It takes time for attitudes to change, and changing attitudes in the Middle East is a tough proposition. Moving the Europeans may prove harder.
An Israeli general once told this story (I was there):
<blockquote>The Israeli general commanded a unit that crossed the Suez Canal in 1973 after repulsing Egypt’s surprise Yom Kippur War attack. In his headquarters, he received a message that purported to be from an Egyptian general, telling him to come — alone — in a jeep to a certain spot in the desert and “hear something.” The general told the group, “I was sure I was going to die, but I did it.” The Egyptian proved to be the chief of the Egyptian general staff and he, too, was alone.
The Egyptian said, “The war is over.”
The Israeli general said, “Yes. I know.”
The Egyptian general sighed, “Not this war. In 1948, Egypt was within 11 miles of Tel Aviv and you pushed us back. In 1956, you drove through Sinai — but it wasn’t fair because you had the French and the British. In 1967, you did it again — by yourselves. Now you have crossed the Suez Canal and are 99 kilometers from Cairo. I’m here to tell you that you won’t get any closer. The war is over.”
He got back in his jeep and left.
The Israeli returned to his headquarters and told the story to the general staff in Tel Aviv. “No one believed me,&#8221; the Israeli said.</blockquote>
But it was true. The Egyptian government had determined that fighting, losing, and regrouping was not a plan. In 1979, Anwar Sadat went to Jerusalem, and in so doing met Israel’s primary condition for peace — recognition of Israel as a legitimate and permanent state in the region, entitled to “secure and recognized boundaries, free from threats or acts of force” (the language of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242). Today, Egypt and Israel cooperate on energy, security (including for the Gaza Strip), and trade.
In the broader Arab world, it is taking longer. Unable to countenance Jewish sovereignty in the region, the Arabs went to war in 1948 to erase it. They failed. They tried again in 1967. They failed again. After that war, an Arab League Summit convened in Sudan and issued what became known as the Khartoum Resolution: &#8220;No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.&#8221;
Then there were the conflicts of 1973 and 1982, intifadas, and rocket wars with Gaza.
President Trump called them on it in announcing his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-donald-trumps-vision-for-the-middle-east">“Vision” for the Middle East</a>. “It is time for the Muslim world to fix the mistake it made in 1948, when it chose to attack instead of to recognize the new state of Israel. The Palestinians are the primary pawn in this adventurism, and it is time for this sad chapter in history to end.” Three Arab ambassadors were in the room.
The <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/arab-league-holds-emergency-meeting-trump-plan-200201105251740.html">Arab League hastily convened a summit</a>, responding to the flat rejection of the plan by Palestinian Authority strongman Mahmoud Abbas, who had declined to read or even discuss it. This was not a “three noes” meeting. While the bloc as a whole rejected the Vision, the head of the Arab League said that there was time only for an initial study of the plan, adding that the Palestinian response would be key in shaping a &#8220;collective Arab position.” It should be noted that a day after announcing it would scrap security cooperation with the U.S. and Israel, the Palestinian Authority announced that, in fact, it <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinians-wont-halt-security-ties-with-Israel-US-Ramallah-officials-616503">would not do so.</a>
<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/oic-hold-emergency-meeting-trump-middle-east-plan-200203064919675.html">Al Jazeera</a> wrote, “The announcement of Trump&#8217;s plan drew mixed responses from Arab states.” While joining in the vote, Egypt and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-at-jewish-journal-saudi-arabia-is-now-more-pro-israel-than-the-democratic-party">Saudi Arabia said separately that they “appreciated”</a> Mr. Trump’s efforts and called for renewed negotiations. Sudan’s leader announced a “principled stance on the Palestinian issue and the right of its people to establish its independent state &#8230; in accordance with the Arab consensus and Arab League decisions,” even as in a bit of irony — having hosted the Khartoum Declaration meeting — it established a mechanism for <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Israel-Sudan-set-up-normalization-teams-616526">opening diplomatic relations with Israel.</a>
OK, yes, the <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/qatar-qatar-backed-international-union-muslim-scholars-blast-trumps-peace-plan-it-belongs">International Union of Muslim Scholars</a> (IUMS) consigned the Vision to the “dust heap of history,” but the IUMS is a creation of Qatar and Qatar is a puppet of Iran.
And speaking of Iran, European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Josip Borrell met with Iranian leaders and shortly afterward tried to <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/eu-reportedly-blocked-from-resolution-condemning-trump-plan-annexation/">ram a condemnation</a> of the Vision though the EU. But EU statements have to be unanimous and, of its 27 countries, six refused — including Italy, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Borrell then issued the statement in his own name.
The interim commissioner-general of UNRWA said, “The plan … is extremely unsettling for the Palestine refugees living under occupation, under blockade and through conflict after conflict and crisis after crisis, hoping for justice and human rights. The international community must send a clear message to Palestine refugees and to the world at large that the international community stands firmly behind them.”
Rightly, Israel chose to <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/02/04/israel-harshly-criticizes-eu-over-rejection-of-trump-middle-east-peace-plan/">respond more harshly</a> to the EU and <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/02/03/israel-slams-unrwa-head-for-attacking-trump-peace-plan/">UNRWA</a> than it did the Arab League.
It has been hard for Arab states to move on from decades of adamant rejection of Israel to talk and trade, and generally accept the nation-state of the Jewish people. That is the reality, not an excuse. But for the EU and UNRWA, to encourage Palestinians in outmoded, fanatical, and dangerous thinking is inexplicable.
Except it isn’t.
&nbsp;
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/">The Jewish Policy Center</a> in Washington, and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly.

