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ON THIS PAGE:
- Latest Palestinian arson of Joseph's Tomb
- What is Joseph's Tomb?
- The October 2000 Arab arson and desecration of Joseph's Tomb
- The 2011 murder of unarmed Jewish worshiper at Joseph Tomb by a Palestinian Authority policeman, armed with weapons by the USA. One of several murders of Jews by Arabs at the site.
- Link to Joseph's Tomb's news archive.
- The September 2015 set fire to St Charbal's church in Bethlehem, a city under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
- The May 2014 Palestinian attack on worshipers at a village church near Bethlehem.
- The 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Arabs desecrated the place, defecated in it, and used bibles as toilet paper.
- What the arson at Joseph's Tomb tell us about the Palestinians
- When Jerusalem was under Jordanian occupation before 1967, the Arabs used Jewish tombs from Mount of Olives as latrines.
- Palestinian persecution of Christian Arabs
- Israeli Christian priest makes speech at the UN stating that Israel is the only safe place for Christians in the Middle East
- Watch VIDEO of the latest fire set by Palestinians at the Joseph's Tomb compound.
Continue reading, see additional images, and watch video
Several hundred Palestinian Authority Arabs set fire to parts of the Joseph’s Tomb compound
Joseph’s tomb has been venerated throughout the ages by Jews, Christians, and Samaritans.
After Judea and Samaria were restored to Israel in 1967, the shrine was gradually turned into a Jewish prayer room. Friction and conflict from competing Jewish and Muslim claims over the tomb became frequent, and, eventually, the site fell under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority according to the Oslo Accords that specifically stated that Jews would have free access to the holy site.
In 2000, just after being handed over to the PA, Joseph’s Tomb was looted and razed by an Arab mob. Starting in 2002, Jewish groups returned to the site intermittently.
On April 24, 2011, PA police opened fire on three cars of Israeli worshipers after they finished praying at Joseph’s Tomb, killing as Israeli citizen and wounding three others.
An IDF investigation concluded that the Palestinian Authority police officers had acted “maliciously” and with the intent to harm unarmed Jewish worshipers. Then-IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz declared that the Arab policemen fired “without justification and with no immediate threat to their lives.”
On July 7, 2014, Arabs tried to burn down Joseph’s Tomb during a riot.
On December 22, 2014, Jews who were visiting the tomb to light Chanukah candles discovered that the site had been vandalized. Lights were broken and electrical wiring had been cut.
Source
WATCH VIDEO:
RebelMedia short newscast -
Arab Muslims set fire to Joseph's Tomb,
Iran launches ballistic missile that threatens Israel
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What is Joseph's Tomb - or Kever Yosef?
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| Joseph's Tomb (Wikipedia) |
Joseph’s Tomb is located in the heart of Nablus, in the Palestinian Authority-controlled part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank).
Conflicting views exist as to whether or not the patriarch Joseph was buried there; nevertheless, the tomb is recognized as a Jewish shrine.
According to Jewish tradition, Joseph was buried in the biblical town of Shechem, which is near the present-day city of Nablus.
1967 - Following the 1967 War, Israel liberated the site and a small Jewish seminary was built there in the 1980's. The site was also used as a military outpost, and a number of soldiers were stationed there to protect the seminary students and the site itself.
1995 - Nablus was given to the Palestinians in 1995, but the Israelis retained control over the site. Following clashes with Muslim Arabs, Israelis surrendered control to Palestinian police, who were supposed to guard it.
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| Previous arson of Joseph's Tomb by Muslim Arabs Below: Arabs celebrate the destruction |
Instead, the Palestinian Police stood by as a mob ransacked the site, burned books and destroyed reading stands; the mob also burned down the army outpost. On that same day, an American-born rabbi, who taught at the seminary, was found slain outside Nablus.
The Mayor of Nablus, Ghassan Shakaa, said that the site would be repaired. Workers were seen fixing the damage, however, they were also painting the top of the dome green - the color of Islam. Workers say that they want to return the shrine to its former appearance before 1967, but news reports indicated the Palestinians were planning to build a mosque on the spot.
For Israelis, the destruction of a Jewish shrine raised serious doubts as to whether the Palestinian Authority would protect religious sites belonging to Jews and Christians and guarantee access to them.
Israel guarantees access to all holy places under their control according to 1967 Law for the protection of the holy places. (Which the state is failing to do by denying Jews the right to pray at their most sacred site in the world: Temple Mount, where the Jewish Temple once stood before being razed by the Romans.)
2015 - Violence surrounding access to the Temple Mount stoked by leaders of Hamas and the PA sparked attacks on Joseph's Tomb during October 2015. A crowd of 100 Palestinians descended on the Tomb, throwing molotov cocktails and setting the area ablaze.
Photos of the previous arson:
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RELATED
Violence against Jewish worshipers, rioting, firebombing, and the desecration of the site have been an ongoing issue at Joseph's Tomb over the years
One of many acts of Arab arson and desecration of Joseph's Tomb - The 2000 attack
October 7, 2000 - Palestinians stand on the roof of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, after Palestinian fighters and civilians had stormed the Israeli enclave, destroyed holy books, and set the sacred site on fire in a victory “celebration” held a few hours after the IDF evacuated the site. (AP photo/Lefteris Pitarkis)
In October 2000, with the beginning of the riots that heralded the outbreak of the Second Intifada, Samaria Brigade Commander Yossi Adiri ordered that Joseph’s Tomb be cleared of civilians. His request that the compound also be cleared of military personnel, however, was not approved.
A short time later a large group of armed Palestinians attacked the small force that was stationed at the compound. During the attack, on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, October 1, 2000, Border Policeman Madhat Yusuf was wounded, and in the next hours he bled to death. Attempts to coordinate his rescue with the Palestinian police failed.
Over the following days the force that had defended the compound several times was replaced by IDF contingents that were accompanied by Palestinian forces. Finally on October 7, after six days of battle and under a hail of fire, the IDF soldiers withdrew from the compound after the Palestinians had promised to safeguard it.
Soon after, however, the Palestinians, including PA policemen, broke into the tomb, ransacked and desecrated it, and gutted it. Subsequently they painted the roof of the tomb green, claiming that the site was not Joseph’s Tomb but rather a Muslim shrine.
Read more on Danger to Jewish and Christian places in case of Israel's partition for the creation of an Arab terror state.
