Al Jazeera Rejects Iran’s Offer to Liberate Jerusalem

A few well-aimed verbal blows at an Iranian diplomat by an Al Jazeeera show host placed in bold relief the difference between Israel’s forward-looking vision and the Muslim world’s militant backwardness.

Host Feisal Al-Kassam was interviewing Iran’s Tamir Muswai when he suddenly broke into an agitated tirade: “You [Iranians] want to liberate Jerusalem? And what will you do with it? Will you join it to Baghdad, which the world sees as the filthiest capital in the world? Will you join it to Beirut, which has become the biggest garbage dump in the Middle East?… The Arab world tells you: ‘If you want to liberate Jerusalem for me, I don’t want you to.'”

The message is that, though the Arab world wants Jerusalem for itself, it knows that under Jewish Israeli sovereignty, Jerusalem represents accomplishment, beauty, prosperity and freedom.

For instance, it is a major draw for visitors from around the world. Over 3.1 million tourists visited Jerusalem in 2018, and close to 3.5 million in 2019. This is more than the total number to the countries of Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen combined. More than half the Arabs living in eastern Jerusalem said they would prefer to be citizens of Israel – and many others were scared to agree aloud, according to the mukhtar of Sur Baher, an Arab village in eastern Jerusalem.

Jerusalem under Israeli control has become a bastion of freedom and progress – freedom of religion and access to religious sites, growth in hi-tech and other advanced industry, architectural and ecological beauty, and a draw for visitors of all religions from all over the world.

Our “Next Year in Jerusalem” Will Outlast Their “Blood and Fire”

Some things never change. In honor of the 32nd anniversary of its first murderous terrorist attack, the Islamic Jihad announced, again, that Jerusalem will remain their “eternal capital”: forever, no matter what the cost.

Actually, Jerusalem was never an Arab capital for even a day in its long history! As we must continue to explain until the message has been spread far and wide, Jerusalem has no religious significance in Islam – and its political significance is on a “use and dispose” basis.

Just last week Jewish visitors filmed a PA garbage truck emptying its contents there – precisely at the spot where stood the Ezrat Nashim [lit., Women’s Section] when the Holy Temple was extant.

Imagine the Jews, citing Moses and the Old Testament, claiming that Moscow or New York is its “eternal holy city” and that they will never abandon their goal of rendering it its everlasting capital! Such an assertion has as much validity as the Islamic claim to Jerusalem.

The Islamic Jihad was formed in Gaza in 1981 with the stated objective of destroying Israel. Two of its founders are wanted by the FBI for their role in conducting IJ’s terrorist activities.

Iran’s Sinister Role
When Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks of the great danger posed by Iran, he is not referring only to the country’s nuclear ambitions. He means also the terrorist bodies that Iran has supported and continues to fund all over the Middle East, and not only against Israel. The many thousands of rockets and missiles ready to be fired at Israel from both Gaza and Lebanon are largely due to Iranian funding and support.

But in truth, everything begins and ends with Jerusalem – and the Muslims know this as well. Record numbers of tourists continue to visit Yerushalayim, record numbers of Jews and others visit the Temple Mount, and in general the city is so profusely flourishing that even the majority of Arabs in the area prefer to be registered as residents of Israel and not the Palestinian Authority. With hard work, faith, courage and optimism, our festive “Next year in Jerusalem!” prayers will outlast their fanatic zeal to kill, and die, and kill some more, simply to destroy the success that is the Jewish State, Israel.