President Trump Meets With Israeli PM Netanyahu At The White House

BRYEN: The Arabs And Europeans React To Trump’s Middle East ‘Vision’

Egypt

Europe

European Union

Foreign Policy

Iran

Israel

Jerusalem

Middle East

Palestinians

During my recent trip to Israel, an Orthodox rabbi took me to see something that most outsiders do not usually see. It was Friday night (Shabbos, the Jewish Sabbath), and he wanted to go to pray at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem. Before that, he took me to see Kotel Katan — an older, smaller, less well known section of the Western Wall located within the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem&#8217;s Old City — and from there we went to one of the gates that serve as an entrance to the Temple Mount.
Walking through the Muslim Quarter, the air was thick with tension. Since I am a Christian, nobody bothered me. But there were people who went out of their way to bump into and shove my friend, who is easily identifiable as a Jewish rabbi. They were trying to start a fight. So I was surprised, upon arriving at the gate to the Temple Mount, to find a large gathering of Jewish students. There, deep within the Muslim Quarter, these Jewish students were protesting about how they are not allowed to pray at Judaism&#8217;s holiest site. Armed guards were there to keep Jews out. This is what he wanted me to see.
The Temple Mount, of course, was the site of the first and second Jewish Temples and where — according to the faithful — the third Temple will be built. I had some understanding about the rules governing the Temple Mount. According to the Times of Israel, &#8220;Under the current 52-year-old status quo at the site, Muslims can pray at the site while Jews are allowed to visit — under heavy restrictions, in a predetermined route and only for several hours on weekdays — but not pray there.&#8221;
I wanted to know more about these students, who are brave enough to fight for change. So I was told to contact Tom Nisani, the Israeli-born leader of &#8220;Students for the Temple Mount&#8221; and head of campus activity in the <a href="https://imti.org.il/en/about-us/movement/">Im Tirtzu</a> organization. I interviewed him briefly:
Mitsotakis (SM): What is happening on the Temple Mount and why?
Nisani (TN): The Temple Mount was liberated by the Israel Defense Forces in 1967. [There was] a total lack of interest among the Israeli public, and due to various historical realities that caused the national consciousness among the average Israeli, and even among the political leaders and military personnel of Israel, to be drawn simply to the Kotel (Western Wall) — despite it being only a retaining wall for the Temple Mount. The Mount itself was forgotten and the Jordanian Waqf that abandoned it during the battles was brought back to administer it by the State of Israel itself! Today, more than even 50 years later, basic freedoms such as prayer and freedom of movement are still ignored for all those ascending the Mount who are not Muslim. The Temple Mount is a place where these basic human rights and others are trampled on in the most outright and direct way. And this is happening in the holiest place for the Jewish people in the Jewish state! And just like in the other holy places for Jews in Israel, improvement is a process we are trying to hasten — but at this stage on the Temple Mount, there are clear human rights violations and infringements of the rights of all non-Muslims.
SM: What is your organization, why do you do what you do, and what do you hope to change?  
TN: Our organization was established about five years ago and includes students and young Israeli adults — secular, religious, and so forth. We are from all over the nation of Israel. We want to return the Temple Mount to its fitting place in Israeli society. This means, practically, that we work towards normalizing the Temple Mount under full Israeli sovereignty and once it is, all other challenges, problems, and difficulties will cease. It would be beneficial to all involved parties for the Temple Mount to be under complete Israeli sovereignty. Today, as the Jordanians, Qataris, Hamas, and so many more, all attempt to influence what happens on the Temple Mount, we all lose. Peaceful tourists are routinely assaulted, Jewish worshippers are restricted and oppressed, and even the Muslims suffer from the corruption of their leaders — including the Jordanians and the senior Waqf members. We will not rest until we change this situation, and we have already begun seeing change.
SM: I am told that your group is secular. Yet this is an issue of enormous religious significance. Is the religious community supporting you?
TN: In our movement, we have members who are from all the types and stripes of Israel. And this is the beauty in our movement, &#8220;Students for the Temple Mount.&#8221; We reflect the Israeli public and understand the import of our mission. The Temple Mount is a place for all of the nation of Israel and so too will it be in the future. Even the most secular among us, or those who would be considered less religious, are connected to our faith and Jewish nationality and see those as important aspects of our identities. In fact, it is the Temple Mount that connects us the most.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT-US-JERUSALEM

