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Israeli ambassador undaunted, offers to return to campus where he was shouted down

March 9, 2010

You may remember how, last month, a speech by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren at UC Irvine was continually interrupted by a series of Arab and Muslim “protestors” calling him a “murderer” and “war criminal” – to the point where the University chancellor had to get on the stage and lecture the portion of the audience that had, according to press reports and materials they’d distributed prior to the speech, come with the intention of disrupting the event to the point that it couldn’t continue.

Oren, whose best-selling histories of the Six-Day War and the U.S. involvement in the Middle East made him known in the U.S. prior to his becoming ambassador, isn’t intimidated.  In fact, in an open letter to the campus, he’s offering to come back:

The diplomat said he understood the emotional nature of Middle East politics, but said it was also important to observe the decorum of free speech and hear others’ viewpoints.

“I was saddened by the loss of this opportunity to exchange ideas with those who disagreed with me and, at the very least, to introduce them to different perspectives,” he wrote.

Oren noted that the incident underscored the importance of dialogue, and said dialogue was the only way peace in the Middle East would be achieved. He offered to return to the campus as long as the proper decorum of free speech is respected.

Apparently, according to the AP report, the arrests of 11 students at the lecture has become an issue on campus, with some charging that they were “unfairly targeted for making a political statement and exercising their own right to free speech.” They might try a few courses in the law or political science department, or maybe just open a dictionary of common sense, to figure out the different between “free speech” and chaotic, disorderly conduct.

Two headlines that sum up a lot

Ha’aretz: Israel offers aid to Turkey after 41 killed in earthquake

Yediot Aharonot: Turkey rejects Israel’s offer of post-quake aid

Apparently, Ankara thinks it’s preferable for innocent people to die than to accept help from Jews.

Turkish PM: Rachel’s tomb is Muslim, was never Jewish

March 8, 2010

In a statement that reveals what’s really at stake in the ongoing controversy–and PA-stoked violence–over Israel adding some religious sites to a list of Jewish heritage sites, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Saudi newspaper Al Wattan that al Aksa Mosque, the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb “were not and never will be Jewish sites, but Islamic sites.”

The al-Aksa Mosque is the black-domed mosque that sits at the southern end of the Temple Mount, which was not included (some Israelis have said, scandalously) on the list of national heritage sites.

As a reminder, Rachel was one of the Jewish people’s four matriarchs and lived several thousand years before the Islam was founded. Her grave, which is described in Genesis 35:19, has been a pilgrimage site for Jews (and, later, Christians) for thousands of years.

Waqf, PA leadership attempt to rewrite biblical history

We told you before about the ongoing (low-burn) violence and media circus surrounding the Jewish state’s adding two major tourist and spiritual pilgrimage spots to a list of sites of “Jewish cultural heritage.”

Well, on Friday, worshipers at the Western Wall were stoned by rioters on top of the Temple Mount and 15 Israeli policemen and dozens of the rioters were injured in the resulting scuffles. (Don’t Islamic leaders mind their followers using the high ground of what is ostensibly a holy site to attempt to maim worshipers below?)

So let’s go over this again: Israel added two spots to a list that designates sites of historical and cultural relevance. And this caused Palestinians to riot? (Continuing the long tradition of the Palestinian Authority using violence or threats of it where other governments use diplomacy.) And countries ranging from Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab league states, to–predictably– the UN felt the need to condemn the list-making (while not condemning the violence fomented by the PA). And, of course, the U.S. hasn’t retracted the State Department’s comments on the matter, which were that the Israeli list was “provocative and unhelpful.”

So what are these sites anyway?

What exactly are these sites? One is Rachel’s Tomb, which sits on the edge of Bethelehem close to Jerusalem. The second is the Cave of the Patriarchs, which sits in the middle of Hebron. Just how “provocative” is it to add these to the list of sites of Jewish cultural import?

Rachel’s Tomb is identified in Genesis 35:19-20: “So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.” As the Bible relates, the site has been holy to Jews for thousands of years — more than a thousand years before Islam even came into existence! (And holy to Christians hundreds of years before…)

The case of the Cave of the Patriarchs is even more ironic: Genesis 23 records how Abraham insists on purchasing a burial cave near his home in Kiryat Arba (next to modern-day Hebron) from Ephron the Hittite, even when Ephron offers it to him as a gift:

Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, “I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” (Genesis 23:3-4)

The Hittites offer him “the choicest of our tombs,” but Abraham asks them to “intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.”

