Just How Craven Is Our Israeli Government?

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23 Tammuz 5777

17 July 2017

Two pictures from Jerusalem yesterday

Your humble servant and his family spent the day in the Old City of Jerusalem yesterday. We wanted to see what the situation was following the terror attack on Thursday–and to see if Jews would be able to go up to the Mount as the government promised (find the answer to that question below).

We entered beside the Jaffa Gate (the Gate itself was closed), turned right into the Christian-Armenian Quarter, and descended down to the Kotel (Western Wall). There was a heavy Border Police presence, but the Kotel was virtually empty. Here are two pictures to give you a small sense of what we saw.

Just inside the Jaffa Gate. Note (left to right): the entrance to the Muslim Quarter just beyond the garbage can beside the police barricade, the two shuttered Muslim stores (shuttered by the Muslims “in protest” of closing the Temple Mount to Muslim worshipers), the Border Policemen standing back to back for protection, and the road leading right to the Armenian Quarter.

And this picture made on the far west side of the Kotel Plaza of a contingent of Border Policemen. At the moment we passed, the commander was exhorting his group not to forget their fallen comrades:

A somber looking group.

The News on the Street in Israel

Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .

*Palestinian arsonists threw Molotov firebombs to set fire to fields near Beit El and a playground in the community. MADA had to evacuate 15 people, three of which were treated for smoke inhalation.

*”Rock” and Molotov attacks occurred at numerous places throughout Judea and Samaria including Luban a-Sharqiya, on the Gush Etzion Road, Hura, Deheishe, Havat Yehuda, Kiryat Arba, on Road 443, and in Hevron.

*A number of shooting attacks took place in the Binyamin area near Kochav Yair. Last night, the terrorist responsible was spotted by an IDF patrol and killed.

The New Israel Fund rears its ugly head again . . .

What is the connection between the recent terrorism on the Temple Mount and the New Israel Fund?

The main supporter of the self-proclaimed “human rights” organization Adalah is none other than the New Israel Fund–to the tune of a million dollars over the last decade.

Adalah, as you may not know, is calling for an investigation of the Border Police following the terror incident on Thursday in which two of its members were brutally shot to death.

Yes, you read that correctly. Adalah wants to investigate the Border Police. 

Specifically, Adalah wants an investigation into “the police officers’ compliance with the Open-Fire Regulations detailed in the National Staff Ordinance regarding the use of firearms.” Adalah is suggesting that there was “no real danger to the Police” when they killed the terrorists.

Can you believe this?

After condemning the terrorist attack on Thursday, the New Israel Fund issued this utterly disingenuous statement yesterday: “The New Israel Fund supports the important legal activity of Adalah, but this does not mean that we support every message, press release, or position of the organization.” 

Elor Azariya Files An Appeal . . .

Following the terrorist events on the Temple Mount last Thursday during which an apparently dead Palestinian terrorist who was lying on the ground suddenly jumped to his feet with gun in hand, attorneys for our Hevron soldier, Elor Azariya are demanding that he be released.

You will recall that Azariya was tried and convicted of manslaughter after a year-long trial for shooting a wounded terrorist who was lying on the ground. Azariya testified at trial that he saw the terrorist move, and shot the terrorist to save his comrades.

As we have reported on israelstreet, Azariya’s trial was a travesty of justice whose verdict was a foregone conclusion reached by a heavily biased military court.

In any case, Azariya was released to home arrest this morning until his appeal can be heard on July 30.

Shockingly, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Sells Caesearea . . .

The iconic amphitheater in Caesarea which has just been sold to a Caribbean company (picture: fineartamerica) .

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Well, not all of Caesarea, but 700 dunams which happens to include much of the national park there including the famous amphitheater. 

Apparently, the Church sold the land to a Caribbean company named Saint Ventures Limited. The sale follows the sale of another 500 dumans in Jerusalem a month ago. Both sales are shrouded in mystery.