MITSOTAKIS: Meeting The Jewish Students Fighting For Freedom On The Temple Mount

Islam

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Judaism

Religion

Zionism

We have to wait until President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan is unveiled to discuss it; those already discussing are likely to be wrong. But it is worth reviewing where Israelis, Palestinians, Arab states, and Americans have been — and why this time may be different.
The central flaw in the “Palestinian-Israeli peace process” has never been addressed. There has not been — and there is not now — a shared goal toward which Israelis and Palestinians can be induced to work. Instead, each side has three specific and irreconcilable objectives.
The Palestinians — both Hamas and Fatah — seek:
<ul>
<li>An independent state without recognizing a legitimate and permanent state of Israel in any territory. Both factions are willing to accept a temporary agreement with Israel on the way to the fulfillment of the <a href="https://iris.org.il/plochart.htm">PLO Charter</a> to which both are committed. (Reading the Charter will tell you what else they are committed to, and it isn’t a “two state solution.”)</li>
<li>Sovereign control of East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.</li>
<li>The right of entry for all remaining 1948–1949 Arab refugees from Britain’s Mandatory Palestine, as well s their descendants, to any place within pre-1967 Israel in which they or their antecedents claim to have lived.</li>
</ul>
Israel seeks three different things:
<ul>
<li>Recognition of the legitimacy and permanence of Israel within finalized “secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force”: U.N. Resolution 242’s security promise to Israel.</li>
<li>The capital of Israel in Jerusalem and Israeli protection for Jewish patrimony in the eastern part of Jerusalem.</li>
<li>“End of conflict; end of claims.” After an agreement, the Palestinians will not be able to press additional claims against Israel for territory or other “rights.”</li>
</ul>
Beyond the issue of objectives, all previous “Palestinian-Israeli peace processes” were doomed because they operated as if the protagonists were on an island in the middle of the sea rather than in the middle of the Middle East. Until recently, the Palestinians counted on lip service, at a minimum — guns and money in better cases — from the so-called “Arab world” and a variety of African and Middle Eastern states. This broad, if shallow, support covered up the fact that the Palestinians were the weakest link in regional politics. It was impossible for Palestinian Authority (PA) strongman Mahmoud Abbas — let alone Hamas — to recognize the legitimacy of Jewish nationhood and accept a split, rump state squeezed between Jordan and Israel if the Arab states with the money and the guns didn’t go along.
The more the U.S. pressed for Palestinian concessions that would rile the bankers, the more the Palestinians retreated. Intransigence and violence were their defense against being told to defy their Arab state patrons.
The core issue was never jobs or civil society or drinking water — or even a state — for the Palestinians; it was never about Palestinians at all. It was about the failure of the Arab states to accept the reality of 1948 and their losses in 1949, and recognize the legitimacy and permanence of the state of Israel in the region. “Secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force,” says U.N. Resolution 242, and that is the obligation of Arab States to Israel.
