed by the supposed Arab claimant in most instances.

 

With the Supreme Court demanding the destruction of this community on December 25th, the day after Christmas and the second day of Chanukah, the pressure has come upon the Knesset to reign in the Supreme Court and their presumed power using this case as the weapon of choice. The Prime Minister has attempted to mollify the situation claiming that the community will simply be moved a few hundred meters away from the lands behind the order and the community of Amona will be saved as if a community can be moved by waving his magic wand. The promise of moving homes and communities to new locations close to their former location have been proffered by Israeli politicians before and then the feasibility study renders such impossible or far too expensive and the community gets destroyed and remains destroyed. This ploy will not be accepted as the viable magic solution once again. The sole solution which should be implemented by the Knesset is the issuing of a Basic Law which empowers the Knesset alone in the determination of legality of any Israeli community and its structures and that once the community has been properly filed and plans set then the Supreme Court will be prohibited from making any destruction orders without first a settlement of proper claim has been made and verified settled by lower courts. This would make a great first step in solving a serious problem within Israel and allow people residing in these challenged locations who possess righteous claims under the law to rest easy at night that the next day bulldozers are not going to come and destroy their lives.

 

Subsequent to such an enactment of a Basic Law, sort of a constitutional set of laws which can be enacted and amended by simple majority, another problem for another time, there need be a resetting of the selection process for judgeships, especially for the Supreme Court. The legal community could and should have input as to who is eligible to be placed on the bench and who can be elevated to the Supreme Court. Their input need be as part of the selection committee but not the validations process or even the majority decider in said committee. Further, the Prime Minister should be the originator of a list of acceptable names worked out between him and the leaders of the ruling coalition and with input from the leader of the opposition. This list should then be passed to a committee made up of perhaps nine electors; three from the judiciary, three from the Knesset ruling coalition, two from the opposition and one representing the Prime Minister. Once these committee members have decided on the judge, then the Knesset should decide needing an approval of seventy-two Knesset Ministers (60%) with Supreme Court nominees required to have eighty Knesset Members agree to their appointment (2/3). Such a procedure would provide for adequate Judicial input while leaving the final appointment up to the representatives of the people of the State of Israel and not permit the tyranny of the robes continue unabated. This ruling need also be included in the Basic Laws and should serve as the template if and when a Constitution is finally permitted to be written.

 

Still, should the community of Amona become another battleground between the Supreme Court and the elected governance, especially if it becomes a battle between the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister, then it could explode initially in the Israeli media with Haaretz leading the cheer for destruction and supporting the Supreme Court, it would soon be picked up by the European media and them the United States mainstream media and the howling worldwide would begin. The European media would be demanding the Supreme Court order to destroy Jewish homes be upheld immediately as they always have and in the United States the left leaning media would likely follow suit while right leaning media would support the residents of the community and the Prime Minister and/or the Knesset as they represent the will of the people. Such a brouhaha exploding in the media might be the impetus supporting the demands of Dennis Ross and President Jimmy Carter and demanding the destruction of what will most certainly be labeled a “settlement” might prompt the White House to take action to settle the entire controversy.

 

Former President Jimmy Carter
with Yasser Arafat (left)
and Mahmoud Abbas (right)

 

As President Obama has consistently implied that the border for any Arab Palestine should be the 1949 Armistice Lines, the Green Line, and the division of Jerusalem to be the shared Capital of each nation; the immediate problem is Jerusalem which Israelis feel militantly strongly must remain in Israeli control such that the Holy Sites in the Old City, including the Temple Mount, are open to all people of all faiths and not once again become a closed area where only Muslims are permitted to tread as it was under Jordanian Rule and would return to under Arab Palestinian rule. This would present a breaking-point which would have no means of breaching to reach a settlement. This would bring down any government prepared to give away half of our Holy City and Capital City for three-thousand years and never having been the capital city of any other nation. Jerusalem is the beating heart of Judaism and the Arabs are aware of this which is why they are demanding it be broken in two as should such come to pass the wound to Judaism and religious Jews would be insufferable and could not be permitted to stand. That is the plain and simple truth and no Israeli government could stand after suffering such a proposal even for consideration. This strong and unyielding attachment was best described by the Song of Babylon written as a response to the demand of the Babylonians that their Jewish Israelite captives who were being sold into slavery in many a case sing for them a song as the Jews, especially the Priests, were renowned for their love of song and singing abilities. One must remember that the young King David played the lyre and was sweet in song such that he would be called to sing to King Saul to soothe the King in times of distress. There is one of the most famous lines within this song of distress which read “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill (lose its strength). May my tongue cling to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not bring up Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy.” That is the importance of Jerusalem, that and so much more. As might be said in less formal a situation, dividing Yerushalayim be fighting words.