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Jewish worshiper shot and killed by Palestinian Police at Joseph's Tomb for the crime of praying at the sacred site
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| Ben Yosef Livnat or Benyo Father of four Murdered. |
April 2011 - Palestinian Authority police Sunday morning shot and killed one Israeli and wounded four others after they prayed at Joseph's Tomb (Kever Yosef). The murder victim (pictured below) was identified as 24-year-old Ben Yosef Livnat, a nephew of Likud Minister Limor Livnat and father of four children.
Arabs attacked the funeral procession with rocks as it proceeded from his childhood home of Elon Moreh where he lived with his wife and four children, to Jerusalem. At least one car windshield was broken in the rock attacks, but no one was injured. People from Elon Moreh stood by the highway in dozens of cars as the funeral procession passed.
One of the four who were wounded in the shooting attack is in serious condition, and Army helicopters evacuated the injured to a hospital for emergency care. A group of 15 worshippers from the Breslov Chassidic sect had driven to the site and were returning when they were gunned down by Palestinian Authority police in a jeep.
The PA security forces continued to fire at the cars as they fled.
Kever Yosef is a Jewish holy site that was supposed to be under Israeli control and open to worshippers as stated in previous agreements. However, the government has surrendered the area to Palestinian Authority control, and local Arabs have desecrated it several times.
The Breslov group was known to Palestinian Authority authorities as people who frequently prayed at Kever Yosef without any other intentions, according to Gershon Mesika, chairman of the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council. He called the shooting attack a “massacre at close range."
National Union Knesset Member Dr. Michael Ben-Ari indirectly blamed the American government for having “trained and armed the enemy army that is called the ‘Palestinian Authority police’ and is directly responsible for the murder at Kever Yosef.”
The attack on the morning before the last day of the Passover holiday comes less than a month after the savage stabbings of Rabbi Udi Fogel, his wife Ruthie and three of their six young children, including a three-month-old baby, in community of Itamar, also located in Samaria.
Residents of Judea and Samaria frequently have warned that the removal of roadblocks and checkpoints in the area would make it easier for Arab terrorists to stage attacks and would encourage PA police to attack Jews. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has argued that the easing of security measures are “goodwill” measures that strengthen PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s popularity and help him fight terror.
Source
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More about Ben Yosef Livnat, Joseph's Tomb, and other Jews murdered at or around that holy site.
Benyo is not the first Jew to lose his life as a result of total dedication to Joseph’s tomb and the Shomron – Samaria region. This holy site, was, according to the cursed Oslo Accords, supposed to remain under Israeli control, despite the fact that the city Shechem, was abandoned to Arafat and the Arabs.
However, numerous violent attacks at the site led to the murder of Israeli Border policeman, Cpl. Madhat Yusuf, there in October, 2000. Yusuf, injured by Arab gunfire, bled to death at the tomb when Israeli forces were forbidden to entire the site and save him.
A week later, Hillel Lieberman, was murdered by Arabs while trying to access the tomb following Israel’s decision to abandon the area to the Arabs.
A week and a half later Rabbi Binyamin Herling, also from Elon Moreh, was killed during a hike in an area just outside Shechem. He too bled to death after being wounded, when Israeli forces were forbidden to take actions necessary to end Arab shooting in the area.
September 2015 - The Palestinian Authority has been curiously silent over a major fire at a Christian church in Bethlehem.
In its sole statement, the PA said that the fire at the St. Charbal church in the city was caused by an “electrical malfunction” - a description that is at odds with an account by Israeli Christian Arab Father Gabriel Naddaf, who said that the church was burned down Saturday night by “Palestinian extremists."
“I condemn with all my heart the laxness of the Palestinian Authority in protecting Christian holy places it controls. I also hope that all the Christian leaders who demonstrated when the Church of Bread and Fishes near Tiberias was burned down will also demonstrate against this terrible act,” Naddaf wrote on his Facebook page.
Source
Palestinian gunmen, members of Yasser Arafat’s Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, seized church stockpiles of food and “ate like greedy monsters” until the food ran out, while more than 150 civilians went hungry, the Washington Times report said.
The indulgence lasted about two weeks into the 39-day siege, when the food and drink ran out, according to an account by four Greek Orthodox priests trapped inside. A church helper told the Times the quantity of food consumed by the gunmen in the first 15 days should have lasted six months.
Angry Orthodox priests showed reporters empty bottles of whiskey, champagne, vodka, cognac and French wine on the floor along with hundreds of cigarette butts.
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See news archive of incidents
at Joseph's Tomb over the years.
Muslim vandalism at this sacred Jewish cite,
and violence against Jews have been ongoing
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Palestinians set fire to Christian church
Media silent
Media silent
September 2015 - The Palestinian Authority has been curiously silent over a major fire at a Christian church in Bethlehem.In its sole statement, the PA said that the fire at the St. Charbal church in the city was caused by an “electrical malfunction” - a description that is at odds with an account by Israeli Christian Arab Father Gabriel Naddaf, who said that the church was burned down Saturday night by “Palestinian extremists."
“I condemn with all my heart the laxness of the Palestinian Authority in protecting Christian holy places it controls. I also hope that all the Christian leaders who demonstrated when the Church of Bread and Fishes near Tiberias was burned down will also demonstrate against this terrible act,” Naddaf wrote on his Facebook page.
According to Christian community leaders in Bethlehem, the fire was started by extremist Islamists who for months have been threatening community members with harm. As a result of the fire, several rooms on the church's second floor were completely destroyed. No one was killed or injured.
Bethlehem, now under the control of the Palestinian Authority
Sources quoted by Naddaf said that the fire was just another in a long series of attacks by Muslims against Christians in Bethlehem. “The PA tries to sweep these incidents under the rug but it never condemns these acts, which interfere with freedom of religion,” the sources said. Before PA chief Mahmoud Abbas “lectures Israel on its morality, he should look at his own responsibilities and deal with them appropriately,” Naddaf wrote.
Source
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Muslims stone and attack Christians at a church near Bethlehem, as they commemorated Good Friday
May 2014 - Christian Arab residents of the village of El-Khader in the Bethlehem area were savagely attacked by local Muslims as they celebrated a Christian holiday last week.
A report by CAMERA, an organization which monitors anti-Israel bias in the media, reported that Christians attempting to enter Saint George’s Monastery in the village were intimidated and attacked with rocks and stones.
Some local Muslims either tried to park a car too close the church and/or tried to enter the church during a service honoring St. George - the initial instigation isn’t clear,” she wrote. “But when the intruders were asked to leave, one of them stabbed a Christian man who was outside the church serving as a guard. He was hospitalized. Several then started throwing stones at the church. 7 or 8 Christians were injured and some physical damage was done - broken windows etc. Palestinian police didn’t show up for an hour.”
