By Mordechai Kedar, INN
Arab and Muslim leaders and spokespersons have been trying to frighten the entire world in order to prevent other nations from recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – Trump’s declaration notwithstanding – and from relocating their embassies to Jerusalem. It’s time to tell the world what it should have realized a long time ago.
1. Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people’s state, is one of the most ancient capitals in the world. It became the capital of Israel’s monarchy during the reign of King David – that is in 1003 B.C.E., 3030 years ago, when the capitals of the countries who refuse to recognize it were still boggy swamps, leafy forests or arid deserts. The history of the oldest nations of Europe, the Greeks and the Romans, proves without a doubt that Jerusalem was already the capital of the Jewish nation in ancient times.
2. The Jews are the only indigenous people of the land of Israel and lived in Jerusalem for 1613 years before the birth of Islam, which occurred in 610 C.E. Putting it bluntly, the Jews lived in Jerusalem when Islam’s forefathers were still pagan nomads in the Arabian Peninsula, so what gives the Muslims of today the right to oppose Jerusalem’s being recognized as the capital of the Jewish state?
3. Can anyone imagine Muslim threats of terror attacks, demonstrations or uncontrolled rioting having enough clout to limit or direct the political decisions made by world powers?
4. Is there any other country in the world that accepts the dictates of other states regarding the location of its capital city?
5. Why doesn’t the world recognize Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem despite Israel’s liberation of Jerusalem’s eastern sector from illegal and illegitimate Jordanian occupation that was unrecognized by the world?
6. King Abdullah II, the Jordanian monarch, is trying to pressure Israel into establishing a Palestinian state on the hills of Judea and Samaria with its capital in East Jerusalem. Why did his father, King Hussein, who assumed the throne in the year 1952, refrain from doing so until Israel liberated eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria from Jordanian occupation In 1967?
7. The Arab League demands that Israel establish a Palestinian state in the same area delineated by Abdullah II. Why didn’t it demand the same of King Hussein, who assumed the throne in 1952, but instead waited until Israel liberated eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria in 1967?
8. Many governments and international political figures back the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria with East Jerusalem as its capital. Why didn’t those intrepid fighters for justice demand the same of King Hussein before 1967, while he ruled over areas of land granted to Israel, but illegally captured by Jordan?
9. During his campaign for the US presidency, Donald Trump promised unequivocally to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and it is safe to assume that many voters, both Christian and Jewish, cast their votes for him as a result. He is therefore bound to fulfill that promise or lose his credibility, especially as Congressional elections are to take place next year, while presidential and Senate elections are a mere three years away.
10. Once all foreign embassies move to Jerusalem, Israel’s enemies will realize that their war against the Jewish state has failed, and that all they can do is admit to that failure and accept Israel as a fait accompli, one there is no reason to fight anymore. This, by the way, is the definition of “peace” in the Middle East. For that reason, relocating all foreign embassies to Jerusalem will serve as a significant step forward in the quest for peace between Israel and the Arab and Islamic world.
11. One of the international organizations calling on the world not to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), consisting of 57 Islamic countries worldwide. This organizations, among other aspirations, wishes to make it illegal under international law to criticize Islam, thereby eliminating two fundamental and important freedoms basic to modern culture, freedom of thought and freedom to express an opinion. Everyone who holds dear his freedom of thought and expression is obliged to support everything this organization opposes, and make sure to place this organization outside the pale of human civilization.
12. Islamic opposition to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital comes from Islam’s belief that Judaism and all other religions are obsolete, leaving only Islam as the true faith. Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital grants Judaism the status of a living religion, one that threatens Islam, which arrived in the world in order to “supersede all existing religions” (Koran, chap. 9, verse 33). The world must inform the Muslims that they are expected to take care of their own affairs and leave other religions alone. Judaism is alive and well and does not pose a threat to any other religion. If Islam is incapable of dwelling in peace with other religions, it will have to be revised to allow for accepting “others”, including Jews, as people with living religions and holy sites – Jerusalem, for example – and the right to behave in them as they choose.
13. It is no secret that most of the Arabs living in the land of Israel (aka Palestinians), their surrounding fellow Arabs and Muslims worldwide do not consider Israel a legitimate state anywhere, because according to Islam the Jews (and likewise the Christians) must live under Islamic dominance and protection as lowly dhimmis. This, of course, means being fourth class citizens with the limited rights granted them by Sharia law. Sharia denies Jews the right to a land of their own and denies recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital because it is against Islamic law. Giving in to these demands is in essence the modern world cowing humiliatingly to the Islamic worldview and to Islamic Sharia, both of which hail from the 7th century. Can anyone who believes in the freedom of man and his right to dignity honestly support that?
14. Another Islamist reason for Muslim opposition to the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the Islamic religious concept of land as a factor in Israel’s conflict with its neighbors.
