Via JCPA:

According to the 1993 Oslo Agreements, Jerusalem is one of the issues to be discussed in future permanent status negotiations. The Swedish move to have the European foreign ministers back a declaration recognizing eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state clearly pre-judges the outcome of those talks. When the EU foreign ministers met on December 8, they issued a statement that only partly softened the Swedish draft. It dropped the reference to the Palestinian state being comprised of “the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital,” but still retained a proposal that envisions “Jerusalem as the future capital of two states.”

The EU statement insisted that the EU “will not recognize any changes in the pre-1967 borders” without the agreement of the parties. Yet by enshrining the 1967 lines as a previous political border, the EU was ignoring that these were only armistice lines and not a recognized international boundary. In fact, it was UN Security Council Resolution 242 which acknowledged that the pre-1967 lines might change. By waving the carrot of a statement of support for eastern Jerusalem to be part of a Palestinian state, the Swedes are causing Mahmoud Abbas’ advisors to believe that if they avoid bilateral negotiations with Israel, they can create the political environment for third party intervention to their advantage.

What is needed is an ongoing Israeli diplomatic effort for Jerusalem, underlining Israel’s legal rights and its role as the protector of the holy sites. Unfortunately, European states, which once sought to protect the holy sites of Christianity in Jerusalem, today appear to be oblivious to what would happen to their churches were the Old City of Jerusalem to be given to a Palestinian regime under the influence of Hamas.

It is a mistake to think of Judeophobia being a mostly Muslim problem, since we already know that Islamism is a culture of Jew-hatred that permeates books, magazines, newspapers, sermons, the Internet, television and radio in the Arab Middle East.  Sadly, Judeophobia is a global problem. As Joel Hilliker writes,

History shows undeniably that the greatest persecutions of Jews have come at the hands of Western Christian society—tracing back clear to the first Roman Empire.

But in spite of the hatred that the world has for the Jew, Jerusalem will always be Jewish. Via JPost:

Benjamin Disraeli, the prime minister of the United Kingdom at the turn of the 20th century, told detractors who heckled him as a Jew when he rose to speak in parliament: “My people were kings in Jerusalem while you were still scratching around in the fields for mushrooms.”

The point is, Jerusalem was the capital of Israel long before Berlin or New York even existed. The city has been the capital of only one people, and that is the Jewish people.

When the Ottoman Turks conquered the region and reigned over it for 400 years, they never treated the city as anything more than a backwater provincial town.

How strange it is then that the world believes that the ancient biblical city should not be Jewish.

The Jews have more claim to Jerusalem than the French have to Paris or the Germans to Berlin or the British to London.

This is a people that for thousands of years expressed its attachment to and longing for the city by exclaiming every Passover: “Next year in Jerusalem!” The city has been the capital of only one people, and that is the Jewish people. No other nation can or should lay claim to it. As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently declared, “Jerusalem is not a settlement!” It is the City of David, Solomon, the great prophets and sages of the Bible, and the city that Jesus himself prayed for and recognized as Jewish.

Even the Patriarch Abraham, 4,000 years ago, travelled to Moriah and the city of Salem to worship God. It is from this divine encounter that the city, even the modern one, takes its name. It is Jerusalem, the city of peace and of righteousness.

It is absurd to think otherwise, and yet this is the nature of the global political consensus today. It is nothing short of shameful.

Below are some photos, originally printed on celluloid, of the Temple Mount and the mosques on top of it just before the birth of modern Zionism (1877). Note the utter disarray and lack of use of the third holiest site in Islam.

How odd those pictures are.

Weeds do not go untrampled in a highly trafficked area, do they? Buildings in use do not go without repair, do they?

Based upon these pictures, the tale of the importance of al Aqsa in terms of importance and holiness should be re-written to represent the truth, not the fiction that the Jew-hating world likes to spread.

Falling into the trap of endlessly explaining, in more and more words why Islam is not what it actually is as revealed by its 1,400 year history, seems to be a losing game.

Check out this video of the Roman conquest of Ancient Jerusalem to connect with the atmosphere of the 3 weeks presented by WeJew, a new Jewish social media sharing site :

Like each American president before him, Obama refuses to acknowledge Jerusalem as the legitimate capital of the legitimate – and sovereign – nation of Israel. 

The U.S. Congress approved the transfer of the embassy 14 years ago.  But this time, there is no doubt that Obama’s own Muslim identity politics is one of the reasons for his refusal to do so.  There is no doubt that Obama wants to throw Israel under the bus.  Via Ha’aretz:

United States President Barack Obama on Friday postponed moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by an additional six months, Israel Radio reported.

A senior White House official said that U.S. policy regarding the status of Jerusalem remains unchanged, and that it is a final-status issue to be resolved within the framework of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that all of Jerusalem would always remain under Israeli sovereignty.

Netanyahu said he had made the same declaration during his visit to Washington last month when he met with Obama.

“The new U.S. administration informs us with intolerably ease that we have to give up Jerusalem,” the premier said during a May ceremony marking Jerusalem Day.

