by Fern Sidman, INN NY Correspondent
Serving as keynote speaker at the 34th annual Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai dinner on June 1st, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Danny Danon assumed an obdurate posture on the recent dramatic shift in US foreign policy as it pertains to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a direct reference to President Obama’s controversial address to the State Department on May 19th, in which he called on Israel to retreat to the ‘1967 boundaries’ [the 1949 armistice lines –ed.] in a gesture towards the creation of an independent Palestinian state, Mr. Danon declared, “President Obama: Take your hands off Jerusalem, take your hands off of Israel.”
Speaking from the dias at the Terrace On the Park hall in Flushing, New York, Mr. Danon’s remarks were enthusiastically received by his audience of over 500, as he said that “President Obama is ignoring reality when he attempts to make a distinction between the objectives of Hamas and al-Qaeda. They are one and the same and we in Israel know very well that you cannot appease terrorists, but rather, you must fight terrorists.”
Exhorting the US president to focus on a concrete plan of action that will confront “Iran’s nuclear capability” instead of pressuring Israel into making suicidal territorial concessions, Mr. Danon praised the US for undertaking the Navy SEAL mission that resulted in the killing of al-Qaeda mastermind, Osama bin Laden. “Israel should be doing as the US has done in terms of fighting terror and we can learn an excellent lesson from this dramatic and courageous mission.”
Concerning the vote at the United Nations in September on the establishment of a Fatah-Hamas run state, Mr. Danon said,
-
“I am not afraid of what will happen in September. By using the UN to push for a state, the Palestinians are in violation of the Oslo accords. When the UN will decide unilaterally to vote for the creation of a Palestinian state, we will immediately declare independence throughout Judea and Samaria.”
Mr. Danon spoke of the historic tradition that served as common denominator amongst previous Israeli Prime Ministers as it pertained to maintaining the holy city as the eternal capital of the Jewish people. “David Ben Gurion moved the Knesset from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Levi Eshkol did not differentiate between East and West Jerusalem or who lived there before 1967 and who lived there after that,” he said, adding that, “80% of Israelis polled are against compromise of any form on the status of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”
Quoting former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir, Mr. Danon offered a sanguine perspective on Israel’s future.
-
“Mr. Shamir has often said that we need three things to win this war. The first is ‘ideology’ and that is represented through our belief in and adherence to the precepts of the Torah. The second thing is ‘organization’ and we have that here in Ateret Cohanim. The third thing is a steadfast commitment to overcome all adversity and to prevail against those who seek out destruction and, thank G-d, we possess this magnificent trait.”
Founded by IDF veteran Matityahu HaCohen Dan, Ateret Cohanim’s mission is predicated upon the fulfillment of a generations-old dream of rebuilding and securing Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel. Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai has succeeded in re-establishing vibrant Jewish communities that are centered around yeshivot and other educational institution in the Kotel Quarter, also known as the Muslim and Christian quarters of the holy city.
Representing the Jewish residents of the Old City of Jerusalem at this year’s dinner was Chaya Shira (Frimer) Tanami who lives in the Yemenite Village. With her exceptional courage, Mrs. Tanami and others like her exemplify a pioneering spirit that serves as a beacon of light and hope for the future of Jerusalem. The recipients of the Bonei Yerushalayim award included Shlomo and Naomi Min-Ha Har Gottfried of Maalot Dafna, Jerusalem, Henoch and Tova Messner of Monsey, New York and Nessem and Lynne Tammam of Great Neck, New York.
Mr. Tammam said, “The first part of the word in Hebrew is ‘yerusha,’ meaning inheritance, and the last part of the word is ‘shalom.’ We have come to the city of our inheritance in peace and by claiming our inheritance, given to us by G-d, we will earn the respect of the world and the Arabs and in the end, peace will follow.”
On the other hand, he observed, “The 70 or more Jewish families in the Old City must live with 24 hour heavy security. What kind of life is that? They risk their lives every single day in order to make it possible for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to live there, one day, please G-d, in peace.”
Having purchased a property in the Old City called Beit Schechter, Henoch and Tova Messner, also recipients of the Bonei Yerushalayim award, recalled its glorious past. “This property was named after its original owners who lived there from the 1880s until the 1930s when they were driven out by Arab rioters during the infamous pogroms.” said Mr. Messner.
Prior to making the purchase they sought the counsel of HaRav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, shlita
“When we asked Rav Elyashiv if he thought this cause was important enough for us to become involved with, he was surprised that a Jew could even ask this question. He felt that it was such an imperative thing to do that he gave us his full endorsement and encouraged us to get others involved,” said Mr. Messner, adding that, “there is nothing more natural than a Jew buying a house in Jerusalem. The students of the Vilna Gaon did the same 200 years ago and Ateret Cohanim is at the forefront of continuing this special work today.”
Mr. Messner said that, “The designation of ‘East’ and ‘West’ Jerusalem was created for the purpose of removing Jews from half of the city which they once owned and inhabited before they were forcefully removed. In fact, when the Schechter family lived in their home which we redeemed, the Jews were the predominant majority in that part of the city.” Describing the Torah obligation of every Jew to reclaim Jerusalem, he said, “The halacha is that one is allowed to acquire a non-Jewish owned house in Jerusalem on Shabbos if it becomes available and should not wait until after Shabbos because the deal may no longer be available then. This demonstrates the importance of this mitzvah.”
Nina, you are right, the Jews have G-d given rights to the Holy Land.
The Palestinians are nothing more than an anti-Semitic tool used by the Muslim world to kill Jews and destroy Israel.
Don’t fret because I believe G-d is with Israel.