According to Islam’s tenets, every country can join Islam and become a “House of Islam”instead of a “House of War”. There is, according to this mindset, no legitimate way for a country to be removed from Islam’s ownership once it has been under Islamic rule for whatever length of time. Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital stamps a seal of approval on the establishment of a Jewish state on land once conquered by Muslims. It is therefore in direct contradiction to the way Islam views the nations of the world. That world is going to have to ask itself whether it is willing to act according to the way Islam views the world or whether it is going to stand up for the internationally accepted behavioral norms under which no one interferes with a country’s choice of a capital city.
15. Many Muslims claim that the issue of Jerusalem must be solved as part of a peace agreement between Israel and the Arabs (aka Palestinians) living in the land of Israel. What is the connection between the establishment of some future state – should that ever come to pass – and the world’s recognition of the fact that Jerusalem is and has always been the capital of the Jewish nation?
16. Terror organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah proclaimed aloud their opposition to the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. These announcements contain veiled and not-so-veiled threats about their intentions to react to the recognition by means of terror attacks. Had President Trump refrained from recognizing Jerusalem, that would have signified an abject surrender to terror that would only lead to additional threats in the future. The approval rating of these radical groups goes up in the Muslim world when politicians and states give in to them, brings more volunteers to their ranks and increases donations from their supporters. The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital deals terror a blow – a blow to its image and its ability to enlist financial support and volunteers.
17. The Arabs conquered Jerusalem in 1948, turned the Jewish Quarter of the Old City into ruins and demolished tens of synagogues. Throughout 19 years of occupation, from 1948 to 1967, they willfully destroyed large parts of the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives and used the gravestones to build houses and pave streets, prevented Jews from visiting the sacred sites located in Judaism’s holiest city. It is important to cite the criminal digging carried out by the Islamic Wakf and the Islamic Movement – with bulldozers , no less – on the Temple Mount, destroying priceless Jewish, Christian and other artifacts. The Muslim Arabs’ treatment of the city, its residents, its past history and its holy sites makes them ineligible to express an opinion on its status and future. If the world ignores their opinions and recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, they have only themselves to blame. Refraining from doing that raises their hopes of ruling over the city once again and a return to discriminating against the Jews, destroying their homes and synagogues and preventing their access to holy sites, just as they did until 1967.
18. During the 19 years of Arab occupation of eastern Jerusalem, Arab snipers shot and killed innocent Jews walking the streets of western Jerusalem, forcing Israel to build concrete walls along the streets and sidewalks in order to protect passersby. These sharpshooters would aim their shots to go through the windows of private homes, resulting in the murder and wounding of many of the city’s Jewish residents. The enlightened world must tell the Arabs: “You have shown that you are not worthy of governing this holy city, even its eastern part, because who can guarantee that you won’t go back to doing what you did for 19 years?”
19. For the past 50 years, since Israel liberated Jerusalem from Arab occupation, it is an open city – open to Jews, Christians, Muslims and any other religion. Freedom of worship is guaranteed to all (excepting Jews who are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount because of the violent reactions of Muslim hooligans), there is free access to all the holy sites. Millions of tourists have visited Jerusalem since 1967, and tell of how its unique atmosphere has had a spiritual effect on them. Israel has proven that it is the only state in the region worthy of administering Jerusalem and keeping it free – as is Israel itself.
20. Most important of all: Jerusalem appears in the Bible hundreds of times under various names, while it does not appear in the Koran at all, not under any of the four names for it in Arabic which are Beis Almaquds (the house of the Temple), – a name that appears in a Hadith (Islamic oral law); Ilya, a shortened version of Ilya Capitolina, the name given to the city by the Romans, Orshalem, used by Christians, and Al Quds, a more recent name.
Jerusalem is holy to the Sunnis, not to the Shiites, The Sunnis wanted to downplay Mecca’s importance at one point in history, ca. 682, and tried to initiate a Hajj pilgrimage to Jerusalem instead of Mecca. This fact, based on Islamic sources, turns any claims to Jerusalem as intrinsically holy to Islam into fake news originating in the seventh century power struggles among Mohammed’s followers. Does the modern world have to act in accordance with the lies , false fables and tall tales about flying horses dating from seventh century Islam?
In sum, the only conclusion to be reached from the above twenty points is that there is no logic to the fact that so many countries still do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It’s time they took a page from President Trump and moved their embassies to Jerusalem, the sooner the better..
Translated by Rochel Sylvetsky for Israel National News
I go along with everything except 17. The fact that the Waqf was able to dig – with bulldozers, no less – on the temple mount is entirely Israels fault. There are no valid complaints on this issue.
The fact that the Arabs, the Europeans and all the others who act illegaly within Israel to undermine the government and disrupt public order is in the same league. Israel needs to put a stop to these activities immediately.