 

Of course there would be no dividing of Jerusalem nor would there be the acceptance of the 1949 Armistice Lines, the Green Line, and no acceptance of an Arab State by any name unless that state replaced all of Israel either through the return of over five million Arabs into Israel all steeped in the same indoctrination by UNRWA as the Hamas and PLO terrorists the Palestinian Arab schools churn out year after year with their textbooks filled with hatred of Israel and Jews, all Jews everywhere and anywhere. Mahmoud Abbas has already declared all the lands from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea as an Islamic Sacred Waqf. By his own declarations he is religiously tied to refuse anything short of the complete destruction of Israel. If Abbas were to accept the 1949 Armistice Lines as borders, even temporary borders, he would be hung from a crane by noon on that day and the entirety of Judea and Samaria, and we’re afraid parts inside Israel, would briefly turn into a redux of Syria with all the violence and a heated war waged between the PLO against Hamas with Islamic State trying to take control as well. Granted such lawlessness inside Israel would be rapidly quelled and the areas within Judea and Samaria where Israel is responsible for keeping the peace under the Oslo Accords would also be pacified but until the world demanded, the area presumably controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) would remain a lawless land of strife, struggle and death.

 

Press Abbas to accept such a declaration and one is lighting the fuse on a dangerous situation which would explode as the people within the areas ruled by the PA and Hamas in Gaza have been indoctrinated such that few under the age of thirty or forty would stand for such and would immediately replace whoever from the PA agreed and this would decapitate the PA, PLO, Fatah and the entirety of PA run lands where these groups as well as Hamas and Islamic State would immediately vie for superiority and you would have instant Syria, just add a forced peace settlement. Very quickly allowing Israel to do whatever was required and to declare all the land as Israel would become acceptable even in the United Nations as such added violence in an area already steeped in violence and failed states, one more which could be handed off to Israel to handle, would almost immediately be handed to Israel with European and American blessings. Where this would result in all of Israel as promised by San Remo conference, Treaty of Serves and even after the White Papers and the United Nations failed partitioning which the Arab League flatly refused and invaded Israel immediately the first morning of her statehood and a series of failed peace plans including the disastrous Oslo Accords and Israel total unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, finally being established on all of the lands actually remaining as Israeli under existing international law. The reality of the River to the Sea is that it all actually belongs legally to Israel and only Israel can allow any other entity to establish any otherwise ordered autonomy. The PA exists by the good graces and permission of Israel and should that fail the lands resort to Israeli rule.

 

So, if the prodding of President Jimmy Carter and Dennis (I never met a peace plan I didn’t back that didn’t fail) Ross along with the internal Israeli coming dust-up over the legality and existence of Amona all presses President Obama to actually make a declaration recognizing anything more permanent and fixed concerning an Arab State within Israel, this will soon devolve, especially if borders are set or implied heavily enough, into a violent struggle to determine who gets to demand the annihilation of all the Jews in Israel leading to IDF intervention and very likely Europe demanding Israel take control of the situation before it spreads into Jordan and beyond. Even President Obama might be pressed but President Trump will definitively decide that the easiest solution is for Israel to annex Judea and Samaria and settle everything down restoring peace and replacing the indoctrination centers with actual schools teaching skills other than bomb making and stabbing 101. President Obama is fully aware of the reality which is why he will most likely let sleeping dogs lie rather than start a war on his way out, especially an unnecessary war.