Ephron offers to give Abraham the cave for free: “No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.” (Genesis 23:11-12)

A recorded real estate transaction

But Abraham insists on paying for it:

Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land and he said to Ephron in their hearing, “Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there.”

Ephron answered Abraham, “Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Bury your dead.”

Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.

So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site. (Genesis 23:12-20)

The Jewish Sages comment that part of the reason that Abraham was so eager to pay for the burial cave was so that no one could ever dispute that fact that the Jewish people owned it. (The only other sites so recorded are the Tomb of Joseph, which is near the Biblical Shechem, now present-day Nablus, and the site of the Holy Temple, the Temple Mount – both of which Palestinians claim as being of dubious import to the Jewish people.)

Commentator Michael Freund says it best:

Sites such as Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs are part of the national and religious patrimony of the Jewish people, and we do not need anyone’s permission to renovate and maintain them. Our reverence for these sites and attachment to them predates Muhammad and precedes Jesus, and no one has the right to lecture us about where and how we choose to serve God.

In fact, this entire episode provides a revealing glimpse of just how transparently hypocritical our critics have become. After all, it was nearly 15 years ago, in the September 1995 Oslo II Accords, that the Palestinians themselves recognized Israel’s attachment to Rachel’s Tomb. In Article V, Annex I to the agreement, the Palestinians agreed that “the present situation and existing practices in the tomb shall be preserved,” meaning that they clearly consented to Israeli control and use of the site, which has never been anything other than a place of Jewish worship.

So for chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to say last week that Israel’s move amounts to a “unilateral decision to make Palestinian sites in Hebron and Bethlehem part of Israel” is not only absurd, it is patently false.

And since the accords were signed on the White House lawn in front of the world, and were formally witnessed by representatives of both the US administration and the European Union, one would expect them to see right through the Palestinians’ shenanigans.

Worse yet, by playing along with the feigned outrage of the Palestinian leadership, the international community is merely giving credence to their boorish denial of the Jewish essence of these sites.

You don’t have to be a Biblical scholar or a learned archeologist to recognize the long-standing and incontestably Jewish nature of Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs. Arguing otherwise is akin to asserting that the earth is flat, Elvis is still alive and the moon is made of cheese, and that is how the Palestinian claims should be viewed.

Is it offensive to call Jesus’ birthplace a Christian site?

Can the world imagine a case in which Israel would list the Church of the Manger (Jesus’ birthplace) in Bethlehem and Jesus’ family home in Nazareth as sites of historical importance to Christians — and the Palestinians would protest?

Unfortunately, I think we can. But that doesn’t make it any more crazy.

UK’s Guardian gives an amen to indignation over “heritage sites” violence and historical revisionism

March 6, 2010

London’s Guardian rails against the attempt to blot out Jewish history via the fracas over the “Jewish historical sites”:

Palestinian protests against the restoration of Jewish heritage sites are part of a campaign of delegitimization against Israel. The inclusion in Israel’s heritage restoration project of two of the most sacred Jewish sites, the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb, has sparked riots and led supposedly moderate Palestinian leaders to burst forth with disturbingly inflammatory rhetoric, with the U.S. State Department and the UN secretary general both reprimanding Israel for the decision as well.

This latest uproar is another example of the general Palestinian unwillingness to accept and acknowledge the deep-seated historical roots of the Jewish people in the region. The Cave of the Patriarchs is mentioned in the Bible and has been a focus of Jewish pilgrimage for more than 3,000 years as the burial place of the people’s three forefathers. The refurbishment of two shrines central to Jewish history in no way threatens Palestinian political ambitions. What it does do is present an obstacle to those who wish to erase Jewish history in the region.

Apartheid? I don’t think so

March 5, 2010

We all know Jewish state’s enemies are always talking about just how nasty and racist those pesky Israelis are. But we don’t think so.

Latest example? A woman named Futna Jabber, “a proud Arab Muslim who prays five times daily, calls the Koran her favorite book, obsessively puffs on a hookah pipe and proudly wears a keffiyah,” has been voted one of the finalists on Israel’s version of Big Brother.

