Remember the Surveillance Camera Fiasco?

Throwback reminder:

Israel and Jordan agree to put surveillance cameras on Temple Mount
October 25, 2015

Then

JORDAN: CAMERAS TO BE INSTALLED ON TEMPLE MOUNT TO DOCUMENT ISRAELI 'VIOLATIONS'
MARCH 19, 2016

And then

JORDAN ABANDONS PLAN TO INSTALL CAMERAS ON TEMPLE MOUNT
APRIL 18, 2016

And now:

Video from security cameras [outside the compound - YM] obtained by the police shows the first moments of Friday morning’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem, in which police officers Haiel Sitawe and Kamil Shnaan were murdered.

As can be seen in the video, the armed terrorists were in the vicinity of the Temple Mount compound, exploiting the sanctity of the site and Israel’s easing of restrictions on worshippers in order to harm the security forces.

I warned about it. I warned about Um El-Fahm.  I wrote about a problem with cameras in 2014. 

But I'm just a blogger.


_____________

UPDATE I

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Saturday, 15 July 2017), held a telephone consultation on the issue of the Temple Mount. It was decided to gradually open the Temple Mount to worshippers, visitors and tourists beginning tomorrow afternoon (Sunday, 16 July 2017). It was decided that the entrance gates to the Temple Mount would be equipped with metal detectors and that cameras would be installed outside the Mount to cover events on the Mount. Additional security steps will be taken later.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Ronni Alsheich. ISA Director Nadav Argaman and Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevy participated in the consultation.

Outside???

________________

UPDATE II

Chutzpah from our peace treaty partner:

Amman, July 15 (Petra) -- Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Wael Arabiyat on Saturday warned of Israel's unprecedented and persisted violations of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif sanctity under the pretext of containing violence and tension.

The minister held Israeli authorities responsible for the mounting tension and violence in the holy compound because of the violations committed by the occupation authorities and Jewish extremists against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, indicating that Jordan rejects Israel's closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque and preventing worshippers from praying under any circumstances.

In a statement issued today, Arabiyat said Israel's closure of the Mosque on Friday was a dangerous and unprecedented act and constitutes an assault on the freedom of worship. He further added that the Israeli move runs contrary to the principles of religious coexistence and world and social peace and forms sheer breach of international law.

And by the way, this is an example of an incomplete news item category of bias.

Haaretz’s Barak Ravid published at 1:07 AM on the paper’s web site that Jordan's King had condemned the Temple Mount Attack and that a government spokesman called on Israel to immediately reopen the holy site and to avoid measures that change the status quo. However, just before 11 PM on the Saturday, that item above was available.

_______________

UPDATE III

And let the people speak:

Jordanians express outrage over Al Aqsa closure    By Suzanna Goussous - Jul 16,2017

AMMAN — Activists and political parties on Saturday expressed outrage over the Israeli decision to close Al Haram Al Sharif compound in occupied Jerusalem until Sunday, banning Arabs and Muslims from entering the mosque and performing prayers.

...Minister for Media Affairs and Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani on Friday condemned the attack on Palestinians and the closure of the mosque.  Jordan called for the reopening of the mosque, stressing that the Jordanian government will continue to employ its diplomatic, legal and political tools to deal with any attempts to change the legal and historical situation in Jerusalem, Momani said.  

Jordanian MP Kais Zayadin, rapporteur of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament, wrote a post on social media calling on the international community to set punishments for Israel, as it has “executed unarmed Palestinian citizens, without a trial”.

He added: “This terrorist act violates all international legislations and conventions. All those who claim to promote democracy and human rights must act upon it immediately,” he wrote, adding that “the shooting violates the sanctity of the dead”.

And check this.

^

Today's NYTimes English Instruction Lesson

New York Times' Isabel Kershner reports:

three men armed with guns and knives attacked Israeli police officers early Friday in the vicinity of what Jews call the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, Jerusalem’s holiest site for both faiths and an emotional and volatile focal point of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Well, actually Christians know the site as the Temple Mount as well.  There was no mosque there or any Islamic structure until over 600 years after the Second Temple was destroyed. Jesus visited the Temple, not some Muslim Sanctuary.

Why not simply write - instead of injecting in a straightforward news item a NYT's semantic bias - this: 

"in the vicinity of the Temple Mount also called the Haram A-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary)"?

Or this

"in the vicinity of the Temple Mount also known to the Muslims as Bayt Al-Maqdas [House of the Temple], which they call the Haram A-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary)"?