 

Eventually somebody will have to realize that the actors on the Arab side of this equation have yet to keep a single promise, yet to meet a single requirement, yet to apply actual rule of law, yet to hold another election since electing Abbas dictator, yet to fulfill even the most rudimentary requirements for statehood, but have fully gone to great extremes to demand that they be credited with having completed every requirement to establish a state. The Arabs in Judea and Samaria have indoor plumbing throughout most of their communities installed and supplied by Israel, get the majority of their water, gas and electricity, if not all, from Israel and have yet to pay for any of it since the year 2000 and before, rely on Israel for security to keep the PA in power and prevent Hamas or Islamic State amongst others from conducting a coup (Israel has prevented at least half a dozen coup attempts by Hamas which the public has been made aware), rely on the cash in the millions per month to run their area the size of a midsized city as the majority of the international funding goes for two main products; bombs and weapons along with graft taking a large share right off the top, have never actually prevented any terror activities carried out by the PLO (they have prevented a few Hamas operations which have been classified as terror but could have been coup attempts and not attacks on Israel), when forced to incarcerate a terrorist they go in the front door to serve a multi-year sentence and are released through the back door in a couple of weeks if not days or even hours, and had one of the most disturbing displays of animal hatred and bloodletting when an Italian photojournalist caught the picture below with the story here, here, and finally here, plus they have seldom missed an opportunity to have invented and exaggerated stories of Israeli malfeasance such as Jenin, and we could go on and on.

 

Teenaged Terrorists Displays Bloodied Hands Sending Crowd
Gathered to Witness or Take Part in Sacrificing IDF Reservists
Tearing Them Apart with Their Bare Hands

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Replacing the Two State Paradigm

 

The death of the whole concept of a two states living side-by-side in peace, security and viability is finally fading as the realism that the Arab Palestinians can never be placated. Their demand that they get all or the war continues until the Jews run away or are annihilated has finally begun to wear even the two state supporters into a state of exhaustion from attempting to twist and ignore the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) leadership’s constant demands for more. The chanting by their supporters of the line they were fed calling out, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine must be free,” leaving no Israel simply made support more and more problematic. Sure, the young, the foolish and of course the anti-Semites thought that chant was a great idea as it either never occurred to them or they invited the mass slaughter of another six-million plus Jews at the altar of the inexorable march of Islam across the face of the earth. The fact is that the eventual chant would become, “From One Sea to Another Shore, We Want the World and a Little More,” and would be their referring to the United States and Canada on their way to conquering South America last. The old adage that, “What Starts with the Jews, Never Ends with the Jews,” implying that once any power decides to exert energies seeking a final solution to the “Jewish Problem,” these efforts soon widen to include far more than just the Jews, nor will it end with the Roma or the Evangelical Christians or any other opposing people until all have been cleansed. For proof of this just visit the original home of Islam, Saudi Arabia, and check out the laws concerning any religion or philosophy other than that proscribed by Islam, particularly Sunni Islam and then the Medina Quran over the Mecca Quran (Explained here) which strictly protect Islam as the only religion by which a nation can be ruled, period. There you might be introduced to the concept of the Islamic Waqf which defines any lands ever conquered by Islamic forces must forever remain under Islamic rule or face continuous efforts by force of arms or political pressures to be surrendered once more to Islam and held as such for all time.

 

Surrender is a term used to define Islam as their prayers are a sign that they have surrendered their will, their spirit, their body and mind to Allah and have no will independent from the traditions and interpretations of the Quran. This renders the Imams as the deciders of Islamic life and which verses of the Quran are to be applied. Sometime early in Islam, some say by Mohammad on his death bed but most scholars relent on that claim and tend to agree that this particular Surah 2:106: which is called the Abrogation Surah which makes the Medina verses of the Quran superior and replacing those Meccan verses that contradict or alter (see Arabic and translation below).

 

Surah Al-Baqarah [2:106]

 

None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar: Knowest thou not that Allah Hath power over all things?

 

The disbelievers, pagans, Christians and especially Jews must be forced to surrender to the Islamic forces and to Allah after their defeat or put to the sword, which is a simple euphemism for murdered or put to death. Believers need to have already surrendered to Allah and thus to Islam which in the end becomes surrender and obey their Imam. This is one reason that Western nations need monitor what the lessons, sermons, preaching, beliefs and interpretations of the Quran are as it is in the final end the Imams who define Islam. This was the reason the Egyptian President Sisi stood before the Imams of Al-Azhar University (pictured below).