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| Christian Arabs in Israel |
In an Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, former Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, wrote that “As 800,000 Jews were once expelled from Arab countries, so are Christians being forced from lands they've inhabited for centuries” throughout the Middle East.
Citing statistics, Oren wrote that Ramallah was 90% Christian before the 1948 War of Independence and Bethlehem was 80% Christian. Today Ramallah is a large Islamic city and Bethlehem’s Christians are near extinction (because of Muslim harassment and violence).
El Khader, which is in the Gush Etzion region, is also a center of Muslim attacks on Jews. Cars traveling near the town are frequently attacked by Muslim youths throwing rocks and even firebombs. Rock attacks perpetrated by Arab terrorists have killed and maimed many people, including babies.
Source
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During the 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestinians took over the building and desecrated it, defecated in it, used the Bible as toilet paper.
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| A Greek Orthodox priest, held hostage by Palestinians who took refuge in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, is holding a sign saying “PLEASE HELP,” April 2002. (Government Press Office) |
The indulgence lasted about two weeks into the 39-day siege, when the food and drink ran out, according to an account by four Greek Orthodox priests trapped inside. A church helper told the Times the quantity of food consumed by the gunmen in the first 15 days should have lasted six months.
Angry Orthodox priests showed reporters empty bottles of whiskey, champagne, vodka, cognac and French wine on the floor along with hundreds of cigarette butts.
“They should be ashamed of themselves. They acted like animals, like greedy monsters.
Come, I will show you more,” said one priest, who declined to give his name.
Computers were taken apart and a television set dismantled for use as a hiding place for weapons.
“You can see what repayment we got for ‘hosting’ these so-called guests,” said Archbishop Ironius, according to the Times report.
“They should be ashamed of themselves. They acted like animals, like greedy monsters. Come, I will show you more,” said one priest, who declined to give his name.
Computers were taken apart and a television set dismantled for use as a hiding place for weapons.
“You can see what repayment we got for ‘hosting’ these so-called guests,” said Archbishop Ironius, according to the Times report.
Not infrequently during the intifada, youths threw stones from the Church of the Nativity at nearby Christians and pilgrims.
In August 1989 a large PLO flag was raised over the cross at the top of the Carmel Monastery in Bethlehem. Slogans such as “Islam will triumph” and “PLO everywhere” were inscribed on the monastery’s walls. IDF forces, when they entered the monastery to take down the flag, discovered that the flagpole was booby-trapped with explosives. The explosives were safely neutralized and the flag removed.
Sources
What happened, and Christian clergy reaction
Where is the outrage?
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What the latest arson against Joseph's Tomb tells us about the Palestinians
Whether or not it is historically the real tomb of Joseph, it is certainly a major Jewish shrine.
It is the most important Jewish holy place under Palestinian rule. There are some important synagogues and sites but none associated with a Biblical figure that I am aware of.
Under every agreement between Jews and Arabs, holy places were to be protected and free access allowed.
Lists of holy sites for all religions were compiled by the UN. But Jewish holy sites under Arab rule have never been protected by Arabs; Jordan destroyed dozens of synagogues and did not allow Jews to enter the Old City. Not Israelis - Jews.
Joseph's Tomb is the exception that proves the rule. It is the only Jewish shrine that Israeli Jews have been allowed to access under Arab rule, but that access was severely restricted - only once a month, in the middle of the night, with the IDF protecting the worshipers from Arabs that riot every single time.
If the world community had its way and Israel would withdraw to the Green Line, the situation at other Jewish holy sites like Rachel's Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs would be like that has been at Joseph's Tomb at best. Access would be very limited, accompanied by riots at the very idea of Jews entering "Muslim holy sites."
Yes, by a massive coincidence, every Jewish holy site becomes also a Muslim holy site.
It just so happens that Mohammed chose the Western wall of the Jewish Temple to tether his flying donkey, thereby superseding Jewish rights.
The Cave of the Patriarchs was converted to the Ibrahimi Mosque. Rachel's Tomb very recently became a venerable old Muslim mosque called the Bilal Bin Rabbah mosque. Samuel's Tomb is also claimed by Muslims as their own.
Joseph's Tomb is no different. While Muslims generally associated it with the biblical Joseph, more recently mny have claimed that it is the tomb of an altogether different person, a sheikh coincidentally named Yusuf.
Yet if it was really a Muslim holy site, why are Muslims setting it on fire?
A similar situation happened several months ago, when Muslims set fire on the southern wall of the Temple Mount, in an attempt to draw Israeli forces there.
Besides that, they have used the Al Aqsa Mosque as a weapons depot, they practice soccer and volleyball and parkour on the supposedly sacred grounds (I've never seen them do that at the Kaaba in Mecca.)
Greek Orthodox priest Father Gabriel Nadaf defends Israel before the UNHRC, calls on it to end anti-Israel 'witch hunt.'
If these sites were really holy, they would be venerated, not desecrated.
Either they are not really holy sites, or the idea of burning a Jewish holy place is far more important than the holiness they supposedly have for Muslims.
The overnight fire has, as of this writing, received next to no international coverage because the suspects are Arabs.
Lately, the State Department has been talking about the importance of maintaining the "status quo" at religious sites. Yet no one has ever heard anyone accuse Arabs of violating the status quo.
Burning a religious site and heavily damaging it is a very serious violation of the status quo. While I expect that the State Department will perfunctorily condemn this act, it will not use that magic phrase when discussing this incident.
Moreover, Arabs love to claim that Jews routinely desecrate holy places by merely walking around. Will any media accurately report this as a desecration?
Similarly, Arabs say that they are convinced that Jews want to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque, even though they could do it whenever they want. But this is not the first time that Joseph's Tomb has been set on fire in reality. The psychological projection is perfect, but no one reports it.
Finally, there will be inevitably calls from supposedly liberal Westerners and left-wing Israelis to ban Jews from Joseph's Tomb altogether, just as they are now calling on Jews to stop visiting the Temple Mount.
The thinking is that if Muslims act so extremely as to set fires or stab people using their bogus claims on their bogus holy sites as their excuses, then it is better to remove the excuse. In these cases, freedom of religion for Jews can always be vetoed by Arab violence and threats.
Joseph's Tomb teaches a lot about the conflict. It is too bad that most people refuse to learn.