^

Canada Attempts to Halt Flow of Shiloh Wine

Shiloh is in the news, as is our wine [see Update below]:

LCBO CRACKS DOWN ON SALE OF ISRAELI WINESBy Ron Csillag, Staff Reporter -  July 13, 2017

In a replay of controversies seen in Europe, a federal agency in Canada has called for an end to the labelling of wine made in the West Bank as a “Product of Israel.”

The directive from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) came to light via the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), which has asked its sacramental wine vendors to stop importing and selling wines labelled “Product of Israel” that are made in the West Bank and other “occupied” territories.

In a July 11 letter that lit up social media, the LCBO’s corporate affairs office requested that sacramental wine vendors – independent sellers who order wine used in religious ceremonies through the LCBO – stop any importation or sale of bottles labelled as a “Product of Israel” from two West Bank wineries, “or others located in the same region, until further notice.”

The LCBO says it is following a July 6 notification from the CFIA regarding products from the two Israeli wineries.

“The CFIA clarified that ‘Product of Israel’ would not be an acceptable country of origin declaration for wine products that have been made from grapes that are grown, fermented, processed, blended and finished in the West Bank and occupied territory,” states the letter to vendors from Vincent Caron, a policy advisor at the LCBO.

Named in the LCBO directive are the Psagot Winery in Psagot, north of Jerusalem, and the Shiloh Winery in Ma’ale Levona, a West Bank settlement southeast of Ariel.

Critics have angrily denounced the move as bowing to the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli products made in lands captured in 1967.

Canadians for Justice & Peace in the Middle East, a pro-BDS group, has in the past placed stickers on Israeli wines, advising consumers not to purchase them.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said it is “important to note that this does not appear to reflect government policy...”

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center says it is contesting the move with both government bodies. “We consider any action which promotes the so-called BDS campaign against Israel as anti-Semitic. This would be out of step with the existing government policy, which has vigorously condemned the BDS campaign,” president and CEO Avi Benlolo said in a statement...

Yaakov Berg, Psagot Winery’s CEO, said he was “amazed” at Canada’s decision.

“We are living in Judea and Samaria by historic right,” Berg told the Times of Israel on July 12. “Canada, of all places, which was established and developed on basis of occupying and sacrificing the homeland of another people and which has no roots or historical validity to its existence there, doesn’t recognize the right of a Jew to live and cultivate vines on land inherited from his forefathers?”

I have been advised that

The legal basis of the LCBO's letter is mistaken. The non-recognition of sovereignty does not have any direct implications for labeling, or make labeling misleading. Indeed, a French appellate court and the UK Supreme Court have held that "Made in Israel" labeling for Judea & Samaria goods is not misleading under comparable labeling requirements. Thus the EU labels products from West Sahara "Made in Morocco" while not recognizing Moroccan sovereignty.

And

B'nai Brith Expects Disturbing Canadian Food Inspection Agency 

Decision Against Israeli Wines to Be Reversed Soon

UPDATE

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regrets the outcome of the wine labelling assessment which led to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario's (LCBO) response regarding products from two wineries labelled as "Product of Israel".
In our assessment, we did not fully consider the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA).
Further clarification of the CIFTA (Article 1.4.1b) indicates that these wines adhere to the Agreement and therefore we can confirm that the products in question can be sold as currently labelled.
The CFIA will be following up with the LCBO to correct our original response.

^

Jerusalem's Boundaries

I've noted this before but it deserves a reminder as years go by and a new generation of millenials comes of age and realizes (or not) that they know little.

There is a claim that Israel, illegally or otherwise, expanded artificially the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem after the 1967 war.  In other words, land-grabbing.

So, what did the United Nations think the borders of the city were?

Well, as of 15 April 1949, we learn here that:

The area of Jerusalem includes the present municipality of Jerusalem together with the surrounding villages and towns, the most eastern of which is Abu Dis, the most southern Bethlehem, the most western Ein Karim (including also the built-up area of Motsa) and the most northern Shu’fat.

And those were the boundaries as per the Partition Plan of November 29, 1947, too. 

The map:

Much larger in area than the present-day Jerusalem.

^

Walking the Land and Calling It 'The West Bank'

Some six weeks ago, sorry for the belated posting, America's Jerusalem Consulate announced that the U.S. Consul General had "launched a hiking journey across entire West Bank" as he had followed the 321 kilometer Masar Ibrahim Al-Khalil trail.  

