Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Palestinians Want Jerusalem's Very Jewish Western Wall: Working on UNESCO

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                             

The Palestinians are now trying to say that Jews have no history to the Western Wall aka Wailing Wall in Jerusalem where Jews go to pray.  They have a lot of Arab support in the UN and are presenting their own version of the history of Jerusalem.  They recognize only the Islamic connection to the Holy City, City of David, Jerusalem.
                                                                               
View of Western Wall lower right and above is Temple Mount with Mosque in Center
These Arabs are trying to make out that the Western Wall is part of Islam's al-Aqsa Mosque.  To do this, they have presented a terrible resolution, showing they know nothing about history pre-Islam's Mohammed.  "The proposal is contained in a draft resolution to the executive board of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The agency formally designates cultural treasures around the world."  The Palestinians got 6 states behind this proposal;  "Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates."  I am truly surprised at Egypt for doing this since they are at peace with Israel.  This is a terrible thing to propose to a friend.  I suppose we should claim the pyramids  in Egypt being Jewish slaves built them, then, and a few cities.  

Here are some facts they are repressing in everyone's minds that they administer.
                                                                       
. After 400 years of slavery in Egypt, Moses came along in 1351 BCE and took the Israelites out of bondage and headed for their old home in Canaan.  After 40 years of wandering,  they arrived in 1271BCE when Moses died and was buried outside the land and then Joshua took over.
                                                                           
Joshua, fighting to possess Canaan
The 12 tribes of Jacob, aka Israel, were told where to settle using Moses's plan, administered by Joshua.  650,000 had started on the Exodus.
The 1st census taken showed 603,550 people
The 2nd census taken showed 601,730 people  with a loss of 1,820 from the  40 year march.
                                                                             
Joshua, Judge of Israel
The people were first ruled by Judges, YehoshuaJoshua of the tribe of Ephriam, in about 1270 BCE  being the first. He was followed by 15 more;   Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, and Jair.                                      
Deborah, a Judge
Then they had the Ammonite rule of Jephitah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli and Samuel, all Jewish judges.
                                                                           
King Saul died fighting the Philistines and so did his 3 sons.
The people saw that their neighbors had kings, so clamoured and insisted on being governed by one, also.  Saul was chosen as the first king in the 1000s BCE, son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin.  The Israelites were in danger militarily from the Philistines and Ammonites.  Samuel, a judge and prophet, had chosen Saul.  They had a victory and defended themselves against the Philistine danger and fought off the Moabites, Ammonites, and Arameans.
                                                                           

The next king was David who ruled from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE.  He was the youngest son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah, and was born in Bethlehem.  He had been Saul's armor-bearer and became Saul's son in law by marrying his daughter, Michal.
                                                                             

David's son, Solomon was the next king from 961-920 BCE and his mother was Bathsheba.  Politically, Solomon was called the King of Peace and was able to build the 1st Temple.  He had 1,000 wives and concubines.  Solomon was able to rest due to his father's achievements to protect the realm which extended from Egypt to the Euphrates and was the most energetic in the entire region.  Less war meant they were able to develop in the cultural sphere of the arts of historiograph, parables, and elegant writing developed as well as several biblical works such as Song of Songs, Ecclesiates, Psalm 72.  Solomon was widely known for his wisdom.  Who hasn't heard the story of how he decided between 2 women as to who a baby belonged?  He used psychology.

When Solomon died in 920 BCE, the southern half of Israel broke off to create Judah from which Jews take their name.  They kept Jerusalem as their capital while Israel took Samaria.  Israel chose an Ephraimite to be king, Jeroboam, while Judah had as king a son of King Solomon, Rehoboam.  Both started serving in 933 BCE.
                                                                           
Israelites being led away by Assyrians.  Israel lost territory of land east of Jordan River, Galilee, and Philistia, Tyre, Moab and Edom became Assyrian provinces.  Shalmaneser took Samaria and Sargon captured it in 721 BCE
Assyria attacked Israel in 722-721 BCE and led Israelites into captivity.  Hoshea was the king at the time, and his reign ended in 721 BCE.
                                                                         
 Sargon annexed the country, and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media.  He replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.