Source
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ARABS DON'T LET JEWS DRINK WATER AT TEMPLE MOUNT IN JERUSALEM
Arab violence and police impede Jews from drinking water from Arab-only fountain or praying at Temple Mount, the Jewish most holy site where Arab conquerors built a mosque
The Israeli government allows police to disobey Supreme Court order that allows for freedom of worship for Jews
Israel, the land where the ancient Jewish civilization
has to confront the constant threat of
Muslim genocidal violence and destruction.
Temple Mount is the site where Solomon's Temple and the Jewish Arc of the Covenant once stood. When Arabs invaded the land of Israel in the 7th century, they built a mosque on that most sacred Jewish site.
Computer-generated image of Jerusalem in the first century AD
with what researchers think the Jewish temple looked like.
In 1967 Israeli soldiers liberated Temple Mount from Jordanian occupation. Then the secular Israeli government, despising its own religious traditions, handed over control over that mosque to the vanquished Jordanians.
Temple Mount - The golden dome was built by the Muslim conqueror
Israeli police nowadays, indoctrinated by authorities to consider religious Jews as enemies, mistreats and arrests Jews for even moving their lips at Temple Mount, or for lowering their head, signs that could indicate that they are praying. Just because Arabs don't want Jews to pray there.
The Israeli Supreme Court guarantees freedom of worship, including Temple Mount, so the Israeli police - with approval from higher authorities - are violating the law of the land.
The Israeli government bowing to Arab pressure to ban Jews from Temple Mount leads police to harass Jews who make the effort to assert their rights, and to illegally arrest many of them. PM Netanyahu (a right-wing politician in name only) is allowing the creeping Arab takeover of Israeli land and heritage.
For years the Israeli government has allowed Arabs to use bulldozers to destroy Jewish archaeological treasures within Temple Mount. Israeli archaeologists have been known to have to go to garbage dumps to retrieve the broken pieces.
The area today
VIDEO - Why Palestinians want this video
removed from YouTube
The truth about Temple Mount
VIDEO - 4000 YEARS OF JEWISH JERUSALEM
IN 5 MINUTES
On this page read:
- Jew attacked for drinking water at Temple Mount (see VIDEO)
- Background historical article by Eli Herz: Does Islam have a connection to Jerusalem?
- Outline of Jerusalem history
- PM Netanyahu's appeasing pro-Arab policies behind police harassment of religious Jews at Temple Mount
- Archaeologist slams Arab destruction of Jewish heritage at Temple Mount
- Jews made to wait three hours in the hot sun to access Temple Mount, while Christian visitors are whisked right in.
- Jewish groom arrested on wedding day for praying at Temple Mount
- Obscene: US District Attorney says Israel has no right to Jerusalem.
- NEWS UPDATE June 5 - Religious Jewish student part of Hebrew University school field trip to Temple Mount is blocked by police from entering Temple Mount because of his religiosity (was wearing a kippa under his baseball cap).
- E-MAIL LETTER OF PROTEST to the Israeli government to put an end to Arab thuggery and racism at Temple Mount. https://www.templeinstitute.org/stop-anti-Jewish-racism-on-the-Temple-Mount.htm Read more about the letter of protest: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/7087#.VXBVo5tFCM8
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Jew attacked for drinking water
at Temple Mount
By Tova Dvorin and Yishai Karov, Arutz Sheva
Jewish men were once against mobbed and attacked on the Temple Mount on Wednesday - this time, by Arab women loitering at Judaism's holy site who pounced on them for daring to drink from the water fountain.
Footage shows the Mourabitoun, Muslim women who serve as guards over the Mount by harassing and occasionally assaulting Jews who visit, surrounding the two visitors, shouting "Allahu Akhbar."
Gilad Hadari, the Temple Mount activist who was present, said he was attacked by one of the activists and filed a complaint with the police about it.
He noted that in recent months the situation has worsened on the Temple Mount. "The situation is deteriorating every day," he stated to Arutz Sheva Wednesday afternoon. "There is no law and no judge on the Temple Mount and they are allowed by police to yell, threaten, attack police and break privacy."
Hadari called on Internal Security Minister Glad Erdan (Likud) to act immediately to stop the attacks.
Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, who is representing Hadari, said that his client intends to initiate proceedings both against lawbreakers and against the police - and that the video reveals "incredible incompetence."
Arutz Sheva already revealed last week that Jews have been banned from drinking water on the Temple Mount, whether from bottles or from the public water fountain - despite the fact that Muslims not only host elaborate meals there, but even hold soccer matches at the holy site.
Arabs pray facing Mecca
and with their backsides towards Temple Mount
Outline of Jerusalem history
The following list of twenty-one dates is a summary of the 3,700-year-old relationship of the Jewish people to Jerusalem.
1738 BCE The first Jew goes to Jerusalem
Abraham, the founding father of the Jewish people, was sent by God to Israel. After arriving in Israel, Abraham went to Jerusalem where he received a blessing from king Melchizedek.
1676 BCE The binding of Isaac
One of the most important events in early Jewish history was when Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac. This took place on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem.
1590 BCE Jacob’s dream
One of the most important experiences in the life of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, was his mystical dream about a ladder that reached to heaven. This dream took place in Jerusalem.
866 BCE Jerusalem becomes the capital of Israel
King David established Jerusalem as the capitol city of Israel.
825 BCE The first Temple in Jerusalem
King Solomon built the first Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple stood for 400 years until being destroyed by the Babylonians.
423 BCE Destruction of first Temple
The Babylonians conquered Israel, destroyed the Temple and exiled the Jews
352 BCE The second Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple was rebuilt and stood for another 400 years.
70 CE The second Temple is destroyed
The Romans destroyed the second Temple.
312 Christianity expels Jews from Jerusalem
The Christians ruled Israel for 300 years and made it illegal for Jews to live in Jerusalem.
638 The Muslims conquered Jerusalem
The Muslims conquered Israel and Jerusalem. Though they allowed Jews to move back into Jerusalem, they also built their mosques atop Judaism’s holiest site—the Temple Mount.
1099 Christians return to Jerusalem
The Christians defeat the Muslims and kill all the Jews in Jerusalem.
From the time of the destruction of the Temple, no foreign ruler paid much attention to Jerusalem and it became a poor, run down city that suffered from a lack of clean water, from disease, and from robbers.
Despite this, Jews everywhere dreamed of returning to Jerusalem and many literally risked their lives to travel and settle there. The Western Wall, the last remnant of the Temple, was the holiest place in Jerusalem for prayer.