Here he is:

The Consulate release informed us that the hike

kicked off on May 14 in Rummana village northwest of Jenin, famous for its hilly landscape and olive trees dating back to Roman times.  It ended in Burquin village at a community center renovated recently with support of USAID.   This first segment covered 18 kilometers and will be followed by 21 sequential hikes the Consul General will walk to complete the Abraham path in the coming year.

Consul General Donald Blome was joined by local officials and members of the Masar Ibrahim Al-Khalili organization (it's full name includes this: "Abraham's Path" which indicates the Islamic appropriation of Judaism and Jewish history) as he explained his reasons for launching the journey: “This journey is all about exploring the connection of the people with the land – deep roots formed through nature, culture, art, and agriculture.”

Dear CG Blome,

there is another people, a collective ethnic community, with a connection with the land – deep roots formed through nature, culture, art, and agriculture.

They are called ... Jews.

We wish you physical success in walking the Land of Israel (I don't think anyone refers to it as the Land of Ishmael) and much enjoyment as you pass through the landscape of the historic homeland of the Jewish People.

And, please, feel free to drop when you pass by Shiloh. You come close, I see:

We have archaeological excavations at Tel Shiloh, olive orchards, vineyards, industry, recreational grounds and good people.   The Consulate has my contact details.

____________

UPDATE

Elder of Ziyon has commented, too.

^

First They 'Took' Jerusalem, Then They 'Took' Hebron

With apologies to the great Cohen.

Leonard Cohen.

-     -     -    -    -

I fully understand my Hebron friends, from the Prime Minister to the Mayor of Hebron, the Jewish Mayor, that is.

But let us recall, last week's Hebron UNESCO resolution was enabled back in  when the previous Jerusalem-centered resolution passed and also United Nations Security Council resolution 2334 (2016), - thanks to Barack Obama* - and in fact, last Thursday's resolution included this reference before getting to Hebron.

And it detailed this regarding Jerusalem:

30.I Jerusalem

...5. Reminding that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the “basic law” on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith,

...7. Regrets the failure of the Israeli occupying authorities to cease the persistent excavations, tunneling, works and projects in East Jerusalem, particularly in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, which are illegal under international law and reiterates its request to Israel, the occupying Power, to prohibit all violations which are not in conformity with the provisions of the relevant UNESCO conventions, resolutions and decisions;

...9. Stresses again the urgent need to implement the UNESCO reactive monitoring mission to the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, and invites the Director-General and the World Heritage Centre, to exert all possible efforts, in line with their mandates and in conformity with the provisions of the relevant UNESCO conventions, decisions and resolutions, to ensure the prompt implementation of the mission and, in case of non-implementation, to propose possible effective measures to ensure its implementation;

Letting UNESCO getting away with that, not consistently following up and demanding some sort of a recall process, led straight to Hebron.


-------------------
*

President Obama had to make that decision. And one of the factors in that decision was, if he vetoes it, does it somehow give his approval to this big party going on about annexation and legalization and widespread settlement construction and the death of the two-state solution? That was a factor. So it was a judgment call.”

A 'New Settlement'? "New"? Really?

Here's the latest from Peace Now:

A new settlement in Sheikh Jarrah

On July 16, the Jerusalem regional planning committee is intended to discuss several plans for settlements within Palestinian neighbourhoods. Of those, 4 plans will be discussed for the Um Haroun neighbourhood (located within Sheikh Jarrah)...two of the plans include the demolition of homes of 5 Palestinian families.The two plans for 13 housing units in Sheikh Jarrah will be established on properties in which 5 Palestinian families currently reside. These properties are under a legal battle through which settlers seek the evacuation of these Palestinian families. Although the Palestinian families are legally regarded as protected tenants they reside in properties that prior to 1948 were Jewish owned, and the Israeli law enables Israeli citizens to return to properties that were owned by Jews prior to 1948...

The accompanying map:

First, Um Haroun neighborhood?

Or...

Nahalat Shimon (Hebrew: נחלת שמעון‎‎. lit. Simeon's Estate) is a Jewish religious neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Nahalat Shimon was founded in 1891 by Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish Kollels, to house poor Yemenite and Sephardi Jews.

Second, new?

Or... 

The cornerstone of the neighborhood was laid in 1890, near the Tomb of Simeon the Just....The land was purchased in 1890 and the first homes were built soon after, housing 20 impoverished families. In 1947, there were 100 Jewish homes in the neighborhood. In March 1948, the British ordered the residents to evacuate within two hours due to mounting Arab violence.

