Jerusalem-Most Coveted of All Religions

Nadene Goldfoot                                                             

Jerusalem's Tower of David

Tower of David in Jerusalem

Jerusalem, Israel is the capital of this small state.  It was built by David who was king of Israel who lived from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE.  That 40 year period was 3,026 years ago!  Israel was reborn in 1948 and Jerusalem became their capital again after the 1967 War when all the Arab nations surrounding her  attacked the 3rd time, but were repelled once again, making Israel the winner of the onslaught.  Jerusalem has been her official capital for the past 49 years, and there is yet a nation to accept this very fact.  They'd rather not, they say.

General Bar Kokhba's revolt against the Romans succeeded
in gaining back Jerusalem, if only for 3 years from 132 to 135! 

                                                                             

Jerusalem's Western Wall at night today.  It's the only place left for Jews since their site
of the 2nd Temple has a Mosque standing over it-a place Jews are not allowed to pray!
Now UNESCO of the United Nations has ruled that it has no Jewish connection!  Since
nations did not win against Israel in battles, they fight Israel in this way.  Their logic is
only nonsense, and we all know it.  

It was the capital of the remaining part of southern Israel called Judah until the Romans burned it down in 70 CE.  This means it was the Jewish capital for a good 1,030 years!  General Bar Kokhba made a last stand and retook their city in 132 and held it for 3 whole years before he was killed in battle.  That was the longest any group had held out against the mighty Roman army, and they were most angry about it.  This is when they named the land "Palestine" after the main Jewish enemy of the Philistines.  To later be called a Palestinian was rather an anathema to a Jew.  He was a Jew, an Israelite.
                                                                           

For the Christians and the Muslims want to claim  to be the ruling authority  over Jerusalem instead of Israel.  Christians came along because the Jesus of their narrative was a Judean born in Bethlehem.  He died on the cross due to Herod's  ruling.  The period of the Crusaders, from about 1095 to 1350,  had the king of England and others riding through Europe, killing Jews on the way as they showed their love for Jesus in this peculiar style.  They arrived in what was then called Palestine-named as such by the Romans who had killed Jesus, and commenced to slaughter all the people they had contact with; Jews and Muslims!
                                                                   

Muslims joined Judaism through their leader, Mohammad, who wrote his own good book called the Koran and claimed belief in one God only.  He lived from 570 to 632,  a period of 62 years.  That was only 1,446 years ago.  When he died, his followers turned into the most serious of proselytizers, forcing people at the point of a sword to convert to their way of believing..  Of course, one of their first acts was to follow the Romans in Jerusalem who had built a pagan Temple over the spot where the Jews' 2nd Temple had stood but had been destroyed by the Romans, and build their own mosque over it.
                                                                         

Al Buraf, an Islamic update of Pegasus

    Omar built a temporary Temple, and it was rebuilt 100 years later by Caliph Abd al- Malik in about 738, with the narrative that Mohammad had been there with his horse and they had flown there and then flew into the sky to heaven and back home in Arabia again.  They had many stories of flying carpets, but this was a first to be done on a flying horse.  Because of this story, they claim that Jerusalem is their 3rd holiest place in the world.

Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, King of Jordan 1946 to 1951
born and raised in Mecca, Arabia; was part of the Ottoman
Empire who lost WWI they had joined, being on Germany's side.
However, "Between 1916 and 1918, working with the British guerrilla leader T. E. Lawrence, he played a key role as architect and planner of the Great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule. So he was rewarded with almost all of the Jewish Homeland (80%). .  

Abdullah's descendant, King Hussein, grandson who was the son of Talal, Abdullah's son.
Today, Hussein's son is King Abdullah II.  Hussein had been king since 1952 until his death in 1999..  

                                                                                   

Jewish Homeland given to Abdullah in 1921!  He'll take more in 1948 by
annexing land that's on
the West side of the Jordan River-Judah and Samaria.  TransJordan later
was just called JORDAN, ruled in 1952 by his grandson, Hussein. In 1970
he expelled the PLO-later to reconcile with Arafat. His own people were
originally the bedouin tribesmen from Arabia, where he was from. 
   

Jordan had King Abdullah I in 1948  who took advantage of Israel being attacked 5 minutes after their claim of their state.  Israel had no army as yet, no uniforms, nothing and was ripe for the attack that they accomplished quickly.  Jordanians took ancient Judah and Samaria, naming it the West Bank as it lay on the Western side of the Jordan River.  It was land that was accepted by the League of Nations to be the Jewish Homeland and of course included part of Jerusalem.  Israel got it back legally by international law after the 1967 War.  The problem is that other countries or religions look at this law with a blind eye.  They haven't accepted it.
                                                                     

Jerusalem is written about in the Torah and other Jewish materials found in the "Old Testament" of the Bible.  Christians do not read the "Old Testament" nearly as much as their "New Testament."  In fact, the Presbyterians have a replacement theory whereby the they have replaced the Jews.  Evidently they must think they should be the ones to inherit Jerusalem this way.
                                                                           

Israel has been home to all religions.  Each one is respected, but that wasn't the way with Jordan's government.  No other religions were respected.  Jewish cemeteries were being destroyed, and so were holy places.  Israel has many minarets of the Muslim faith.  Jerusalem has always been the City of David, the City of Peace.  Yet the Muslims recently went around stabbing Jews they saw in this city, trying to kill them, and if that was too slow a process, went about ramming cars into crowds, trying to do the job faster.  There was no respect for life from this group at all!

Jews at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the only place of history
left for Jews to visit for praying.  It was the first place they went to in 1967 upon
receiving entrance.  

When Jordan was governing, Jerusalem was a divided city.  Since being the capital, barriers were taken down.  It has one Israeli mayor, just like other cities. "An Islamic religious endowment lies under the management of the Jordanian government through the Waqf in Amman,  given by Moshe Dayan in 1967.   The Israeli government imposes entry limits to Temple Mount for political and security reasons. In addition, Jewish law imposes restrictions on entering Temple Mount.
                                                                         

One problem that still exists from Ottoman Empire days is that of praying on the Temple Mount.  "Jewish prayer on Temple Mount is completely forbidden. Jews may enter only to visit the place, and only at limited times. Muslims are free to pray on Temple Mount, however, Christians and Jews may only visit the site as tourists. They are forbidden from singing, praying, or making any kind of "religious displays".   During times of political tension and fear of riots, on Fridays and some Jewish or Muslim Holy Days entry to the Haram area is restricted to Muslim men over a certain age, which varies according to decisions taken by security officials. The restrictions do not concern Muslim women, who can enter regardless of their age. "  "A number of Jewish movements demand "freedom of prayer to Jews on Temple Mount": "The Temple Mount Faithfuls" have been led by Gershon Solomon "and my cousin, Stanley Goldfoot.                                                

                                                                                 
I get it that Israel is sitting in the crossroads of the world, but this is 2016, and people can fly in jets quickly today.  They don't need the site that Israel sits on.  Israel's history is ancient and the Jews are one of the few ancient peoples who continue to exist.  Our history is part and parcel to our religion.  It is precious to us.  So is this land.  It holds the bones of our ancestors.  Our ancestors have prayed for the past 2,000 years for our return and that we NEVER forget Jerusalem.  We haven't!

Research, The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/crusades_timeline.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_I_of_Jordan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount_entry_restrictions