1267 A new synagogue in Jerusalem
The Ramban was a great rabbi who was forced to flee Christian persecution in Spain. He went to Jerusalem where he re-established the first synagogue in 150 years. That synagogue became the center of a small new Jewish community and was used for 300 years.
1500 Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura
Though Jews were scattered all over the world, many made heroic efforts to move to Israel and settle in Jerusalem. Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura was a great scholar who moved to Jerusalem.
1517 The Turks conquer Jerusalem
The Turkish empire conquered Israel and Jerusalem and ruled for 400 years until the end or World War I.
1699 Yehuda Hachassid
Rabbi Yehuda Hachassid led 1,000 Jews from Poland to Israel where they settled in Jerusalem. The Yehuda Hachassid synagogue was in use for over 200 years until it was destroyed in1948 by the Jordanians. It is currently being rebuilt.
1742 Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar moves to Jerusalem
Rabbi Chaim Attar, a great scholar and mystic, moved with his family and many of his students from Morocco to Jerusalem.
1777 The Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement, inspired many to emigrate to Israel. In 1777, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk led a group of 300 Russian Jews to Israel.
1809 The Vilna Gaon
Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna (known as the Vilna Gaon) encouraged his students to move from Lithuania to Israel. From 1809 to the late 1830’s approximately 200 people a year left Lithuania for Israel where most of them settled in Jerusalem. The Vilna Gaon himself tried twice to make the move but was unsuccessful.
1917 The British conquer Jerusalem
England defeated the Turks in World War I and conquered Israel and Jerusalem.
1850 - 1948 The great return to Jerusalem
Over the centuries the Jewish population slowly grew until there were 10,000 Jews living in the city in 1850. (There were also 6,000 Arabs and 4,000 Christians living in the city.) At the end of World War I, the British promised to help the Jewish people rebuild a homeland in Israel. By 1948 there were 650,000 Jews living in Israel and 100,000 in Jerusalem.
1948 The Jordanians destroy the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem
In 1948 Israel fought and won the War of Independence, but it lost Jerusalem to the Jordanian forces. All of the Jews who lived within the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem were either killed or driven out by the Jordanians.
The Jordanians destroyed all of the synagogues in the city and would not allow any Jews to live in Jerusalem or even visit the Western Wall to pray. Israel established its capitol in the new city of Jerusalem that was outside of the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem.
Source
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/194263#.VW8yR5tFCM8
1967 The Six-Day War and Jerusalem-Yom Yerushalayim
Though the modern state of Israel was born in 1948, for twenty years, Jews were cut off from the heart of Jerusalem. In the spring of 1967, the Arab countries that surround Israel were planning to attack and destroy the Jewish state. Instead of suffering defeat, Israel won the war in just six days.
On June 7, 1967—after almost 2,000 years— Jerusalem was united and the Old City of Jerusalem was once again the capital of the Jewish homeland.
The restoration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel 2,800 years after King David first made it the capital, and 2,000 years after it’s destruction by the Romans, just might be the most incredible event in all of world history.
Source
Jewish Jerusalem at night
Police stops Jews from drinking water at Temple Mount
By Gil Ronen, Arutz Sheva
Other than breathing, it appears all Jewish rights on Temple Mount have been taken away, and Rabbi Chaim Richman, International Director of the Temple Institute, is exasperated.
Jews who belong to the growing stream of Temple Mount adherents are used to being mistreated by the police and harassed by Muslims there, but Sunday's instruction by a policeman to a Jewish visitor has surprised even the seasoned pilgrims.
The policeman – whom Temple activists identified as a Druze – told the Jewish man that he may not drink water.
Police manhandling Jews who tried to pray at Temple Mount
"Naturally, it is a hot day today, I went to get a drink,” the man, Elishama Sandman, told Ynet. “When I came close to the faucets, the policeman stopped me and told me that I do not have permission to drink.” Sandman asked him if this was a new instruction and the policeman answered in the affirmative.
“Saying to people who are already cooking in the sun for two or three hours that they can't drink water is saying one of two things,” Richman told Arutz Sheva Monday. “Either that they should die in the heat, or that they can't go up to the Temple Mount.”
Netanyahu is behind it - does not want to make Arabs angry
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| PM Netanyahu, harsh on Jews, soft on Arabs |
Rabbi Richman has no doubt that the single element behind the policy against Jewish visits to the Temple Mount is Netanyahu, who believes that insistence on Jewish ascent to the mount could create a large scale conflagration in the Middle East at a time in which Israel does not seek one.
Netanyahu, he explained, gets his marching orders regarding the Temple Mount from Jordan's King Abdulllah 2.
“Why degrade ourselves to this extent, even if this is something he is doing for national security?” asks Richman rhetorically. “After all, what he is giving up shows the Arab world we are willing to foreclose on the very secret of Jewish identity – the Temple Mount. What message does this send our neighbors? This is a picture of anarchy.”
Source
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Even the pro-Palestinian New York Times
is shocked at the violent discrimination against Jews at Temple Mount
The New York Times has openly addressed the disparity between Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount this week - a possible first for a newspaper now often associated with anti-Israel views.
The paper published a piece entitled "Palestinian Women Join Effort to Keep Jews from Contested Holy Site," which presents testimony from Palestinian Arab women who campaign to keep the Temple Mount Muslim "so that the Jews don't get it," as one interviewee stated.
Despite the pro-Palestinian-leaning angle, the article states explicitly that the Mount "is the holiest site in Judaism" and only "the third holiest place in Islam" and that the site is really maintained not by Israel, but by the Jordanian Waqf Muslim Authority - the Islamic organization which prevents Jewish prayer with an iron fist.
The article also describes in detail how women gather at the entrance to the Mount and wait to harass religious Jews who dare to visit the site, crying "settlers!" and shouting Islamic slogans.
The accounts corroborate with eyewitness reports and video from Temple Mount prayer rights organizations and are a rare admission of how Palestinian Arab women "play the victim" for cameras despite being the perpetrators of anti-Semitic violence.
One snippet of dialogue recorded documents the indifference of the Israel Police on-site as well, after an officer told a tourist that "it's what they believe."
Overall, the article focuses more on the feminist side of the story, exploring the opposition the Arab women reportedly face from Palestinian men for their involvement and how women are viewing radical anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity on the Mount as a source of feminine empowerment.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/194263#.VW8yR5tFCM8
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Archaeologist Slams 'Islamic Brutality
on the Temple Mount'
Archaeologist reveals ancient mosaic floor on Dome of Rock from Second Temple days damaged to degree as yet unknown.