You don't believe they had to leave due to Arab-initiated violence, in contradiction to a UN resolution of November 29, 1947?

And where is the Nashashibi Quarter?

Three, and you thought UNESCO was bad for Jewish history and national identity?

Think again.  And think about Peace Now.

^

'Jihad' is Jihad. It's Intersectional

Big story in the US:

Linda Sarsour, an organizer of the Women’s March, drew criticism over a speech she gave at the Islamic Society of North America convention over the weekend after some misunderstood her use of the word "jihad."

In her speech, Sarsour talked about protecting the Muslim community and the need for Muslims to defend themselves against the Trump administration, which many view as overtly hostile to Muslims and other minority groups.

Some interpreted her used of the “jihad,” which means “to struggle”, as a call for violence. The word has many uses in the Islamic faith, but has been used by terrorists such as ISIS and often is translated as “holy war.”

During her speech, Sarsour told a story about a man who asked the Muslim prophet “What is the best form of jihad or struggle?” The answer from the prophet, according to Sarsour was: “A word of truth in front of a tyrant ruler or leader, that is the best form of jihad.”

Well, be careful America.  It's an intersectional thing:

Rabin Says Arafat's 'Jihad' Remark Set Back Peace EffortBy CLYDE HABERMAN,Published: May 20, 1994

JERICHO, West Bank, May 19— Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel said today that Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, had harmed the Middle East peace talks with a speech in which he seemed to call for a holy war to liberate Jerusalem for Muslims.

Mr. Rabin waved off Mr. Arafat's explanation that he was not calling for violence when he talked recently of a "jihad" for Jerusalem -- an Arabic word often interpreted as holy war -- but rather was speaking in a religious sense and urging a crusade for peace.

Through a spokesman, the Israeli leader said the Palestinian had provided "a far-fetched explanation of an unnecessary misstep, one that badly affects, and will badly affect in the future, the peace process with the Palestinians."

While there was no sign of a crisis in negotiations between Israel and Mr. Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, Israeli officials were nonetheless rattled by the "jihad" dispute, for it reaffirmed their worst fears that the P.L.O. leader is not someone they can trust. And if that is the case, they acknowledge, they leave themselves vulnerable to opposition questions about why they are talking with him in the first place.

In case you forgot, it set back the peace process (as if there ever was one from Arafat's angle).

America, meet Yasir Arafat, er, Linda Sarsour.



^

What Israelis Think, June 2017

From The Peace Index: June  2017, published on July 5, 2017 with survey dates from June 27 to July 2.

The chances of renewing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations: ... 63% of the Jewish public sees low chances of that happening. A majority (55%) of the Arab public, too, downplays the chances of resuming the talks...

Are the sides interested in an agreement? A small majority of the Jewish public (53%) thinks or is sure that the current Israeli government is not interested in reaching a permanent settlement with the Palestinians...

The national-security situation: To the question “How would you define Israel’s security situation at present?” 66% of the Jews responded that Israel’s security situation is good, and even a slightly higher rate (69%) among the Arabs saw it that way. On this question we did not find substantial gaps between the Israeli population’s political camps.

The ability to trust the government and the IDF if a war breaks out: In the Jewish public, 57% trust the current government to make prudent security decisions in such a situation. As for the IDF’s ability to win should a war erupt, the public’s assessment is unequivocal: 88% trust the IDF. That is, while a substantial minority of the public does not trust the decisions the government would make, the Jewish public has almost no doubts about the IDF’s ability to prevail in each of those possible wars...

... regarding the chances that a Third Intifada will erupt in the coming year, we found a small majority (52%) of the Jewish public estimating the chances of it as low. Some 60% of the Arabs similarly see little likelihood that a Third Intifada is imminent.

Concerning the current government’s ability to make security decisions if a Third Intifada erupts nonetheless, a small majority (52%) of the Jewish public trusts it while a large minority (44%) does not put stock in its capabilities if that happens. When it comes to the IDF’s ability to contend with and stop a Third Intifada if it breaks out, again almost all of the Jewish public (82%) trusts it...

The Israeli public’s resilience: As for the Israeli public’s ability to cope successfully if a war or a Third Intifada erupts, 85% of the Jewish public thinks or is sure that it can cope successfully...

That wasn't bad at all.

I guess most Israelis don't read Haaretz.

^

They Are Rabbis, Yes?

