More attempts by Muslims to ethnically cleanse Jews, Jewish history and Jewish holy sites from the face of the earth. And nothing but silence from the rest of the world. Via JPost:

For centuries Jews, Christians and Muslims came to Al-Kifl, a small town south of Baghdad, to visit the tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel and pray.

The Al-Kifl shrine has a distinctive Jewish character, namely the Hebrew inscriptions and the Torah Ark.

The vast majority of Iraq’s Jewish community left some 60 years ago, but Shi’ites took good care of the holy site – until now.

Recently the Iraqi news agency Ur reported that a huge mosque will be built on top of the grave by Iraq’s Antiquities and Heritage Authority, while Hebrew inscriptions and ornaments are being removed from the site, all as part of renovations.

Prof. Shmuel Moreh of Hebrew University confirmed the report. “I first heard the news of tomb desecration from a friend of mine who is a German scholar. After visiting the site he called me and said that some Hebrew inscriptions on the grave were covered by plaster and that a mosque is planned to be built on top of the tomb.”

“Someone must intervene before it’s too late,” Moreh warned.

he Mount of Olives in Jerusalem: Why Continued Israeli Control Is Vital

Nadav Shragai

Read the Entire Article

• The Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, that the Palestinians demand to transfer to their control, is the most important Jewish cemetery in the world. The area has constituted a religious and national pantheon for the Jewish people and the State of Israel, containing the tombs of the illustrious dead of the nation over the course of 3,000 years and serving as a site for Jewish gathering and prayer at the time of the ancient Temple and even prior to it.

• Under Jordanian rule, Jewish access and the continued burial of Jews on the mount was prohibited, despite Jordan’s explicit commitment in the Israeli-Jordanian Armistice Agreement of 1949. During the period of Jordanian rule, the cemetery was destroyed and desecrated, and 38,000 of its tombstones and graves were smashed to smithereens.

• Since Jerusalem’s reunification, burial ceremonies were renewed at the site and large sections of the cemetery were rehabilitated. Nevertheless, attempts by Palestinians to damage the cemetery have never totally abated, and there have been periodic attacks on Jewish mourners escorting their dead for burial.

• Previous Israeli governments that consented to discuss arrangements in Jerusalem with the Palestinians rejected their demand to transfer the Mount of Olives to PA sovereignty and control. Nevertheless, those governments were prepared to give their assent to the transfer of neighborhoods that control the access routes to the mount. Should any such agreement be implemented in the future, it could endanger freedom of access to the site and continued Jewish burial there.

• In any future arrangements, in order to allow continued Jewish burial on the mount, Israel must guarantee freedom of access to the site by controlling the arteries leading to it, as well as the areas adjacent to it. On the previous occasions that Israel transferred areas that included Jewish holy sites to Palestinian control, the Palestinians severely encumbered or refused to allow Jewish access to these places. Sometimes these sites were even severely damaged.

*Nadav Shragai is the author of Jerusalem: The Dangers of Division – An Alternative to Separation from the Arab Neighborhoods (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2008); At the Crossroads, the Story of the Tomb of Rachel (Jerusalem Studies, 2005); and The Mount of Contention, the Struggle for the Temple Mount, Jews and Muslims, Religion and Politics since 1967 (Keter, 1995). He has been writing for the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz since 1983.

If Jews were to even consider inflicting one-tenth of this horror on a tomb of an Arab sheik, the entire world would get up on its hind legs and protest. Once again, we have here another example of Muslim hubris and outrageous international double-standards for “thepoorpalestinianpeepull”. Via YnetNews:

Hundreds of Jewish worshipers who arrived at Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus overnight were stunned to find the compound severely vandalized – yet again.

Israel pulled its forces out of the compound in October 2000. The IDF disallowed Jewish worshippers from entering it for a long period of time due to security concerns; and deserted, it has been burnt down and defaced many times.

December of 2008 saw Joseph Tomb’s restored and the military began allowing worshippers to visit it once more, but always at night and under heavy military guard, for their own safety.

Wednesday night’s visit was approved by the proper military authorities and the IDF provided the worshippers with an escort.

Boot prints in the concrete (Photo courtesy of the Shomron Regional Council)

The group which entered the compound was made up of some 500 people. Upon entering the tomb they found it had been defaced – the headstone smashed and swastikas sprayed on the walls, as well as graffiti of a blood-dripping sward over a Star of David, and another “trampled” by a boot.

Some reported seeing visible boot prints all over the compounds, which they claim are consistent with the Palestinian police standard issue boots.

‘We are to blame’

“Woe to the nation that allows its sacred places to be vandalized like this over and over again,” said Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council, who was among the visitors.

“Only barbarians could do such things. People who pathologically disgrace such a holy place don’t deserve to be called human beings,” he added. “The Palestinian police terrorists have long since lost all shred of humanity. The State of Israel must return to Joseph’s Tomb, as even the horrible Oslo Accords state.”

The Shoulder to Shoulder group, which facilitates worshippers who wish to take part in services held in Joseph’s Tomb called the situation “outrageous,” adding that “on many a visit to the tombs of the just throughout Samaria we find them desecrated. This situation is unacceptable and must be rectified.”