It is important to remember that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Israel is essentially Palestinian with some 200,000 Arabs being its primary members. Vast swaths of the country are owned by the Patriarchate by virtue of land deals that date back to the 1800s with the Ottomans. You can read more about it here.

Obviously, something sinister is afoot, and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has called a meeting for this week to discuss the matter. Who knows who is buying the land? Saudis? Iranians? Qataris? Turks?

TODAY’S BLOG:

Just How Craven Is Our Israeli Government?

Remember how just yesterday, our brave government decided that magnetometers would be placed at all 9 of the gates that Muslims use to enter the Mount, that the magnetometers and video cameras would be placed at the gates permanently, and that the Temple Mount would be open to all worshipers in the afternoon.

Well guess what?

Magnetometers were not placed at all 9 gates; Netanyahu and the police are already talking about removing the magnetometers; and Jews were not allowed to go to the Temple Mount.

Let’s take these one by one.

Magnetometers were only placed at 2 gates: The Gate of the Tribes, and the Council Gate. Moreover, the magnetometers were not actually placed on the Mount or “in” these two Gates, but outside both gates so as not to “invade” the territory of the Jordanian Islamic Wakf.

Nevertheless, the Wakf immediately called on Muslims to refuse to go through the magnetometers and a small demonstration took place at the Gate of the Tribes. In the words of one of the imams, “we will to with our heads up high to Al-Aksa.” Of course, the implication is that Jews and Christians who have been forced to go through the magnetometer at the Mughrabi Gate for decades, go up to the Mount with their heads low. 

Low in subservience to Islam.

And remarkably, within an hour of the the magnetometers being put up, Police Spokesman Meirav Lapidot was on IDF radio kowtowing to the Muslim Wakf by revealing that the magnetometers will be removed.

According to Lapidot:  ” . . .we say now we need to re-examine the security arrangements, and for a certain period the magnets will be there.” Netanyahu echoed this statement when speaking to reporters on his flight to France last night: ” . . . the magnets placed on the Temple Mount will not be removed for the time being . . .  it is not right to change [the status quo], it could cause unexpected results and damage relations with some Arab countries.”

The status quo. The status quo. The status quo. With Netanyahu, it is always about maintaining the status quo.

Finally, at noon, despite the call of the Wakf, and the small demonstration aforementioned, Muslims began being allowed onto the Mount. But Jews (one of whom was your humble servant who spent three hours at the Kotel yesterday) who had waited in line at the Mughrabi Gate for hours, were eventually told by the police around 2 pm that “no Jews will be allowed on the Temple Mount today.”

Can you believe this?

One person who could not believe it was Avi Dichter, Chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. An enraged Dichter wrote this on his Facebook page:

“The Temple Mount should be opened to Jews: It is inconceivable that as a result of the attack, Muslims will be able to enter and Jews will not.

‘The Temple Mount is in our hands’ – before and after the attack! No, this is not just the historical battle cry of Motta Gur, it is the sovereignty of the State of Israel on the Temple Mount for more than 50 years. No kadi or imam or king or president will change it!”

Dichter continued:

“It is inconceivable that instead of punishing the attackers, the Temple Mount will be closed to the Jews. Israel recognized the sanctity of the mosques on the mountain, headed by Al-Aqsa. . . The Waqf was intended to deal with the mosques, and the Israeli police on the Mount. This is not a subject for discussion with anyone, but a legal determination by the competent authorities in Israel. The government must clarify this, and the security bodies must enforce this.”

Dichter makes a crucially important distinction. Because of the ridiculous agreement that Moshe Dayan created back in 1967, the Islamic Wakf has administrative control of the Kipat HaSela (Dome of the Rock) and the Al-Aksa Mosque. It was never supposed to have control over the rest of the Temple Mount. 

Finally, it should be pointed out that after Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Otzma movement threatened the police with a lawsuit, he along with a small number of activists from the Kokarim movement, finally managed to ascend to the Temple Mount.

No thanks to the police or our craven government.