 

Al-Azhar University

 

The final nail in the coffin, which lowered and all threw dirt as their sign that there could be no compromise, was a few weeks, maybe a month ago, when the Fatah, PLO and even PA all, without a single word of correction from Mahmoud Abbas, the ruling potentate over all things out of Ramallah declared all of their claimed Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea as an Islamic Waqf which meant literally that even a Jew taking sand from the beach in Nehariya, Israel, or anywhere else in Israel, onto a plane and leaving would technically require their being hunted down so those few grains of sand could complete their Islamic Waqf. Abbas has permitted and thus accepted what they had claimed amongst themselves and finally it has been translated by one of the major sources of such translations, Palestinian Media Watch, who recorded and translated a Ramadan Broadcast of PA State Television Broadcast. The presenter, Najeh Bakirat, is listed as the director of this PA TV program and also appears on the show as one of the presenters and was once amongst the officers in Fatah and was assigned his current posting as a director of PA-TV. As defined above, PMW also stated that a Waqf is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law which may not be permitted to be transgressed, especially by an infidel and even more offensively, by Jews who are seen as descendants of apes and pigs.

 

PA TV Ramadan lesson teaches that Islam prohibits Israel’s right to exist: “Holy Palestine is a waqf… It is forbidden to relinquish a single grain of its soil”
Head of the Waqf’s Al-Aqsa Academy of Heritage and Antiquities Najeh Bakirat: “Every grain of soil in Palestine (i.e., including all of Israel) is ours. The status of Hebron is part of the status of Palestine, as it is an integral part of the Palestinian land, like the status of Nazareth in our eyes, and Acre, Haifa, and Jaffa (i.e., all are cities in Israel). Every grain of soil in Palestine is part of the blessed Palestine, the holy Palestine which is a waqf. Therefore it is forbidden to relinquish a single grain of its soil.”

 

 

This marks the absolute end to any chance for a compromise as this announcement has ended all room for there to be but one state and all that is left to determine is whether the state will be another Islamic State or remain the Jewish State, as was the original plan when the British Mandate was adopted and the Zionist Congress agreed to the partition with lands east of the Jordan belonging to the Arab State of Transjordan (later renamed simply Jordan) and the lands west of the Jordan River for the Jewish State. This was the original plans as set forth under the League of Nations and enforceable under Article 80 in the United Nations Charter and as such inviolable even by the Security Council and definitively by the General assembly. This makes all recognition of any Arab or “Palestinian” state an inconceivable notion. Every attempted recognition of such a state when challenged in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would unquestionably and close to immediately be refuted and rescinded as there is but one state approved by world recognition and that would be Israel as the State for the Jews.

 

So, what is a viable, logical, actionable and workable solution, the bi-national state incorporated over time with an incentive plan for Arabs, particularly those prescribing to Islamic supremacy, to leave to reside outside of the Jewish State, outside their loathed Zionist Entity. The first reality would be the changing of the current school systems run by UNRWA or the PA to Israeli run schools under the same administration as are the schools within Israel. Further, the controlling administration of the schools would come under review and if the current system of teachers and administrators once reviewed are found to be incapable of teaching the provided syllabus provided every school, those found to be inadequate would necessarily be replaced. The administrating would be exactly the same as currently exists within Israel. Religious academies, which would include Madrassas, would all be held to including a core set of programs and this would end the argument that religious schools need not teach secular programs or other required and necessary lessons which all public schools are required to teach for graduation. The universities and colleges would also be regulated and their curriculum monitored to assure that they were not teaching courses which included subversive or anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli, Anti-Zionist, Anti-Christian, Anti-Muslim or any other negative education villainizing or disparaging any religion, race, ethnicity, physically challenged, mentally challenged, sexual orientation, gender or age group. This does not require one to ignore, omit, alter or otherwise curtail the teaching of a religion’s holy books in any manner or to change the wordings or definitions even when such appears to go against the previous restrictions though it would be prudent to teach to hate the act, the sin and to love the person; and that it is one’s responsibility not to change but to enlighten them of the words in scripture without belittling or threatening them in any way. These areas must be handled with tact and often if one is unsure they should take an approach of caution. It is important for a multicultural and multi-ethnic society with peoples from varied origins and numerous religions, even if Judaism remains the dominant religion of influence on the laws and mood of the majority of the society and the religion given greater though not undue influence on the society.