Archaeologist Dr. Gabi Barkay, director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, told Arutz Sheva on Tuesday that the extent of the damage inflicted to the ancient mosaic floor of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount may never be known.
"The rugs that were donated by Abdullah the King of Jordan have already been attached to the floor, there is no documentation of the floor under the rugs - I was there and they didn't let me in," Barkay said. "The information we know is only from videos spread on the internet by Islamic sources."
According to the archaeologist, the ancient floor is located above historical sites of the highest importance, aside from being located on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.
"A portion of the floor is in halls surrounding the building since the Crusader Period, the other portion is in a more ancient cave, perhaps from 3,000 years BCE, and part of it is likely to be from the days of the Second Temple," said Barkay.
Muslim Arabs have repeatedly bulldozed parts of biblical Temple Mount in the past,
in order to destroy Jewish artifacts. They do it under the guise of making "repairs"
Those archaeological treasures ended up in a garbage dump.
Israeli archaeologists have made an effort to retrieve what they can.
Pusillanimous Israeli authorities are afraid to confront Arabs by enforcing the law
Describing the ancient mosaic floors, he said, "on one of the flooring tiles in the shape of a hexagon, when you tap it there's an empty space (below it); this is described in ancient sources as the 'well of spirits,' a place where there are the spirits of tzadikim (righteous people - ed.)."
The archaeologist said that Israel must not allow the Jordanian Waqf to destroy ancient Jewish artifacts - his project sifting through detritus from the Temple Mount involves trying to find Jewish relics that the Waqf has destroyed and putting the pieces back together.
"The Dome of the Rock is a building that has stood since 691 CE, it's a building that stands on the site of the Jewish Temple and that must be said, even if there are ideological differences," said Barkay.
He continued, "in the past there were barbaric acts and brutal destruction with bulldozers, these are part of the acts of the Islam that wants to eliminate signs of other religions."
"We need to be strict about having constant surveillance, and it turns out that the committee to prevent the destruction of antiquities on the Temple Mount, of which I am a member, is very necessary still today. It's true that there's better surveillance of the Israel police, but a more constant surveillance is needed," said Barkay.
Source
Read complete article and references on the Arab war on Jews over the Temple Mount here:
Temple Mount News Archive
Israel National News
Jewish Press
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'Moderate' JORDAN HONORS PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS who murder Jewish civilians
And how Jordan destroyed synagogues and used Jewish tombstones as LATRINES during its occupation of Jerusalem before it was liberated by Israelis in 1967
![In the picture: a headstone that was torn out and used as a bathroom structure. (Photographs from the booklet Chilul Hakodesh [Desecration of the Sacred], published by the Religious Affairs Ministry)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tgM0qPGUpQ51JEXd518F9U0QlpHc7p3GAw_YKtTXPJaakVioSGVZzHkc8QKGFDmF1v60hTa3__lSQW5HLq1hhM3nX0SgyJx0Fept5SRV53WUx0kokzNdZt6Kb1MV-zbaQI9yuKsLbvzyy5FmYh8PlfQmVdTawSWBeGqwy5G39MwlFAw1cAMSE6GpAKkDpCxibDCFg=s0-d) |
| Jewish tombstone used as a latrine by Jordanians during their occupation of Jerusalem http://jcpa.org/danger-jewish-christian-places/ |
Before the United Nations voted in favor of the Patition Plan on November 29, 1947, the Arab Legion of Jordan (created by the British) attacked Jerusalem. Their forces blocked Jerusalem's roads and cut off the city's access to water.
After bitter fighting, the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City fell to the vastly superior arms and numbers of the Arab Legion. The surviving Jewish inhabitants fled to the "New City," the four-fifths of the capital that Israel successfully held.
- The Old City, including the Jewish Quarter, officially fell to Jordan on May 27, 1948.
- Nearly twenty years later, during the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel's army liberated Jerusalem's Old City, finding the area completely neglected and virtually destroyed.
- All but one of the thirty five synagogues within the Old City were destroyed.
- Those note completely devastated had been used as hen houses and stables filled with dung-heaps, garbage and carcasses.
- The revered Jewish graveyard on the Mount of Olives was in complete disarray with tens of thousands of tombstones broken into pieces to be used as building materials.
- Large areas of the cemetery were leveled to provide a short-cut to a new hotel.
Jerusalem Synagogue destroyed by Jordan
Mount of Olives Jewish cemetery gravestones
used by Jordan as building material and latrines
Jewish tombstones used as steps by the Jordanians
See more images on photo gallery
Jordan occupation of Jerusalem
Jews were expelled. Tombstones were used as latrines
Jordan expels Jews from Jerusalem - 1948
Read more about the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem
Backgrounder - History of Jerusalem
Read full article about Jordan here
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DOES ISLAM HAVE A TRUE CONNECTION TO JERUSALEM?
MOHAMMED NEVER SET FOOT IN THAT CITY
ISLAM IS THE REAL OCCUPIER
Read more
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Reference
Extended article on the danger for Jewish and Christian holy places in case Israel is ever partitioned to create another Muslim terror state
Rachel's Tomb in Hebron. Another holy site under attack by Muslim Arabs in Israel
Read more about Jewish and Christian holy sites in what would become the Islamic state of Palestine
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THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS BY MUSLIM PALESTINIANS - And their steady disappearance from ancient holy land - Official Muslim discrimination, harassment and violence has driven them away
Main points followed by column by Pierre Rehov
- The Palestinian Authority (PA) rules over Arabs living in Judea and Samaria (West Bank). This was the result of the US-instigated Oslo Accords of the early 1990s.
- Although not an independent country, it has its own government, judiciary, and police.
- A set of laws concerns Dhimmis, - Christians and other non-Muslims living in a subservient status, and subject to discriminatory regulations.
- Once Muslims invaded the land of Israel in the 7th century, they tried to force conversion on the inhabitants of the land (Jews and Christians) and imposed Islam's dhimmi laws on them.
- Because, under dhimmi laws, non-Muslims under Muslim rule may not testify against Muslims, it is virtually impossible for Christians to use the judicial system to recover lands and property stolen by Muslims.
- The erosion of the Christian presence has peaked under Palestinian Authority rule.
- Bethlehem went from 60% Christian in the 1990s to just 10% today.
- In the meantime, Christian population inside Israel continues to grow and has now reached approximately 140,000.
