בס״ד ordering the עש"ק פרשת אמור ISRAEL NEWS destruction of ancient )בהר בא"י( 12 Iyar 5779 May 17, 2019 synagogues, burial Issue number 1244 A collection of the week’s news from Israel places and other historical sites and by From thethe Bet El Twinning / Israel Action Committee of "ethnically cleansing" this historically Jerusalem 6:45 Jewish area of all Jews. Yet there Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation Toronto: 8:13 were no United Nations Resolutions, campus protests or other organized shows of opposition by the Events… international community. Only after Israel liberated these historically Jewish areas, did the world, and Obama, decide -- in violation of Wednesday, May 22, 8pm international law -- that they were illegally occupied. Dr. Mordechai Kedar speaks on “Debunking the Myth of the Declaring the Western Wall to be illegally occupied territory is akin to Expulsion and Occupation,” at Shaarei Tefillah. declaring the Vatican, Mecca or other religious, holy sites to be occupied by those who pray at them. The Western Wall is lawfully part of the nation state of the Jewish people. It will remain so as long as Israel exists. If there is to be any hope of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the world must recognize that historic, moral and legal reality. Commentary… (Gatestone Institute May 14) War Crime!: Placing a Note in the Western Wall By Alan M. Dershowitz Beyond the Radar on the Temple Mount Last week, in Israel, I committed a flagrant violation of international By Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein law. This "war crime" consisted of placing a note asking for "peace, salaam, It was the driest of headlines, betraying nothing of the dramatic and shalom" in the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site. The reason the note even historic significance of the events it heralded. "Police Forces requesting peace constituted "a flagrant violation of international law" and a Operating on the Temple Mount," read the ticker late Saturday night. The "war crime" is that the United Nations Security Council, in a Resolution news brief below it gave just a tiny bit more detail, adding that the police adopted in December 2016, declared that all areas captured by Israel during were moving Muslim worshipers out of the Temple Mount area. the 1967 War are illegally occupied territories. That includes the Western What was really going on? Wall, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and the access roads A representative of the Temple Mount Movements Joint Task Force on Mount Scopus to the Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital. was able to provide us with the full story. Former US President Barack Obama demanded that his permanent Generally, Muslim worshipers on the Temple Mount – the site of our representative to the United Nations not veto this one-sided, wrong-headed, holiest site, the Holy of Holies of the two ancient Temples – pack up ahistorical, bigoted, and anti-peace Resolution. Obama changed American around sunset or later and go home for the night. But that's not what policy by allowing such a resolution to be enacted by the Security Council happened this time. Hundreds of Muslims, led by a band of stocking- as revenge on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, quite masked Arabs, decided to remain and hole up in the holy compound. correctly, opposed the very bad deal Obama made with Iran enabling it to Planning to riot and throw firebombs the next morning, they would thus develop nuclear weapons. prevent the normal opening of the Mount and deter tourists and Jewish Although Obama himself had once stood in front of the Western Wall visitors from visiting. and placed a note in it, he now apparently regards Judaism's holiest place as This, of course, is the end-all goal of these terrorists: to detach the territory illegally occupied by Israel. He is dead wrong, but that does not Jewish People from the source of their national strength and history. change the Security Council Resolution. Funded and led by radical Islamist elements, they have attacked tourists on So now I, and doubtless many others, have not only willfully and various occasions, as well as the police, with rocks, fireworks, iron rods deliberately committed a violation of international law, we are also guilty of and even Molotov cocktails. a war crime, because building or using civilian structures on illegally Not that this past Saturday night was the only time they ever planned occupied territory is a war crime; and Israel built, and I used, the this trick. Several years ago it was a fairly commonplace event – but once promenade in front of the Western Wall after Israel recaptured it during a Gilad Erdan became Public Security Minister, in 2015, the police learned defensive war. to put a quick end to these schemes. Let me be clear: I intend to commit this crime during every visit to In this case, too (and the next night, Sunday night, as well), the police Israel. Call it an act of civil disobedience, or call it an act which simply responded quickly and firmly. Within minutes, the entire Temple Mount recognizes the absurdity and illegality of the Security Council Resolution, was emptied out, with no incidents. despite its passage and lack of veto by the United States, which abstained. This was quite a success for the police, the spokesman told us, as they The United States abstention was designed to give the Obama acted smartly and without fanfare or headlines. But they must continue to administration political cover at home. It could claim that it did not vote for be on the alert to ensure that things do not get out of hand. Specifically, the Resolution. But it did much more than vote for the Resolution. Obama, what most concerns the Temple Mount groups is that the upcoming himself, engineered the Resolution. He pushed it through the Security Jerusalem Day celebrations not be marred. Council despite some reservations by other members, including Egypt, The number of Jews visiting the Temple Mount for religious reasons which believed that the Resolution itself could become a barrier to a has been increasing, or at least remaining steady, for a number of years – negotiated two-state solution. After all, if Israel's control over Judaism's and the day on which the most Jews come is Jerusalem Day, the 28th of holiest site is deemed illegal, then Israel would have to negotiate its legality Iyar (June 2, this year). The day commemorates the liberation of the Old with the Palestinians. This would give the Palestinians an incomparable City and the reunification of Jerusalem in the Six Day War of 1967. bargaining chip. As a former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority The Temple Mount groups are currently in the midst of organizing once rhetorically asked me, "How much would Israel be willing to give up "Project Myriads," in the framework of which tens of thousands of Jews to get back its most important religious shrine?" will, hopefully, ascend to show their solidarity with the holy site. The Israel will never accept the Security Council Resolution. Nor should natural day for such a display, of course, is Jerusalem Day - the day that any decent person. I certainly do not, and will continue to violate it during most symbolizes the deep, intrinsic bonds between the Jewish People and every visit to Israel, by putting notes in the Western Wall, eating kosher their holy city. falafel in the Jewish Quarter and driving on the access road to Hebrew The hope is that the terrorists will not succeed, during this month of University, and if I need to, Hadassah Hospital. I urge all visitors to join me Ramadan with its religious/nationalist Muslim fervor, in having the police in a conspiracy to violate the Security Council Resolution. close the Mount to Jewish visitors on this day. This is a concern These Jewish areas were illegally occupied by Jordan between 1948 specifically this year, when Ramadan coincides with the Jewish month of and 1967 and lawfully recaptured by Israel in a defensive war, started by Iyar. Though both Judaism and Islam both follow a lunar cycle, the Jordan when it fired mortars at civilian targets inside pre-1967 Israel. months of the two calendars do not jibe. This is because Islam does not During the Jordanian occupation, King Hussein engaged in war crimes by Readers are requested to please mail contributions to: BAYT - re: Israel News, 613 Clark Avenue West, Thornhill, Ontario. L4J 5V3 Annual Rates: Friend - $36, Supporter - $50, Benefactor - $180. Dedications are welcome at $120/week. Call (905) 886-3810 for further info. See Israel News on the internet at www.bayt.ca and www.frumtoronto.com or email [email protected] to request to be added to the weekly email. Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of BAYT. add a periodic leap month so as to keep up with the solar year. Thus, while Which brings us to another reason the embassy move was so Ramadan corresponds to Iyar this year, next year it will parallel Nissan, extraordinary. Adar the year after, and so on. Despite assertions on the part of detractors in Israel and abroad that Another threat the Israel Police have had to face on the holy Mount is Trump was making a big mistake in “provoking the poor Palestinians, something called Itikaf – several days, generally in Ramadan, when striving for a state of their own with Jerusalem as its capital,” nothing out worshipers do not leave the mosque and engage only in matters of the spirit. of the ordinary happened.