“With all due respect, the U.S. president sees the American interest and does not know that Jerusalem is not a territorial issue, but a much deeper one – ‘the hope of two thousand years/the land of Zion and Jerusalem,’” he said, quoting Israel’s national anthem.

h/t One Jerusalem:

We congratulate the Orthodox Union for calling on the President Elect Obama to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.  Leaders of the OU, in Israel for their annual convention, called on Obama to show “real support for Israel” by moving the embassy.

The Jerusalem Embassy Act, signed in 1995, calls for the U.S. embassy to be moved to Jerusalem by 1999.  But Presidents Clinton and Bush have both refused to enforce the bill, citing “National Security.”

We echo the call of the OU and request that if President elect Obama is the real friend of Israel that he claims to be, he will enforce the bill passed by the U.S. Congress and move the embassy to Jerusalem.

Deconstructing Palestinianism.  Via Jewish Political Studies Review:

For ancient Greek and Roman pagan authors, Jerusalem definitely was a Jewish city, as seen in references to Jerusalem from nearly twenty different sources, dating from the third century BCE to the third century CE. These texts indicate unanimous agreement that Jerusalem was Jewish by virtue of the fact that its inhabitants were Jews, it was founded by Jews, and the Temple, located in Jerusalem, was the center of the Jewish religion. Despite the negative views of Jews and Judaism expressed by authors such as Manetho, Apion, Tacitus and Juvenal, the Jewish identity of Jerusalem is always clear and never a subject of dispute.

These ancient texts disprove recent attempts by Muslims and others to deny the historic connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and the location of the Temple in Jerusalem through fabrications and lies.

Nir Barkat has won a victory in the race for Mayor of Jerusalem. According to OneJerusalem, Barkat ran on a platform of expanding the Jewish presence in the eastern part of the City, and pledged to keep Jerusalem united.

Throughout the campaign, Mr. Barkat demonstrated that he understands the economic and social problems that Jerusalem must solve for the city is to become a desirable place for businesses and families to come and prosper. During the years that he served on Jerusalem’s legislative counsel, Mr. Barkat developed ideas to improve the quality of life in the city.

Now his challenge is to take the mandate he received from the citizens of Jerusalem, and use it to chart a new course for the Holy City.

The One Jerusalem Family stands ready to assist Mayor Barkat in any way it can.

Here is a short video of Mr. Barkat giving his victory address to his supporters.

Building the Third Temple in our lifetime. The Temple Mount Faithful Feast of Tabernacles Celebration – 5769/2008

In the midst of a critical time of redemption in Israel — and during a very complicated time of trouble all over the world, the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement held one of its most exciting events in its campaign to build the Third Temple in our lifetime. Now, more than any other time in the past, our materialistic generation needs the G-d of Israel to dwell in the midst of our daily lives. This generation needs the light of G-d to shine into the darkness that is now spreading to the four corners of the earth. As was prophesied through the prophets of Israel, G-d chose this time to bring about His plans with Israel in order to begin the endtime redemption of the entire world.

In a time when so many people in the world are searching and seeking after materialistic achievements and serving the “Golden Calf”, the Faithful Movement has been involved in intensive endtime activities. We have been seeking the spirit, the morals, the values and the word of the G-d of Israel. We have been demonstrating for the rebuilding of His Holy House in Jerusalem and for the coming of Mashiach Ben David in our lifetime.

This most recent event took place on Thursday, 17 Tishrei 5769/October 16, 2008, during the Feast of Succoth — the Feast of Tabernacles.

Read more »

Via AP:

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old gold earring beneath a parking lot next to the walls of Jerusalem’s old city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday.

The discovery dates to the time of Christ, during the Roman period, said Doron Ben-Ami, director of excavation at the site. The piece was found in a Byzantine structure built several centuries after the jeweled earring was made, showing it was likely passed down through generations, he said.

The find is luxurious: A large pearl inlaid in gold with two drop pieces, each with an emerald and pearl set in gold.

“It must have belonged to someone of the elite in Jerusalem,” Ben-Ami said. “Such a precious item, it couldn’t be one of just ordinary people.”

In a statement released Monday, the authority said the piece of jewelry was “astonishingly well-preserved.” Finds from the Roman period are rare in Jerusalem, Ben-Ami said, because the city was destroyed by the Roman Empire in the first century A.D.

Shimon Gibson, an American archaeologist who was not involved in the dig, said the find was truly amazing, less because of its Roman origins than for its precious nature.

“Jewelry is hardly preserved in archaeological context in Jerusalem,” he said, because precious metals were often sold or melted down during the many historic takeovers of the city.

“It adds to the visual history of Jerusalem,” Gibson added, saying it brings attention to the life of women in antiquity.

Though Gibson dates the piece slightly later than the antiquities authority, to sometime between the second and fourth centuries A.D., he said its quality and beauty were impressive.

Ben-Ami added that he expects more small, luxury items to turn up in future excavations.

Earrings similar to this one have been found at archaeological sites throughout Europe, Ben-Ami said, where the Roman Empire also flourished. The authority said the earring appeared to be crafted using a technique similar to that depicted in portraits from Roman-era Egypt.