He was the last king of Israel which had lasted from 1271 BCE with the take-over of the land as dictated to do by G-d to 721 BCE, a total of  550 years.  Remember that the USA is only 239 years old.  If we even counted from 1620 when the first pilgrim ship, the Mayflower landed, it would only be 395 years of being on the North American land.                                                                          
Nebuchadnezzar
   As for Judah,  they were able to have another 124 years of happiness before the Babylonians with their king Nebuchadnezzar came along in 597 BCE and also carted away Jews into captivity.  They did more damage in 586 BCE by repeating their actions.  .Judah's last king was Zedekiah whose reign ended in 586 BCE.  Counting Israel's days of which Judah was part of and adding on these 124 more years, this gives the Judeans or Jews,  the land lasting 674 years of continuance- but not ending the time Jews live here.  That has been going on with a smaller Jewish population that has been under many countries' powers, but hasn't turned into another county such as Palestine.
                                                                             
Working on Temple in Jerusalem after destruction
The Temple was rebuilt and called the 2nd Temple from 538 to 515 BCE.
                                                                                 
General Bar Kokhba; Bar Kosiba Simeon, nephew of Rabbi Eleazar of Modiin, descendant of King David
  Palestine was simply the name of the land that the Romans gave it after fighting against the Jewish General Bar Kokhba for 3 years from 132 to 135 CE, the longest battle they had had.  They were so angry about it that they referred to the land from then on by the name of Palaestina, denoting the land of the Jewish enemy, the Philistines. Herodatus as called it Palaistine, and Palestine was the name the Ottoman Empire referred it as for 400 years, ending their hold when they lost WWI in 1917 as their entire empire was lost except Turkey.                                                            
                                                                                   
However, the tribe of Judah, the largest of the 12 tribes,  was filled in with the tribe of Benjamin, and they all were able to live and continue on the land.  The Romans came along and occupied the land in 63 BCE.  They put in their choice of  leaders from the Jewish population, and Herod was chosen as king.
                                                                                 
70 CE, destruction of 2nd Temple and Jerusalem, scattering of Jews who were kept out by Romans
 The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and burned the 2nd Temple down in 70 CE, 133 terrible years after entering.  They had ruled with an iron hand, hanging thousands of Jews on crosses for minor infringements of their power and rule, including the Christian leader, Jesus.                                                        
Assigned areas where 12 tribes of Jacob (Israel) lived in Eretz Yisrael

Eretz Yisrael, The Jewish Homeland  itself, had been the home of the Jewish people from the time of Joshua entering in 1271 BCE till 70 CE, a total of 1,291 years, and the Palestinians are trying to say that we have no historical claim on the Western Wall, a wall attached to the Temple Mount.
                                                                             

2nd Temple of Solomon
The Western Wall/ Wailing Wall, or Kotel Maaravi, is part of the wall that was around Herod's Temple which was still standing in the Old City of Jerusalem so near the 2nd Temple, built  by the returnees from Babylon from  538 to 515 BCE, 23 years of rebuilding .
                                                                             
 The 5 lower courses, each over 3 feet high, date back from the time of King Herod (ruled from 73 BCE to 4 BCE), son of an Idumean father named Antipater  and a Nabatean mother named Cypros, and appointed by the Roman Senate.  The Romans allowed him to handle internal affairs but not foreign policy.
                                                                                   
Herod
  The wall continues over 60 feet underground.  He had rebuilt  the Temple in Jerusalem on a magnificent scale and erected the 2 new cities of Sebaste and Caesarea.
                                                                                 
                                                                               

Where Jews go first in Jerusalem; to the Wall
 However, he was not a beloved king by the Jewish people.  The Jews were still attached to their former Hasmonean rulers that had been ousted.  Taxation was most heavy because of Herod's extravagance and because of Mark Antony demanding large sums from his protege.  Herod was known to murder his rivals  and even had his own wife, Mariamne, murdered along with their 2 sons, Alexander and Aristobulus and his firstborn, Antipater. He had learned well from the Romans.
                                                                               
Because it is close to the Temple Mount which holds the Jewish Holy of Holies of the 2nd Temple, this part of the wall was regarded as sacred as far back as the Talmudic Period.  Since the 10th century, regular services were held before it.  As the area in front of the Western Wall was Moslem property, a serious dispute broke out between Jews and Moslem in 1929, when the British were holding the mandate for Palestine.  Rioting broke out and Moslems were killing Jews.

Then in 1931, a special commission of the League of Nations regulated the rights of the parties.  From 1948, Jews were cut off from the Western Wall, which was under Jordanian control since their King Abdullah confiscated 80% of the Jewish Homeland and England allowed it to happen.  This happened despite a paragraph in the Israel-Jordan 1949 Armistice Agreement affirming Jewish right of access.  
                                                                                     
From 1948, Jews could not visit their wall until they had won the 1967 Six Day War.  Jordan had teamed up with other Arab countries against little Israel so lost that section of Jerusalem.
                                                                           
1967-Dancing in front of Western Wall in joy
 The Wall has been since then under Jewish sovereignty for the 1st time since the 2nd Temple Period.  On Shavuot 1967, the 1st day the Wall could be visited by the public, 200,000 people went there, and since then is a focal point for Jews from all over the world to visit and pray.  Finally, East Jerusalem, the part Jordan had held till the 1967 War, was reunified in June 1967 with West Jerusalem.  They are now under one mayor.