 

It would also be necessary to enact a law which would deport all members of a family who included any members involved in terrorism. This would include those planning, financing, producing weapons, explosives, rockets, munitions or storing same and anyone caught performing an attack of a terrorist nature despite their religion. This would include Jews, Muslims, Christians or any other or no religion as when it comes to the law there can be no exceptions. Even government employees and even Minister of the Knesset would not be exempt if they partook in terrorist activities. The current residents of the PA and all PA citizens would initially be granted resident alien status and would be required to apply and go through an approved set of courses and prove proficiency in knowledge deemed required of any citizen which should be equivalent to the knowledge of government and Israeli and Jewish history to give them a fundamental understanding of the Jews attachment to these lands and their difficulties both in Christian, Islamic and other societies.

 

Finally, there would be an incentive program to buy at over market price any properties, business assets not taken with those availing themselves of the buy-out and an added incentive plus arranged transportation to any nation to which any resident of the PA or even Israelis regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or other considerations. The added incentive will be proportional to expected costs of resettlement and weighed within reason and would have a set price which would be considered higher than the mean or average of resettlement costs. Needless to mention is this would make moving to a nation where prices are more reasonable would make the bonus go much further than say moving to Germany or the United States, especially the state of Hawaii. This program would last a defined amount of time, perhaps a decade and after that you make out the best you are able. There would necessarily be other requirements and restrictions likely prove required as deficiencies become apparent but this would be a start, hopefully a good start.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

 

Jewish Prayer in Jerusalem Becoming Point of Contention

The Jordanian Ministers in their Parliament had 86 of the 150 Ministers vote to expel Israeli envoy Daniel Nevo over the Israeli Knesset holding discussions over whether freedom of religion within Israel, including all of Jerusalem, extended as to permit Jews to offer prayers while visiting on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in all of Judaism as well as extending similar protection for Christian prayers as well. This vote in Jordan is the second part of their rejection of the possibility of Jews being permitted to pray openly as one day earlier forty-seven Ministers of the Jordanian Parliament signed a motion demanding that 1994 peace treaty with Israel be annulled over the debate in Israel. Prominent lower house deputy Khalil Attieh was quoted as saying, “All deputies who attended a meeting today to discuss Israel’s debate on sovereignty over Al-Aqsa voted to kick out the Israeli envoy and recall the Jordanian ambassador in Israel (Walid Obeidat). This was in protest at the Knesset debate. It is up to the government to act on the vote. If it does not, we will consider a no-confidence motion.” Jordan’s State-run Petra news agency said the MPs, “demanded the government take immediate action to stop Israel’s schemes.”

 

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy labeled the Knesset Ministers who proposed equal treatment for all religions, especially Jews and Christians, on the Temple Mount, as they are currently reserved solely for Muslims, to be “extremists” to corrupt the political scene and intentionally lead to a crises “in Palestine and the entire region.” He further demanded that Israeli leadership take the necessary steps to curb these extremists who were taking such drastic and dangerous moves and who he claimed, broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and quarreled with the mosque visitors. Fahmy stressed that eastern Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state and that the Al-Aqsa Mosque and all sacred places are part of eastern Jerusalem. He saw no reason to disturb the rules which have been in place since 1967 as they had served to contain the peace and prevent the destruction of any of the holy places found on the Al-Aqsa Mosque Plaza, Islam’s third most holy site. Of course Foreign Minister Fahmy did not see to include that the areas of the Temple Mount are also holy to Judaism and Christianity which seems to be a blind spot found in the vast majority of Muslim spokespeople. They are quick to demand that Islam and its beliefs and places be protected and respected but not quite as adamant to have other religions beliefs and places protected and respected.  

