While Israel has stood strong against the reopening of a US diplomatic mission to the Palestinian Authority, the State Department has sneaked in a new position that promotes US-PA relations – and could undermine Israeli sovereignty in its own capital. Hady Amr, leaving his post as deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, will…
The Mt. of Olives is no longer only the oldest, most important, and probably largest Jewish cemetery in the world. It is now also a bustling and dynamic tourist and cultural site.
The Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage has launched the “Culture at Mt. of Olives Festival,” featuring unique tours of the site and a spectacular view of the Old City and the Temple Mount just across the Kidron Valley. Dozens of other events include concerts, tours, and lectures, focusing on events that have shaped Jerusalem over the past 3,000 years. Particular focus will be placed on some of the illustrious Jews buried there, including Rav Kook, Menachem Begin, Nobel Prize winner Shai Agnon, and 100,000 more.
The Jewish presence in the area of the Mt. of Olives has grown significantly in recent years. Among the new neighborhoods are Beit Orot (24 families), the City of David (nearly 90 families), and more – but the largest of all is Maaleh HaZeitim, with close to 150 families.
The mountain is critically important in Judaism, featuring the Red Heifer ceremony, the torch-lightings signaling a New Moon, and much more. The final prophecy of Zecharia speaks of the day when G-d will fight on behalf of Jerusalem and the Mt. of Olives will split open from north to south.
In order to ensure continued future Israeli sovereignty over the entire city of Jerusalem, certain facts on the ground must be guaranteed. In the case of the Mt. of Olives, Israel must make sure to guarantee and facilitate Jewish access and presence there. Jews must feel safe there, and must feel free to frequent the site, not only for funerals and to visit gravesites, but to visit friends, enjoy the view, stop off at the Visitors’ Center, remember its history, and more. The current Culture Festival should do much to attain this goal.
Our Sages of the Talmud, who lived at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, had a very clear take on what caused both destructions: Baseless hatred among the Jews, in its various manifestations, led to the sacking of Jerusalem, as did the cardinal sins of murder, incest, and idol worship specifically towards the end of the First Temple period.
The Sages also instituted fasts for the various milestones along the way, including for the siege placed upon Jerusalem, the breaching of the city walls, the actual burning of the Temple, and the assassination that dashed all hopes for Jewish sovereignty for several decades to come.
Each of these has its parallels in our contemporary situation. The massive wave of illegal Arab building , from Ramallah in the north to Bethlehem in the south, seeks to create the infrastructures for the capital of a Palestinian state. This creeping Arab expansion is definitely having a strangling effect – much like the Babylonian siege forcefully imposed upon Jerusalem long ago. This stifling siege of unhindered illegal Arab construction, combined with a lack of housing solutions and employment opportunities for Jews, has long been closing in on us.
In some places, the enemy has “breached” the walls – and right within our city limits, two huge Arab neighborhoods have sprouted and continue to grow wildly.
But possibly these problems are just the symptoms of deeper issues, as they were in the days of the Holy Temple. Are we sufficiently attached to each other? To Jerusalem? To our nationhood and sovereignty? To our age-old teachings and values??
What can we do to secure our capital, keep it unified, and develop it with a large Jewish majority?
KeepJerusalem’s Jerusalem Shield Program appears to be the only practical, democratic and safe answer for the urgent challenges we face. It involves a massive increase in Jewish housing and employment opportunities – and most important of all, the expansion of Jerusalem’s municipal borders so as to increase the city’s Jewish population. Satellite communities outside the current city borders will become part of a greater Jerusalem municipality, while Kafr Aqeb and the Shuafat refugee camp would be detracted from Jerusalem – not to become part of the Palestinian Authority, but rather as separate, new Israeli municipalities. This would change the 60-40 Jewish/Arab demographic ratio to 85-15.
Today, when we are on the fast track in rebuilding Jerusalem and sensing the footsteps of the Mashiach, it is incumbent upon us to continue to work together with brotherly, causeless love for greater progress towards a united, secure and Jewish Jerusalem. Tisha B’Av will thus truly turn from a day of mourning to one of joy and celebration.
In a statement that seems to not have been reviewed before being issued, the EU declared without qualification that Israeli evictions of illegal Arab squatters on Jewish-owned property and demolitions of illegal structures on public land are “illegal under international law.” It could be that the EU is unduly distracted by the possibility of a Russian invasion into Ukraine, placing it on the borders of major European nations. But this is no excuse for making unfounded declarations regarding one of the most incendiary hot spots in the world: the holy city of Jerusalem
As some Christian leaders in Israel and around the world blame Jews for diminishing Christian numbers in the Holy Land, the true culprit – hostile Muslims – goes unnamed.
If Atarot does not remain Jewish, a contiguous north-south route of Arab neighborhoods will essentially divide Israel’s capital.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett must make it clear to President Joe Biden that Israel will not allow the U.S. to reopen its Jerusalem consulate.
Sheikh Jarrah has been very much the talk of the town of late, but is replete with sketchy details and vagueness. Many do not know if this Jerusalem neighborhood is actually Jewish or Arab, why it is in dispute, and – the main point of this article – why Israeli law there appears to favor one side over the other.
According to Biden, the US should have kept Jerusalem carrot hanging just out of Israel’s reach to squeeze every possible concession – Opinion
And so, once again in the news is President Trump’s “Deal of the Century.” This particular proposal, contrary to previous ones, has an inherent advantage for many Land of Israel lovers: For the first time in 2,000 years, it grants Israel full sovereignty over significant parts of Judea and Samaria. On the other hand, it leaves over the remainder for what many feel is an existential danger to Israel, namely, a Palestinan state.
What about Jerusalem? What does the Trump Plan say about Israel’s capital city?
As with many other critical issues addressed in the plan, the key word is “vagueness.” In principle, Jerusalem fares relatively well in the plan. It opposes returning to a divided Jerusalem, and retains the Holy Sites under Israeli sovereignty, – but notes that the existing physical barrier should remain in place and “serve as a border between the capitals of the two parties.”
The removal of the neighborhoods outside the security barrier from Jerusalem could be acceptable, if they would become separate Israeli municipalities. But to detract them from Israel altogether is clearly not something we can sign on to.
We must continue to demand the measures we have long been calling for that will ensure effective Israeli sovereignty in our capital city: more construction in neighborhoods such as Gilo, Har Homa, Pisgat Ze’ev and of course the Old City; promotion of the Greater Jerusalem plan that will bring Mevaseret Zion, Maaleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, and the areas north of Jerusalem under the Greater Jerusalem “umbrella;” and making the city more attractive for large and small employers.