From a description of a tour of American Rabbis, via T'ruah, in Hebron:

Hebron is the only Palestinian city in the West Bank that has an Israeli settlement located within it. A total of about 850 Israelis (including about 200 yeshiva students, who are not full-time residents) live here among 200,000 Palestinians – among them, some of the most radical and violent settlers to have emerged during a half-century of occupation. To make sure that the city's tiny Jewish population is protected, hundreds of Israeli soldiers patrol the streets here. But even this very conspicuous military presence is not enough, as the rabbis on the tour soon learn. To avoid friction between the two hostile populations, Israel has imposed heavy restrictions on the movement of Palestinian residents in what used to be bustling downtown Hebron.

I hope those Rabbis know that that is the situation the Palestinian Authority agreed to.

And that Hebron has possessed a Jewish population for many centuries - except when Arabs killed them and raped them and kicked them out, temporarily, of course.

And that Hebron was where David's monarchy began, a political entity that predated an Arab institution of any type of rule by, er, centuries.

And that Hebron is the home of the Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs.

And that the Bible made an extra effort to note it was purchased, not conquered, stolen, or otherwise illegally occupied.

They are Rabbis, yes?

Oh, and that "to avoid friction" bit?  Did the writer intend to convey a disguised neutered description of Arab/Islamic terror? Sniping at infants? Throwing hand grenades at and splaying with machine-gun fire worshipers singing and dancing returning from Friday night prayers? Stabbings by Arab females?

^

A Belated Response to Jeffrey Goldberg

At the end of August 2012, I commented on something Jeffrey Goldberg published.

I now have stumbled on to his response to my comments and, to my surprise, it seems I did not retort. And that is quite unlike me.  Five years have passed. Did I start to compose and forget to finish?

Odd.

Well, since the issues are still with us (and why shouldn't they be?) and as I had occasion to enjoy a lunch together with him at the Merlot Cafe and Restaurant in my home community of Shiloh some months ago, I return to his points.  To the first part of his post:

First, "Arabs living in Judea and Samaria are not citizens of Israel. So, they can't vote." Imagine the following sentence, justifying apartheid: "Blacks in South Africa are black. Therefore, they can't vote." How is this an argument and not a tautology? Obviously (or not obviously, to some people) this is the crux of the situation -- Arabs on the West Bank are denied voting rights in Israel, and are also denied the right to separate completely from Israel. (Their leaders haven't helped the situation, but the Israelis have not helped much either.) A more accurate, if still tautological, statement would have read: "Israel will not enfranchise Arabs living in Judea and Samaria. Therefore, they are disenfranchised."

His example of a comparison of the Arabs in Judea and Samaria to the fact that blacks in South Africa are blacks and therefore cannot vote (but they do, don't they?) - is quite ridiculous, facile and malevolent.  I did not indicate a racial basis for lack of enfranchisement but citizenship.

In fact, the Arabs resident in Judea and Samaria do vote but only when their elected leadership permits them to do so.  Since 2005, when Mahmoud Abbas was elected President of the Palestinian Authority, there have been no elections for that position.  Not very democratic.  If they cannot vote even within just their own limited sphere, how can they learn to be good citizens?  How can they promote a real statehood?

I practiced tautology?  Or did Goldberg simply pervert what I wrote and set up a convenient, and very non-existent, straw man?

If they are granted voting rights, say, in Jordan in a future confederation alignment, they they would possess exactly the same status as the status of the Jews.

They are not denied their own state.  They have refused, since at least 1937 and I would add earlier, to accept any offer of a state but have refused to do so because it would mean a Jewish state is acceptable to them.  For them, it is a zero-sum game.  Even now, they refuse to take any steps in that direction by rejecting US suggestions to halt payments to terrorists.

His "A more accurate, if still tautological, statement would have read: "Israel will not enfranchise Arabs living in Judea and Samaria. Therefore, they are disenfranchised."" is plain nonsensical and silly.

Next:

"Just like an Israeli living in the United States but who is not a citizen cannot vote." Is this what passes for a deep thought among the intellectual leaders of the settlement movement? There's one crucial difference between an Israeli immigrant in America and a Palestinian on the West Bank: The Israeli immigrant in America voluntarily moved to America. The Arab on the West Bank is from the West Bank. He didn't move to Israel, Israel moved to him.