- In spite of factual evidence of persecution of Christians by Muslims in the Palestinian Authority, Christian churches in the West continue with their vicious campaign of demonization and boycotts against Israel.
- Photos below: Pope John Paul II (left) met twelve times with terrorist Yassir Arafat. Pope Francis (right) has met numerous times with Mahmoud Abbas, the financial mastermind of the Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes, Holocaust denier, and who routinely eulogizes terrorists who kill Jewish civilians.
Holy Land: The Perils Facing Christians
"All this talk about Israel being behind the pain of Christians in the Palestinian Territories is nonsense. Muslims intimidate us. They burn our stores, steal our real estate. They build mosques beside our churches, and make sure that the calls for prayer disrupt our services. They attack our daughters. There are many cases of rape that have never been reported. Families hide it out of shame, they move away. They flee." — Christian official.
Under dhimmi laws, non-Muslims under Muslim rule may not testify against Muslims, so it is virtually impossible for Christians whose lands have been stolen, or whose lives have been threatened, to appeal to the local legal system.
If you ask anyone in the Middle East the meaning of the saying, " First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people," he will answer with a smile: "First, we will get rid of those who pray on Saturday, and then we will get rid of those who pray on Sunday."
A recent survey conducted by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs shows that the Christian Population of Bethlehem dropped from 90% in the 19th century down to 60% in the 1990s. Today Christians make up less than 10%. What happened?
Of course, many Christians fled in the 1940s and 1960s, out of fear of the war, or as a result of intensive anti-Jewish propaganda. At that time, Christians already suffered discrimination from Muslims, and many also opposed the rebirth of the Jewish nation. Their views, apart from their faith, were more influence by the local, Arab culture, than by the European Enlightenment.
Arafat is put in charge - The Oslo Accords
The real drop in Christian population, however, took place as a side-effect of the Oslo process (that put Yassir Arafat in charge of the Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria (West Bank).
As soon as Yasser Arafat and the PLO had established the Palestinian Authority [PA] in the West Bank and Gaza, Christians began to be persecuted.
Dhimmitude for Christians
Despite the official stance of public figures, such as the mayor of Bethlehem, for instance, Christian residents of the PA (among them, Hanan Ashrawi, the first elected woman in the PA), live in these Muslim-controlled areas as dhimmis: according to Muslim laws, second rate citizens, protected by Muslim authorities, as long as they accept certain rules.
One of these rules forbids a Christian to sell his property, whether a shop or a house, to another Christian if he decides to move abroad. Only to Muslims. But that is just the beginning.
Another practice used by PA, especially during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, was to enter the houses of Christians and fire across the valley at houses of Jews. What the Israeli soldiers see is just a muzzle-flash coming from a window, so they return fire and shoot back it. They do not know if it is coming from a "Muslim" window or a "Christian" window. The Christians, tired of having their apartments and houses shot into, moved out -- and their neighbors moved in.
The desecration of the Church of the Nativity
During the siege of the Church of the Nativity in 2002, terrorists used the same strategy, firing at Israeli troops from within the holiest Christian shrine in Bethlehem, meanwhile desecrating the inside of the Church. Nuns and priests called for help, but nobody heard their voices. Apparently the story is only appealing when Israel can be blamed.
During the pope's visit, Muslims make it clear who is in charge
Two years earlier, Pope John Paul II, while visiting Bethlehem, had, in silence, to face the insult of being interrupted during his speech by the Mufti's call for prayers... even though it was not the time for prayers. The scene, filmed by Italy's Rai2, was later on erased from its archives, at the request of the Vatican.
The same type of proceedings occurred during the recent visit of Pope Francis, who was led to stop and pray in front of the security barrier, which had been first freshly covered with inflammatory graffiti, even though this stop was not included in the protocol, nor, probably, would it have been had his delegation received the courtesy of a request.
Harassment as a means of ethnic cleansing
In any event, in 2006, Hassan El Masalmeh, a Hamas member of the Bethlehem City Council, publicly announced his intention to implement a discriminatory tax on non-Muslim residents. This tax, called jizya, has existed since the birth of Islam as part of dhimmi laws in many Middle East countries.
In the meantime, many Christian families complained that their daughters were being threatened with forced conversions, and, as they did not dress with sufficient Islamic modesty, were often faced with rape.
Christian clergy have officially sided with the Muslims
Official complaints, understandably, are rare. After years of persecution, dhimmis, are afraid of retaliation and often, if they want to keep on living in their neighborhoods in what they hope will be peace, take the side of their persecutors.
NOTE: Although the above paragraph blames 'fear' for ongoing Arab Christian clergy support for the Muslim Palestinian nationalism, anti-Semitism runs deep in Christianity.
Support for Arabs who want Jews out of Israel is pervasive in Christian churches in the West. Protestant churches (other than some Evangelicals) are actively engaged in boycotts and demonization of Israel. The Vatican has solidly endorsed terrorists such as Yassir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, with the pope frequently meeting with them and making official statements of support for their activities - even terror - aimed at creating a separate state. Blogger
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In 2012, for example, the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, known for its basic anti-Semitic views, fully backed the application for "Palestine's" membership to the United Nation by publishing a letter condemning Israel in harsh terms:
We, Palestinian Christians are the descendants of the first Christians. We are also an organic and integral component of the Palestinian people. And just like our Palestinian Muslim brothers and sisters, we have been denied our national and human rights for almost a century… We have persevered through 64 years of exile and 45 years of occupation, holding on to His message of peace. We, Palestinian Christians say enough! Our message is simple: to achieve peace, the world must also say enough to occupation and the degradation of human dignity.
Other Christian officials, such as the then Archibishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, do not even hide their basic anti-Semitism when they blame Jews (and even Christians) for the suffering of their flocks under Muslim rule. What the letter does not express, is the reality of daily life in most of the Palestinian Authority.
A Christian official, who asked to remain anonymous for reasons of security said:
"All this talk about Israel being behind the pain of Christians in the Palestinian Territories is nonsense. Muslims intimidate us. They burn our stores, steal our real estate. They build mosques beside our churches, and make sure that the calls for pray disrupt our services. They attack our daughters and insult them. There are many cases of rape that have never been reported. Families hide it out of shame, they move away. They flee."
In 2013, a few families of Bethlehem and Ramallah finally wrote a letter to the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
More than 150 attacks on Christian properties had been documented and reported, including land theft, forces conversions, death threats, and physical violence.