Yossi Dagan, of Homesh First, added that “if Jews were to even to consider inflicting one-tenth of this horror on a tomb of an Arab sheik, the entire world would get up on its hind legs and protest. What’s absurd is that we are to blame, since even the Oslo Accords place the tomb under our responsibility.”

“Ma’arat HaMachpela,” the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, is the second holiest site to Jews in the world. The site was off-limits to Jews and Christians for 700 years – from 1267-1967.  Jews were prevented from praying at the tombs despite its sanctity to Jews, and despite the fact that the building above the caves was built by Herod some 2,000 years ago, six hundred years prior to Muhammad’s birth.

Since Israel’s return to Hebron in 1967 the site has been accessible to all people of all faiths. However, Muslims refuse to accept freedom of worship, claim that it’s a mosque and declare that should they ever again control the site, it will be off-limits to anyone not Muslim. (Neither the site, nor the city of Hebron is mentioned anywhere in the Koran.)

Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is obligated to safeguard holy sites and ensure free access to them.

For reasons unknown to me, Jews opened up the Ma’arat HaMachpela to Arabs several years ago so that they can pray there 10 days a year for their Ramadan.

While the Ma’arat HaMachpela, burial place of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs was closed to Jews for Ramadan, Muslim worshippers used the oppurtunity to desecrate the holy site. Hamas flags and puddles of urine were found near the Torahs inside. While these detestable acts were being perpetrated by Muslims, the godless Arab-loving mainstream media never reported it. Here is a video of the desecration:

Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is obligated to safeguard holy sites and ensure free access to them. According to Annex III, Appendix I, Article 32 of the 28 September 1995 Oslo 2 accord:

“2. Both sides shall respect and protect the listed below religious rights of Jews, Christians, Moslems and Samaritans:

a. protection of the Holy Sites;
b. free access to the Holy Sites; and
c. freedom of worship and practice.”

Here is a partial list of assaults on Jewish Holy Sites by Muslim Arabs:

1) Abraham’s Oak Russian Monastery – located in the Palestinian-controlled part of Hebron, the monastery belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. On July 5, 1997, Palestinian policemen arrived at the monastery and ordered the monks and nuns to vacate the premises. The PA officers physically removed all of the monks and nuns, and took over the site.

2) Rachel’s Tomb – The Tomb, located on the outskirts of Bethlehem, is the burial site of the Biblical matriarch Rachel and is under Israeli control. During the September 1996 riots, the PA orchestrated riots near the Tomb in which a Palestinian mob assaulted the site and hurled rocks and firebombs at it, causing damage to the outer part of the structure. Palestinian policemen on the scene shot and wounded Israeli soldiers guarding the Tomb.

3) Joseph’s Tomb – During the September 1996 riots, a Palestinian mob led by Palestinian policemen assaulted the Tomb. Palestinian security agents opened fire on Israeli troops at the site, killing 6 Israeli soldiers. After the Israeli forces temporarily withdrew, the Palestinian mob entered the site and set fire to it. They burned the Jewish prayer books, Bibles and religious articles inside the structure and caused extensive damage.

Here is a partial list of Muslim Arab disparagement of Jewish Holy Sites

* “If the Jews really want peace, they must absolutely forget about having any rights over the Temple Mount or Al-Aksa Mosque… the Western Wall also belongs to Moslems, and was given to the Jews as a place of prayer only because the British asked and the Moslems agreed
out of the goodness of their hearts. The Western Wall is just a fence belonging to a Moslem holy site.”

— Sheikh Ikrama Sabri, the official PA Mufti (senior Muslim cleric) who was appointed to his position by Yasser Arafat, in an interview with the Israeli weekly Makor Rishon, May 22, 1998. [Note: PA Chairman Yasser Arafat has made similar claims in the past. Arafat said, "That is not the Western Wall at all, but a Moslem shrine." (Ma'ariv, 11 October 1996)].

* “Any extremist who enters the Temple Mount compound will not leave it alive.”

— Hatam Abdel Kader, member of the PA’s Legislative Council, in an interview with the official PA radio station the Voice of Palestine, when asked about the possibility of Jews praying on the Temple Mount. (Voice of Palestine, 24 May 1998).

* “The archeology of Jerusalem is diverse – excavations in the Old City and the areas surrounding it revealed Umayyad Islamic palaces, Roman ruins, Armenian ruins and others, but nothing Jewish. Outside of what is mentioned/ written in the Old and New Testaments, there is no tangible evidence of any Jewish traces/ remains in the old city of Jerusalem and its immediate vicinity.”

— PA Information Ministry Press Release, 10 December 1997.

* “Be alert and treat Joseph’s Tomb and Rachel’s Tomb as parcels of Palestinian land which must be liberated, and treat Joseph and Rachel as two people who died, like anyone else.”

— excerpt from an article in the official PA newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, 1 December 1997, concerning Jewish holy sites in Nablus and Bethlehem.

* “The ‘Al-Buraq’ Wall [the Western Wall] is a part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Jews have no relation to it, whether or not a decision to expropriate it was made.”

— PA Mufti Ikrama Sabri in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, 22 November 1997.

Click here to read further about Jewish Holy sites desecrated by Muslims.