As for any Islamic connection the Arabs have to East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, this is what happened.  During the siege of Jerusalem during the Roman war, the 2nd Temple served as a center of military activity, and was destroyed by the conquering Romans in 70 CE.  A Roman Temple was later built on the site over it..  Since Mohammad died in 632 CE and his men spread out to conquer the world and spread Islam, a mosque, al Harim ash -Sherif,  has stood there where the 2nd Temple had stood and was built by Caliph Abd al-Malik around the year 738 CE to replace the temporary structure set up by Caliph Omar a century earlier, called  the Mosque of Omar/Dome of the Rock.. Supposedly Mohammad flew there on his flying horse before he died to see the mosque.   Omar was the 2nd caliph and ruled from 634 to 644.  It was during his reign that Palestine and Syria were conquered, and also Mesopotamia.  On his orders, most of the Jews were expelled from northern Arabia.  That's it.  That is the Islamic connection to Jerusalem's Temple Mount.  That's why Moshe Dayan was nice enough to let the Jordanian religious leader have dominion over their mosque site.

Resource:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/world/middleeast/arab-proposal-to-un-over-western-wall-stirs-new-concern.html?_r=0
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_(Jerusalem)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(63_BC)
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/palname.html
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
facts about israel by Division of information, ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem

13 comments:

  1. things are more extreme everyday.
    only God will be able to overcome the flood of what is coming.
    i believe the bible.
    He will deliver israel.
    the Glory will be all His.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UNESCO Declares Tomb of Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb Muslim Sites

    Next, will it be the Kotel?

    http://honestreporting.com/idns-10212015-unesco-israel/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=email_this&utm_source=email

    The vote in Paris was 26 in favor, six against and 15 abstentions. The US, Germany, United Kingdom, Estonia and Netherlands, Czech Republic voted against the resolution while a number of other European countries such as Albania, Austria, Ethiopia, Angola, France, Spain, and Italy were among those that abstained.
    The cruelty of UNESCO is beyond belief. It defies history. It defies logic!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am sick over this. My cousin is sick over it, and I'm sure all of Israel is, as well. These are indeed bad times. I feel the Moshiach is just around the corner.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Simon Wiesenthal Center charged today that continuing efforts at UNESCO to rebrand Jewish holy sites as Muslim would lead to more barbaric Palestinian Terror attacks in Israel.



    “The Wiesenthal Center commends UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova for successfully lobbying to remove the lurid and nefarious effort by the Palestinians to have the international body brand the Western Wall as a Palestinian site,” said Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, Dean and Founder and Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the leading Jewish human rights organization with status at the UN and UNESCO.



    “However, we take little solace in a resolution that rebrands two other religious heritage sites deeply connected to the history of the Jewish People and Judaism — Rachel’s Tomb and The Tomb of The Patriarchs, as Muslim sites. This outrage will not only succeed in abetting the Big Lie spread by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas denying the 3,500 year bond between the Jewish people and The Holy Land, but contribute to reframing the Arab-Israeli conflict into an ideological religious conflict,” Hier and Cooper said.



    "In a world where diplomacy would be based on truth and justice, UNESCO would have convened to unanimously condemn — an act of violence aimed at an important historic heritage site in The Holy Land — the arson at Joseph’s Tomb the only Jewish holy site under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Despite the fact that this is the third such violent desecration, we all know that no such vote will ever occur,” the Rabbis charged.



    “We call upon US Secretary of State John Kerry as he begins new efforts to quell the violence by demanding an end to PA president Abbas’ campaign of fanning the flames of intolerance, violence and terror against Israelis,” Rabbi Hier and Rabbi Cooper concluded.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I note that under Israeli Authority, all the holy sites of Jewish, Christian and Muslim sites are protected and open for everyone to come and visit and pray, while the PA will not allow Jews at these sites that UNESCO is wrongly denying to Jews. What they have done is give power to Muslims who will now become more aggressive than they are right now. Give them an inch and they take a foot. Everyone is now in danger everyplace.

    ReplyDelete
  6. yes nadene. i'm sickened at the situation. i have recently read this too. it is a very orchestrated move by the heads of the nations. all of the nations are turned against israel now and she stands alone. netanyahu as much as said that if need be she would stand alone. it is prophetic and happening at a rapid pace now. canada's harper was a lone voice in israel's behalf and he is removed now and replaced by someone with a very liberal and pro muslim stance. get a load of this article nadene:
    http://www.thestar.com/news/federal-election/2015/10/21/in-1972-richard-nixon-predicted-justin-trudeau-would-be-pm.html --- how timely is that for the situation that is ramping up to impossible? is true that the bible says all will turn their back. we now see it-literally. netanyahu's silent stare at the un told us what was coming.