I really do not know how many but I do know that not all Arabs residing in Judea and Samaria are "from the West Bank".  I do know that to be a "Palestinian refugee", one had only to reside in Judea, Samaria and Gaza for but two years. Two years! I hope this isn't too deep for Goldberg to grasp.  It means that a two-year residency gained many Arabs from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan (itself part of Palestine actually) and Egypt, at least, money, food and residency all free from UNRWA, for almost seven decades now.

As for those truly "from the West Bank", I do not know how many supported the Mufti, or the fedayeen or the PLO prior to 1967 and earlier, but there is a price for that. Part of that is that since they attempted numerous times to deny Jews their state - and to kill as many of them in the process - they lose the right to a state.  They could have achieved autonomy, or in September 1967 all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza except Jerusalem, or during 1968-70 the Allon Plan, etc., but they refused.  I do not have to be liable to correct all their mistakes, errors and evil intentions especially as a "state of Palestine" would endanger the lives and existence of Jews and Israel.

They "invited" us in by their terror. They continue to keep us here by their rejectionism and refusal to compromise.

Goldberg's next section:

Of course, the occupation of the West Bank was justified militarily, after Jordan used it to launch an attack on Israel in 1967. But that doesn't change the basic fact, known to all, that Arabs happened to be living on the West Bank when Israel arrived. They are not immigrants to the West Bank. They are native to the West Bank.

And those Jews who were ethnically cleansed from Hebron, Gaza, Gush Etzion, Jerusalem, Atarot, Neveh Yaakov, Bet HaAravah, etc., they are equally native. 

Fourth section:

As for the rest of Medad's post, I simply don't know if he sincerely believes that Arabs on the West Bank have equivalent legal rights before Israel's High Court, or equal access to Israeli services, or if he knows he's pulling our legs.

One of the most dispiriting aspects of the Middle East conflict is the inability of both sides to see that their enemy also has legitimate claims to the territory in dispute. Palestinian rejection of the right of Jews to live in their ancient homeland is absurd and immoral. But so is the notion that Palestinians on the West Bank are somehow immigrants, and should be punished as immigrants until they agree to enjoy their punishment. 

I do know, I do. And they seem to do quite well exploiting our court system.

I see Arabs as having legitimate claims, as in the spirit of the League of Nations Mandate decision of 1922:

in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine

Civil rights. Religious rights. Human liberties and freedoms. But that does not include the establishment of a fictitious Arab state of Palestine in the area of the historic Jewish homeland.  It didn't then and after all their rejectionism, animosity, opposition, violence and such, they surely do not deserve it now.

Jeffrey, is that clear?

^

"The Al-Aqsa Mosque is not the current 'Al-Aqsa Mosque'"

As reported (via Google Translate with editing):

A Jordanian official confirmed that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is not the current 'Al-Aqsa Mosque'

 

Sulaiman al-Tarawneh in the book of the Temple of Solomon bin Dawood [son of David]: 

The traditional Arab-Islamic narratives include a perpetuated  myth of the Al-Aqsa Mosque 

 

A narrative of the most complex narratives...The most important sanctities of the Islamic Ummah, and the uncovering of the hideout towards a national and Palestinian national symbol in the perspective of the roots of our Arab-Islamic heritage. His idea, as he has repeated more than once in this book, began with its sections, on the basis of biased and biased Islamic Arabism, to prove the roots of the authenticity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to deny the importance of the structure or its authenticity.

In the introduction to the book, he points out that the narrative of the book, its meanings, its axis and its route plan is the hidden, concealed or hidden Arab Islamic narrative about the structure in the Holy Quran, the biography of the Prophet, the Sunnah of the Prophet and the history of the Companions. The Quranic interpretation of all its readings and its schools, the Arab Islamic history, the stories, the stories and the trappings of a critical, interpretive, Hermetic perspective, a conceptual and structural interpretation about a fundamental point of problematic and explosive controversy: Was the industry of the origin of the holiness of Jerusalem and its surroundings first, The supposed son of David and the related and what is born of him and through him an Israeli Canaanite and a Jew through the centuries a reality or a myth or mythological concession? Or is it made by the eternal Al-Aqsa Mosque in its general sense, and not the Al-Aqsa Mosque in its Quranic reality and what is Islamic related to it in terms of historical Islam, Islam (legal) or Islamic jurisprudence?

...Here, our religious, historical, and mythological heritage presents mythical hypothetical rationales with all its mythological dimensions, and flimsy flimsy guides with doctrinal, prepositional, fabricated and fabricated theological doctrines for reasons of reinforcement that are not strong, to demonstrate the primacy of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the absolute sacred anthropological time, To form it, and thus it is a mythical predecessors necessarily to the structure of Solomon Ben David supposed in the structure of time sacred open dimensions to the groups and individuals.

