The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement about supposed Israeli “Judaizing” of the city of Jerusalem.
One of the accusations is that Israeli actions in Jerusalem “give the impression to any visitor that it is a Jewish biblical city featuring continuous [Jewish] presence and Jewish heritage.”
Well, yeah. Because it is. For some 3000 years. Except for some very brief time periods where Jews were specifically expelled because of their cultural and religious ties to Jerusalem, as they were ethnically cleansed from the Old City for a mere 19 years in 1948.
This statement reveals more than it intends. Because rather than Jews trying to Judaize Jerusalem – a city that has been the Jewish capital and center of Jewish existence since King David – the Palestinians are trying to separate Jews and Judaism from Jerusalem.
For exactly the same reason that antisemites of previous generations tried to do the same.
Despite how they speak to credulous Western reporters and diplomats, Palestinians don’t accept that Jerusalem is sacred to three faiths. They are actively, today, trying to pretend that Jewish ties to Jerusalem are a modern myth and that only Muslims and (reluctantly) Christians have ties to the city.
Israel celebrates the ties of all three faiths to the city while accurately noting that Jerusalem is only central to one. It is the Palestinians who are trying to not only ethnically cleanse Jerusalem of Jews, but trying to cut any cultural, emotional, religious and historic ties that Jews have to the city.
This isn’t being “pro-Palestinian.” This is being actively antisemitic.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Leave a Reply