    that is why i know in my heart that it will be the LORD who defends israel because He has promised.
    personally i see the whole thing with moshe dyann basically giving up that control of the temple mount as his lack in the things of God. he did not believe in the covenant promises from the Lord and gave it up so easily. now a very dear price is being paid. again.........it will be God defending israel because He will do it for His own name's sake. God said: My Name is there. (shammah means there right?) and these forces (with a multitude of accomplices) that want to take what is not, nor will ever be, theirs, are going to have the unspeakable happen to them for touching the apple of His eye that is the temple mount and all that surrounds it. that land is HIS and so are the people rightfully there because HIS too. honestly since it is the same God that rescued moses and the people of israel at the red sea i say we are the generation that will see the miraculous. stand still and see the salvation of the Lord because israel's back is up against the wall now. all the time frames and all the details i do not know--i only know soon, not later, and all will know it is God who accomplishes this and in the end there is a remnant that is preserved. zech 13:7-9
    zech 12 is going on as we speak.
    the danger is palpable........

    ReplyDelete
  7. another interesting note, perhaps. the man (trudeau) youngest child is named hadrian. check me if i have this right, but wasn't it hadrian a roman emperor who renamed the land of israel palestine to insult the jewish people? i believe that is correct. amazing timing in these little details of what goes around come around----again---but i believe will be for the final time.

    then there will be Peace.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Andre, you are so right. Hadrian's full name was Aelius Hadrianus and was the Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He prohibited circumcision, visited Palestine in 130 and was hellenizing the country by converting Jerusalem into a Roman colony to be called after himself; Aelia Capitolina. This is when the Jews rebelled under Bar Kokhba and there was the war from 132 to 135, the longest and most difficult one under Hadrian. Judea became a consular province called Syria-Palaestina then Jerusalem was turned into the Roman pagan city and a statue of Hadrian was erected on the site of the Holy of Holies of the 2nd Temple which was the inner sanctum of the Temple where only the high priest was allowed.on the day of Atonement. How could anyone name his son after Hadrian?

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Verse 12:2...Before the End of Days, the nations will besiege Jerusalem, and even force Jews to join them, but the enemies will be destroyed instead. 12:6..When the Judeans compelled to fight their brethren see that they were miraculously spared, they will turn against their enemies who forced them to join their ranks. Then Jerusalem will be restored to its former status. 12:10..The salvation will be so complete that people will be astonished if even one man is killed by the enemy." It does give me hope.

    ReplyDelete
  10. there are a lot of god-complexes running amuck out there. here and abroad. the entire world is consumed more and more to think this way in the micro (individual lives-seen often in the "over the top individualism" (even mimicing celebrity lives)----people are making a joke out of life itself) and in the macro (among the nations with huge stakes on the table in their estimations to lord over others and cruelly so) so now the world's peoples at large are trampling all over what is sacred because they no longer know that (if some ever did). what a horrendous mess and getting worse. it will take GOD to step in to bring order to it all. i know He will. He alone is righteous so He can do what cannot be done by mere men. He has promises He will keep to israel -------but for much more than them--it is for the sake of His own name and reputation. ezekiel 36:22-24 spells it out but that entire chapter 36 gives the fullness of God's perspective in judging the drop in a bucket nations. (israel to be called on the carpet also-----for purifying/refining which will be hard as well)
    i think it very telling and very timely for us to be discussing these things today that hark back into the history books for review. truly what has been around has come around again.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, and it seems everyone is vying for power. To take away these sites from the "powerful" Israelis and give them to the Palestinians give the Palestinians power they hunger for. Can you imagine: giving in to the bullies on the playground and instead of showing them the error of their ways, just kow towing to their every desire? They don't change, they just become worse than ever. So that's how UNESCO is handling this horrendous decision. Let them riot in Jerusalem, stab and kill, and then reward them with these sites with more to come. Life certainly is in a horrendous mess and getting worse. HIstory does have a way of repeating itself. People haven't changed that much. What they have done in the past, their descendants try to do again.

      Delete
  11. nadene did you see the article about richard nixon and trudeau's son that i gave you the link to? i find it just like God to show us the behind the scenes things that went on to prepare our minds for what is happening now. maybe the only significance is that is just shows God's timing in all of the nations headed by those who will not stand up or with israel-----paving the way for the things that God in His permissive will will use to take down those who have come against Him first and against those that are His. i know this much--------they are set for a fall. pride is coming down one day so i do pray it is sooner than later because the sooner the better the world is so despicable and egregious in it's inhumanity---as in the days of noah and as in the days before jerusalem fell and the jewish people were scattered. glad i know the end of the story and the return.
    and all eyes will be on HIM...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yes, I did. Very interesting. Nixon got that one right. I bet even he would be surprised that it came true. Trudeau's son is so very much on the left. We certainly do have a lot of enemies today. It is just plain disgusting. Too many just don't care about a thing anymore outside of their own personal comforts and of course, being politically correct.

    ReplyDelete