Because, under dhimmi laws, non-Muslims under Muslim rule may not testify against Muslims, it is virtually impossible for Christians whose lands have been stolen, or lives have been threatened, to appeal to the local legal system. Many who have dared to file complaints are still waiting to receive an answer to them.
In the meantime, Christian population inside Israel didn't stop increasing, and has now reached approximately 140,000.
It has been reported than an orthodox Priest, Father Gabriel Nada, recently created an organization promoting the enrollment of Christians in the IDF. The numbers have not been published by the Israel Defense Forces, but the hundreds of Christians who enrolled chose combat units.
Recently, an Israeli Arab film maker, Suha Arraf, presented her latest work at the Venice film festival, and received a lot of attention for labeling it "Palestinian" after receiving close to $400,000 from the Israeli Film Fund.
The film pretends to describe the life of a Christian Family in Ramallah, suffering from an identity crisis... due to the Israeli occupation.
But Suha Arraf is not a Palestinian. She is an Israeli Christian Arab.
Of course, the Israeli Ministry of Culture, feeling betrayed -- as its purpose is to participate in the production of films carrying Israeli identity -- asked for a full refund.
Interviewed on the matter by the extreme left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the film maker answered that she was Israeli, Christian and Arab but felt as "Palestinian" as most of the Arabs living in Israel.
What Suha Arraf tried to describe in a romantic way would have been far more scary if she just stuck to the facts, rather than the politically correct narrative, which is to portray all Arabs living in the Territories as "suffering from the occupation."
There might be a connection between the way Christians are treated inside Israel, despite Muslim and anti-Semitic propaganda, and this increasing determination to be able freely to live in the religion of their choice: as Christian-Israelis. Certainly not as Palestinians.
Sorry, you who think that all Arabs living in the PA are "suffering from the occupation." You got it all wrong.
Pierre Rehov is a reporter and a documentary filmmaker. He made two films on the situation of Christians in the Middle East: "Holyland: Christians in Peril" and "First Comes Saturday, then Comes Sunday".
RELATED
Dhimmitude
Dhimmitude -
The desecration of the Church of the Nativity
What happened, and Christian clergy reaction
Where is the outrage?
CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN THE WEST HAVE OPENLY SUPPORTED MUSLIM TERROR AGAINST ISRAEL, while silent about Muslim persecution of Christians - Now they are reaping the results of their wicked tacit alliance with Islam as Christians are increasingly abused and murdered
POPE FRANCIS SAYS USING FORCE TO STOP MUSLIM TERRORISTS WHO KILL THE INNOCENT IS JUSTIFIED - Except when the terrorists are Palestinians who murder Jews
Israeli Christians increased support for Israel
"ISRAEL IS THE ONLY SAFE PLACE FOR CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST"
says Father Gabriel Nadaf, leader of Christian Aramaeans in Israel
ISRAELI CHRISTIANS REGISTER AS "ARAMAEANS" AND REJECT ARAB NATIONALITY -
Increased Israeli Christian support for Israel due to Palestinian Muslims persecution of Christians
Link to entire article about
Palestinian persecution of Christians
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"ISRAEL IS THE ONLY SAFE PLACE FOR CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST" says Father Gabriel Nadaf, leader of Christian Aramaeans in Israel, who recently rejected their "ARAB" designation, in favor of ARAMAEAN
Greek Orthodox priest Father Gabriel Nadaf defends Israel before the UNHRC, calls on it to end anti-Israel 'witch hunt.'
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| Father Gabriel Nadaf at the UN |
Greek Orthodox priest Father Gabriel Nadaf, a leader of the Aramaean Christian minority in Israel, spoke before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Tuesday in a strong show of support for the Jewish state.
The UNHCR recently it appointed a biased committee to investigate claims of "war crimes" against Israel in Gaza, and praised the human rights "achievements" of Hamas and Islamic State (ISIS) supporter Qatar.
In spite of such UN bias, Nadaf spoke firmly, calling for the world to stand by Israel against terror.
"Across the Middle East, in the last ten years, 100,000 Christians have been murdered each year. That means that every five minutes a Christian is killed because of his faith," reported Nadaf.
"Those who can escape persecution at the hands of Muslim extremists have fled. ...Those who remain, exist as second if not third class citizens to their Muslim rulers."
Nadaf continued "in the Middle East today, there is one country where Christianity is not only not persecuted, but affectionately granted freedom of expression, freedom of worship and security. ...It is Israel, the Jewish State. Israel is the only place where Christians in the Middle East are safe."
Speaking immediately after a panel discussion on the "Human Rights Situation in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories," Nadaf called "it is time the world woke up to the fact that those who want to destroy the Jewish State are signing the death warrant on the last free Christians in the Holy Land."
"Leaders of people, seekers of peace, end your witch hunt of the only free country in the region," said Nadaf, throwing the gauntlet at the feet of the UNHRC.
Father Nadaf, a native of Nazareth who heads the Greek Orthodox Church in Yafia near his hometown, has advocated a strong connection to Israel and IDF service for Christian citizens - despite stiff opposition from the official Greek Orthodox church and Arab MKs.
That condemnation has gone as far as the Greek Orthodox patriarchate in Israel banning him from entering Nazareth's Basilica of the Annunciation, and repeatedly threatening to dismiss him from his Yafia post.
Arab MKs have also condemned him, calling him “an agent of Zionism who seeks to divide Arabs.” Nadaf has revealed he has also been threatened with violence, and even death - but he insists that he represents a sizable portion of the Christian Israeli community.
"We feel secure in the state of Israel," Nadaf has said, "and we see ourselves as citizens of the state with all the attendant rights as well as obligations."
Father Nadaf's trip to Geneva was arranged by The Face of Israel, a private organization promoting Israel internationally.
RELATED
ISRAELI CHRISTIANS REGISTER AS "ARAMAEANS" AND REJECT ARAB NATIONALITY
Increased Israeli Christian support for Israel due to Palestinian Muslims persecution of Christians
CHRISTIAN ARABS DEMONSTRATE IN FAVOR OF ISRAEL - "ISRAEL IS OUR SAFE HAVEN"
Read more -
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/03/christian-arabs-demonstrate-in-favor-of.html
Christian Arabs joining the Israel Defense Forces
Read more -
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/20110/christian-arab-idf-volunteers-mark-historic-moment/#4Rchl26Qpx4cgZvD.97
Muslim Palestinians threats and violence against Christians
Read more -
Link to this article about Father Nadaf's speech at the UN
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