"The traditional Arab-Islamic narrative includes the myth of the perpetuation of Al-Aqsa Mosque and its perpetuation in the form of an eternal and undeniable Tuthini, so it is analyzed, dismantled and absorbed by the hidden Arab-Islamic narratives to the core, and related to the social, political, authoritarian, and Arab-Islamic mythology here is a Qur'anic, Anthropology.

This narrative is one of the most complex narratives, metaphorically, queerly and contextually...it claimed and still claims that Islam she is the sole owner of the Jewish Holy Land, because it is the heir of the religion and its sanctities exclusively, supremely, eternally...the sole heir to the Temple plateau, the Holy House and Palestine, and thus the Holy Land in the three Abrahamic religions! All of them have an Islamic stand that can never be waived, because it is a religion that does not erase the eternity of years! 

...Al-Tarawneh believes that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is definitely not the modest age prayer that was later called the prayer of Omar. It was never called by the Sahaba or the followers of Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is a modest prayer in its construction. It was devoid of any aspect of the architecture of the building to limit it to the semi-random use of coffee, wood and logs without roofs, doors, or others. It was a naive framing of the place of prayer to identify it, not a mosque in any way.

...Al-Waleed bin Abdul-Malik...did not build a mosque in the place, did not call the Mosque Omar the name of the Al-Aqsa Mosque at all, Islamic sanctity was the land and not for the building, depending on what was fictional in the time of Solomon.

"The Al-Aqsa Mosque is not the current Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is the Umayyad Abbasid Mamluki Ottoman Mosque, and the Marwani Chapel is evidence of the early ambiguity of naming the Umayyad building in Al-Aqsa Mosque because the term Al-Aqsa Mosque is an ancient religious heritage, Because the Al-Aqsa Mosque is radically different from the current "Al-Aqsa Mosque," which is the Jerusalem mosque or the mosque of Jerusalem as it was called by its sons in their correspondence. Knowing that the word "Jerusalem" Is the middle space of the three main parts of the Temple, and the term "Beit Hamakdash" is a Jewish name, the name of the temple itself, or its status as the principal; for it is the Jew of the holy house of Jehovah. The Jewish priests therefore refrain from mentioning the name of Jehovah explicitly; God is a machine and its name is the greatest button for the operation of that machine which compels it to respond, and the glory of the created human being to such an overlapping circumstance, so the temple was called the House of Jerusalem, "the house of Hamdakash," and the Holy one is Yahweh himself In the Jewish religious custom, evasion of the masculine religion In front of the greatest commoners.

And confirms Al-Tarawneh that all the evidence, hidden and visible, announced and hidden in the Arab-Islamic heritage undoubtedly refers to the truth of the facts not thought of by Islam, namely that the Holy Mosque of Al-Aqsa in the Surat Bani Israel "Isra" , This Al-Ra'awi Mosque on the night of the Isra and Al-Maraj is not the Al-Quds Mosque or the Mosque of Beit Al-Maqdis, which was built during the reign of Al-Walid bin Abdul Malik in 86 AH or 87 AH, after his father built it before the Dome of the Rock in 72 AH, in order to attract the people of the Levant to visit Jerusalem and visit the mosque Dome of the Rock...he invented it so that the people of the Levant would tour the place instead of the Kaaba, as narrated through more than one source of marking by the purpose, even though the most prominent of the raween was the son of many who was the protector of illiterate sons, From the confluence of the Levant to Abdullah bin Zubair, an anti-Umayyad, who took Makkah as the capital of his state, which extended in Hijaz and Iraq...

Well, well.

^ 

Enter? Visit? No, We 'Storm'

We never enter.

Nor do we visit. Or simply walk in.

Nope.

Newspapers review: Restricting Muslims’ access to Al-Aqsa focus of dailies

RAMALLAH, June 30, 2017 (WAFA) – The restriction of Muslims’ access to East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound hit the front page headlines in local Palestinian dailies.


The dailies said Israeli occupation authorities allowed dozens of Jewish settlers led by Israeli police commander Yoram Levy to storm the mosque compound, while they denied Muslim worshippers access to it.  Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported President’s Advisor for Religious & Islamic Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash warning Israeli occupation authorities were “beating the drums of religious war”.

