Category Archives: Chaim Silberstein

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.

Islam’s Convenient Claims to Jerusalem

Jerusalem was first holy to the Jews, and the rest of the world jumped on the bandwagon. And thus it became “holy to the three main religions.”

Regarding Jerusalem, the Muslims have now gone one step further than the others, claiming the city has no sanctity or historic significance for Jews – even though the sole reason it was ascribed any Muslim holiness is because of its Jewish history.

When the Muslim-Arab world claims “spiritual” bonds with Yerushalayim, it disguises a long-term, nationalist, strategic plot to take full control over Jerusalem and rid its Old City of a Jewish presence.

Historically, Muslim ties to Jerusalem have always been based on little more than political expediency, disguised as religious fervor. We are now experiencing the fourth wave in Muslims’ aggrandizement of Jerusalem for their own political purposes.

The international community should relate to the secular Palestinian Authority’s claims to Jerusalem as nothing more than the desire to do away with Israel.
We happily grant freedom of religion and freedom of access to holy sites. But nothing can justify forcing the Jewish People to “share” sovereignty over its holy city with an opportunistic usurper, no matter how many times the latter seeks to abuse the city’s inherent holiness.

A Hamas Front in Jerusalem?

Hamas, recognized by many countries as a dangerous terrorist org, is seeking a foothold in Israel’s front yard – namely, the Arab suburbs of Jerusalem. Israeli intelligence helped arrest six terrorists about to run a day camp steeped in Hamas ideology.

The Hamas terrorist organization was thwarted this week in an attempt to open a summer day camp in the greater Jerusalem area. The ramifications of the concrete plans made to open the camp, as well as the fact that they almost succeeded, are extreme.

Jerusalem Police intelligence work led to the discovery of a bus filled with kids, counselors, and terrorists on its way to the camp in the Jericho area. Police stopped the bus in mid-trip, arrested six of the organizers for planning a Hamas day camp, and confiscated the bus.

The Hamas Covenant reads, inter alia, “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it eliminated its predecessors… our struggle against the Jews [emphasis added] is extremely wide-ranging and grave… until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory prevails.”

Hamas has a long history of murdering many hundreds of Israelis. In 2007, it violently took over the Gaza Strip, and then began attacking Israel even more earnestly, with hundreds more suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings, ramming attacks – and balloon agro-terrorism.

Even more dangerous are Hamas’ ties with Iran. It was reported this that Hamas will open a war front against Israel from Gaza in the event of hostilities between Israel and Iran’s allies Hizbullah and/or Syria.

Hamas today has footholds in several neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem, and is seeking even more.