Author of vile cartoon blames Israel for anti-Semitism

March 4, 2010

A German cartoonist who drew an image of a Jew about to eat a Palestinian child, with a glass of blood to wash it down, distanced himself from the cartoon following criticism of it — “because it can be perceived as anti-Semitic” – but then went on to blame the Jewish state for it anyway.

Walter Hermann’s caricature was visible as part of an enlarged photo of an anti-Israel demonstration, JTA reports. Until recently it was on display as part of a “Wailing Wall exhibit” in the center of Cologneby Hermann, but it has been removed from Cologne’s Cathedral Square.

We’re not sure what the “Wailing Wall exhibit” was, although its title is rather ironic. After all, the Western Wall of the Temple Mount got the nickname the “wailing wall” (which many modern Jews find a touch offensive) from the crying of Jews who would go there to pray for the restoration of the Temple, of Jewish sovereignty, and for God to stop the endless persecution of the tiny people.

In a remarkably un-self-aware statement distancing himself from his work, Hermann said that  Israel itself was to blame for anti-Semitism and should “avoid actions that can revive deep-seated, anti-Jewish sentiment.”

Meanwhile, according to German newspapers, the local prosecutor failed to bring charges of ” incitement to hate” because they were brought by non-Jews. He said he will consider charges only from Jewish groups since only complaints by the group affected can be considered.

Perhaps the prosecutor has forgotten that most of Germany’s Jews are not around to file complaints.

(Also, we wonder whether the infamously anti-Semitic cartoons in the Nazi rag Der Sturmer were also Israel’s fault.)

IDF operation canceled due to… facebook status update!

March 3, 2010

One of the more routine–and dangerous–endeavors IDF battalions engage in is entering Palestinian villages to capture wanted terrorists. Soldiers do all they can to protect civilians–who are often used by the terror heads as human shields–while still nabbing the bad guys.

Imagine – soldiers in camouflage, sneaking stealthily through a village, bodies tense with readiness… when one whispers, “Wait! I gotta update my facebook status!”

Apparently, something not so far from this happened recently in the Binyamin region, which stretches north of Jerusalem and east toward the Dead Sea. After a soldier updated his facebook status that a force from his battalion was due to arrive in a Palestinian village, the commander aborted the mission, Yediot Aharonot reported:

The decision was made by Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon, who feared that the leaked information may put the force in danger.The soldier’s commanders were informed of the incident as well and decided to put him on trial. Military officials noted that this was a serious incident which may have put the troops in danger had it not been revealed on time.

The operation was held several days later and deemed successful, while the soldier was judged and incarcerated.

The affair began when a soldier wrote in his Facebook status that the force was slated to arrive in the village and leave a day later. The Judea and Samaria Division’s information security officer learned about the leak and informed the division’s commander, who decided – in an unusual manner – to cancel the operation so as not to put the force at risk.

Maybe facebook needs to add another privacy protection option for when one is posting classified information.

“Son of Hamas” disowned by terrorist father

Last week, we told you about Mosab Hassan Yousef, the heroic son of a Hamas leader who turned on his father’s violent ideology and spied for Israel to help fight Hamas terror and save lives. Now comes word that he’s been disowned by his father following the revelations.

Mosab Hassan Yousef, who converted to Christianity 10 years ago and now lives in California, went public with his role on the eve of the publication of “Son of Hamas,” a memoir about his life that’s due to be released this week.

According the the AP report, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, the top Hamas official in the West Bank, released the following statement:

“I, Sheikh Hassan Yousef… my wife, sons and daughters announce that we have completely disowned the man who was our oldest son and who is called Mosab,” …

The decision was taken following “the man who is called Mosab’s apostasy towards God and his prophet… his betrayal of Muslims, his cooperation with the enemies of God and the damage he caused to our people and our cause.”

The younger Yousef fled the Palestinian-controlled West Bank in 2007 and went public with his conversion to Christianity the following year. Death threats soon followed.

Although Israeli officials said that the younger Yousef had been Israel’s top informant on Hamas and had provided intelligence that stopped numerous planned attacks and led to the arrests of Ibrahim Hamid, a Hamas military chief in the West Bank, and Abdullah Barghuti, the bomb maker behind an infamous 2001 suicide attack on a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, the older Yousef, who has been held in an Israeli prison since 2005, denied his son had access to Hamas secrets and that members were warned to avoid him as early as 1996.

SFI sends prayers and deep gratitude to Mosab Yousef.

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