Semantic antics.

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Tunnels and Enemies of the Jews

Are the Gaza tunnels new?

Not really.

From the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Berachot 54:

Our Rabbis taught: If one sees the place of the crossing of the Red Sea, or the fords of the Jordan, or the fords of the streams of Arnon...for all of these he should give thanksgiving and praise to the Almighty...whence is the title derived for the fords of the streams of Arnon? — Because it is written: Wherefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord, Eth and Heb in the rear; [in explanation of which] a Tanna taught: 'Eth and Heb in the rear' were two lepers who followed in the rear of the camp of Israel, and when the Israelites were about to pass through [the valley of Arnon] the Amorites came and made cavities [in the rocks] and hid in them, saying, When Israel pass by here we will kill them. They did not know, however, that the Ark was advancing in front of Israel and leveling the hills before them. When the Ark arrived there, the mountains closed together and killed them, and their blood flowed down to the streams of Arnon. When Eth and Heb came they saw the blood issuing from between the rocks  and they went and told the Israelites, who thereupon broke out into song. And so it is written, And he poured forth the streams2  [from the mountain] which inclined toward the seat of Ar  and leaned upon the border of Moab.

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It's Not Just Water but Clean Water

The Arabs who call themselves Palestinians complain a lot about water problems.

Here:

Israel: Water as a tool to dominate PalestiniansIsrael deliberately denies Palestinians control over their water sources and sets the ground for water domination

Here:

Palestinian villages 'get two hours of water a week'Israeli control over water supplies in the occupied West Bank has left Palestinians desperate.

Here:

Not enough water in the West Bank

Now, here is an illustration, based on last month's report of the Water Authority, that informs us who is treating the water properly:

On the right:

Total amount of polluted water in Judea and Samaria:

Israelis - 23%

Palestinian Authority - 77%

In the middle:

Percentage of water treated in the Palestinian Authority:

Not treated - 87%

Treated - 13%

At left:

Percentage of water treated in the Jewish communities:

Treated - 90%

Not treated - 10%

Peace cannot be made over land with people who do not love the land.

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Remember When Gaza Was a 'Concentration Camp'?

We all know, or, rather, have been propagandized that Gaza is a "concentration camp".

Here: 

Gaza is a concentration camp, and it’s an American delusion not to recognize that —

Here: 

“Let me be blunt: Gaza is a Huge Concentration Camp”

Here:

Vatican says Gaza "resembles a concentration camp".

Well, which concentration camp were Jews in and they were permitted to travel to Jerusalem to hear the shofar blown on Yom Kippur, which would be similar to what Israel permitted this past Ramadan:

"In accordance with the directive issued by Minister of Defense, Avigdor Lieberman, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav (Poly) Mordechai, announced a series of expanded civil procedures for the month of Ramadan for the Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip. Some of the procedures, as specifically mentioned, will continue through Eid al-Fitr....Civil procedures for residents of the Gaza Strip:

A) Prayer at the Temple Mount (on Fridays) - Up to 100 permits will be issued every Friday during Ramadan, for those 55 years and older, by shuttle.
B) Prayer at the Temple Mount (Sunday through Thursday) - Up to 300 permits will be issued for the entire duration of Ramadan. For "special groups" such as Red Crescent employees, worker unions, international organization employees and etc. those must be married, above 50 years of age and without security indications. Those will subject to security checks.

We wish you a blessed Ramadan and joyous occasions,

Major General Yoav (Poly) Mordechai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories

^

Rotten?

In a story on the use of a legal edict of the Military Government in Judea and Samaria, a special order issued in July 1967, “Order Concerning Government Property”, which deals with land expropriation, Clause 5 of the order we learn, states that “Any transaction concluded in good faith between the authorities and another person with regard to an asset the authorized person considered at the time to be government property will not be struck down and is valid, even if it is proven that the asset was not government property at the time of its purchase.”

Dror Etkes of Kerem Navot, funded mainly from Europe, has been quoted in Haaretz saying,

“The purpose of this legal construction, rotten from the foundation, is to raise the claim of ‘good faith’ wherever Israel has stolen private Palestinian land and given it to settlers,” he added. “This is a situation in which lies, denial, violence and manipulation prevail – that is, everything except good faith.”

If anyone is 'rotten', it is Mr. Etkes.

I have debated him numerous times and almost always he uses his material to misrepresent and mislead his audiences by avoiding or misstating the historical and political contexts of the narrative he spins.

^