 

Then there was the emergency session of the Arab League called to address the crisis of the Israeli Knesset discussion on equality of rights to pray for all religions which was described as part of the series of “recent Israeli attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” Protesting that recent visits of Israeli rightists to Al-Aqsa will lead to more tension and turn the conflict into a religious one, Palestinian Authority’s Ambassador to Egypt Barakat al-Farra stated, “If Israel continues this policy, it proves that it does not want peace but continues to violate international laws and resolutions.” He further demanded that the international community must fulfill its duty to protect holy sites. Palestinian Authority’s Barakat al-Farra commenting about recent visits of Israeli rightists that threatened the Al-Aqsa Mosque was probably a reference to Minister of the Knesset Moshe Feiglin (Likud-Beytenu) finally being permitted to again ascend to the Temple Mount after ten months of being banned by Israeli police after the Muslim Waqf protested his insistence of acting in a threatening manner and performing actions which desecrated the holy al-Aqsa Mosque. The offensive actions committed by Minister Feiglin was to have appeared to have moved his lips which may have been an effort to pray, which would not have likely been an Islamic prayer but rather the prayer of an unbeliever, a heretical infidel, which, by its nature, is a direct threat both religiously and structurally to the Islamic purity and holy structures within the areas claimed to be wholly holy Islamic area named Haram al-Sharif by Muslims.

 

Meanwhile, back at the debate over whether religious freedoms guaranteed to all people within Israel also extends to non-Muslims while visiting the Temple Mount just as it protects Muslims, Christians, Baha’I and every other religion throughout Israel, the debate took some heated twists and turns. The most extreme disturbances during the meeting of the Interior Committee chaired by MK Miri Regev (Likud Beytenu) occurred once the Arab Knesset Ministers were granted the floor. Among the most egregious examples was provided by Taleb Abu Arar (Raam-Taal) who claimed the Jews have no reason to visit the 3,000 year old site of their First and Second Temple. This is not any new provocative example of revisionist history about the Jewish attachment to the Temple Mount or false narrative concerning the First Temple and Second Temple. Recently the Islamic Waqf, the authority permitted to supervise the Temple Mount by the government of Israel as a sign of deference to possible sensitivities of Islamic concerns for their holy sites built on this location, have issued a pamphlet that makes new claims regarding the Temple Mount which arguing that King Solomon was a Muslim and that there is no Jewish connection to either the Temple Mount or the Western Wall (Kotel). Such revisionist claims reveal that the Muslims refuse to return the consideration and extreme efforts by Israel and her Jewish majority to avoid trampling on any rights or sensitivities of their Muslim citizens and other Muslims within Israeli jurisdictions including those currently living within the semiautonomous rule of the Palestinian Authority. One section which is titled, “Al-Buraq Wall and NOT the Wailing Wall they have written that, “Al-Buraq wall is part of the western wall of the Al-Aqsa mosque.” They also refer to the belief that Mohammed rose into heaven and that the Western Wall is the location where he “tied his winged steed, Al-Buraq.” The pamphlet continues stating, “Jews and some Christians, while falsely claiming it is part of their so-called ‘Temple,’ have made a ritual of standing in front of it, and wailing over the power they say was lost to Muslims. Despite the lack of a shred of proof to support these claims, they have turned it into a Jewish shrine since occupation in 1967.” Still, the most egregious and breathtaking claim has to be that, “Solomon (PBUH) was one of the prophets of Islam.” This is just a small portion of the claims that place in question all claims made by Jews and Christians among which they also claim that Jesus was a Muslim prophet who will serve the Mahdi during the Muslim rendition of the End Times. Despite these offensive and insulting declarations and practices by the Islamic Waqf and other general insults emanating from many among the Palestinian Muslim leadership, Israel continues to grant equal, if not preferential, rights to the Muslims and have no intentions of changing such since, as Jews, we obey the Jewish commandments of Torah which instruct us to treat the stranger among us as if he were a fellow Jew and to always remember that we were strangers in the land of Egypt. All of this is simply another example how in today’s world, no good deed goes unpunished.

 

Beyond the Cusp