I don’t think that President Obama has any right to tell Israel what it should do. I pray that Mr. Netanyahu will stand his ground and not give in to those who are trying to steal the land from the Jews. God gave it to the Jews many many years ago, and who has the right to take it away.It really disturbs me when I see all those large countries around Israel, and yet the Palestinians try to take possession of Jerusalem. Why don’t they fight to get some land from Iran, or Iraq, or any of the other countries. Why are they fighting for the small sliver of land that belongs to the Jews?
Its about time someone challenged Barak Hussein O’Bama (Irish decent) This guy is the most dangerous president the US has ever had.
Here’s talkback #2 for this INN piece:
Now, that’s more like how Danon really is.
America: “If you stand at our side during our redemption – it will be good for you. And if you try to bother us and steal from our portion – than your fate will be a bitter one!”
The following is an excerpt from Dr. Israel Eldad’s book The Challenge Of Jerusalem. Dr. Eldad was one of the three leaders of the Lechi after the assassination of Avraham Stern. Dr. Eldad died in 1996.
THE CHALLENGE OF JERUSALEM
On the Temple Mount and below it, there occurred one of the most exciting and odd events. General Motti Gur, the conqueror of the Temple Mount, reports: “The Mountain is in our hands.” The Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Defense Forces (Rabbi Shlomo Goren), gripped by enormous emotion, blows the shofar at the Western Wall. With fluttering heart, the Prime Minister, Levi Eshkol, speaking from the heart of the entire nation, pronounces the “shehechianu” blessing. Shehechianu – “Who kept us alive and sustained us” – to stand again before the Wall. The Wailing Wall – a memorial of the destruction. An Israeli soldier pressed against the Wall and bathed in tears became the symbol of victory.
What is going on here? At the Wall? Why not on the Temple Mount? Who at that time thought of Halachic restrictions? Certainly not Gur and Eshkol and the weeping soldier and those masses that began to flow to the Wall. It was not Halachah that prevented them from ascending and celebrating on the Mount. Two thousand years of EXILE channeled them and us and the river of their – our – stormy emotion to the Wailing Wall, a truly surrealistic spectacle. Here was rationality inside the irrationality of the miraculous victory. A forced emancipational Zionism overcame a redemptional-historical Zionism.
The soldiers of Tzahal break through the Lion’s Gate, only now giving to the gate’s name its true meaning. They break into the Temple square. With their commanders, they storm its length and diagonally cross its wonderful and great expanse. And that search for the way to the “Wailing Wall”…They ask the Arabs: How does one go down to the Wall?..The Arabs are scared and show them the way, the steep steps to the “Mughrabi Quarter,” and the liberators descend to the narrow lane. These soldiers, conquerors of the Temple Mount, as if possessed by a dybbuk , run down to the Wailing Wall, to the Wall of Tears and cling to it in glowing passion and deeply moving tears. This is the most dramatic and most photographed scene of the Six Day War, and from it a tremor spreads through the people and the entire land, through the towns and villages and to the fronts still bathed in fire. We have returned to the Kotel !
Had we broken through the Jaffa Gate or the Zion Gate, had we reached the Kotel on the way to the liberation of the Temple Mount, then one might understand, sure it’s natural. But no. The Mount was conquered first. We were on the Temple Mount, and spontaneously, without orders from superiors without thinking or planning–we went down to the Wall.
And this Wall is not even a wall of the Temple, but part if the wall with which Herod surrounded it. Its entire sanctity derives from prohibitions forced on us by foreign usurpers, preventing us from ascending the Mount. It is a reminder, a memorial, a substitute. Hence it is a Wailing Wall, for it reminds us only of the destruction, of the disgrace if being below, with our enemies on top. For 2,000 years this fabulous mountain waited for its Jewish liberators …finally they come to it, but what is happening here?…Why do they run down to the Wall? Why, holding, the genuine thing, do they want the substitute?
But to return the main point: The Temple Mount was conquered and not liberated. We are down below and our enemies sit above as if we are not living in the State of Israel, as if we are not in charge in the age of Tzahal . We deal with the recidivism of an exilic soul. Zionism had two sources: a positive root in the sovereign will to redemption, to return, to renew our days as of old, and a second, negative root, in escape from oppression, in the despair of emancipation. It is this second one that won. For truly Zionism was forced on us. Even this miraculous war, with its liberation of Jerusalem, was forced on us to our shame.
And so, to the extent that memories and emotions played a role–and they certainly did–they were memories and emotions that went as far as the Wall of Teras. They did not go higher than that Wall, not to the establishment if decisive facts in Jewish redemptive history. The Mount was liberated–and abandoned.
An intimidated, wavering rabbinate shaped by exilic traditionalism joined hands with a political establishment on which the entire issue had been forced, and who could not forget that its main demand had always been free access to the Wailing Wall. Behold, this was now achieved.
There was yet another factor. Was it not clear, as a matter if course, that should the city fall into the hands of Jews –even if the mosques on the Temple Mount should survive the battles–that the Temple Mount itself appropriated and removed from the control of the political-religious-nationalist Waqf, with its incitement to kill the Jews?
Now thats more like it.
Obama has no right to suggest and or dictate conditions regarding Israel.
First of all he is not qualified to be president of the US even though he believes he is the messiah.
If and it’s a major or colossal IF he were truly interested in seeking peace for the ME he would curtail all financial aid to the Arab world that threatens Israel.
Having said that this character, an anti-Semite, who embraces Islam has no intentions other than seeking the destruction of Israel, home of the Jews.
One of many important reasons to be sure this turkey is a one term president.
Jerusalem our eternal capital. Hands off indeed!