And finally, they’re getting there. Anwar Sadat’s bold move has never been the vision of conservative Arab leaders; Sadat, after all, died. But today, Israel’s relations with the Sunni Arab world are closing in on something real. Yes, it is based on threat perception on both sides. Yes, it is tentative. Yes, it has a lot to do with the price of oil. No, it isn’t closeness borne of shared values and governing systems. OK, let’s not get carried away. But this is the Arab-Israeli process. It doesn’t need Palestinians, but maybe they can benefit. If not, not.
Palestinians patrons today are Iran, an increasingly bellicose and Islamist Turkey, and weak European states with little to contribute.
And finally, the Americans.
The PA appears to have mistaken America as an “honest broker” for America as a “neutral party.” Between Palestinians and Israelis, the United States is not, and should not, ever be &#8220;neutral.&#8221; With Israel we share goals, values, and history; with the Palestinians we do not. &#8220;Honest broker&#8221; is something else. The U.S. has an obligation to state clearly the requirements of peace and ensure that both players understand the consequences of breaking the rules.
Pursuit of arrangements between Israel and the Palestinians is not for the faint-hearted. The parties deserve honest brokerage — American &#8220;neutrality&#8221; would be a betrayal of an ally.
Now, let’s see what the Trump administration has in mind.
&nbsp;
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/">The Jewish Policy Center</a> in Washington, and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly.

US President Donald Gives A Speech At Israel Museum

BRYEN: Running Up To The Peace Process

Donald Trump

Hamas

Trump Administration

United Nations

Earlier today, as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chill-prince-charles-did-not-snub-vice-president-mike-pence-at-world-holocaust-forum">noted</a>, Vice President Mike Pence was in Jerusalem, Israel to attend the World Holocaust Forum. This year&#8217;s Forum is themed around the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazis&#8217; infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
&#8220;Vice President Mike Pence delivered a stirring speech in Jerusalem before an audience that included world leaders and Holocaust survivors, vowing that never again shall the world allow the atrocities committed by the Nazis to be repeated,&#8221; Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pence-speaks-in-israel-at-auschwitz-liberation-anniversary">reported</a>. &#8220;Pence spoke on behalf of the United States, joined by leaders of more than 40 nations, at Israel&#8217;s Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.&#8221;
Pence, a devout Christian who previously served as Indiana governor and a U.S. congressman from the Hoosier State, is a longtime friend of the Jewish people and a staunch supporter of the Jewish state of Israel.
“To look at Israel is to see that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob keeps his promises,” Pence has said at the annual <a href="https://www.cufi.org/mike-pence-to-cufi-i-support-israel-because-i-am-a-christian/">Christians United for Israel</a> national convention. “Like all of you, my passion for Israel springs from my Christian faith. The songs of the land and the people of Israel were the anthems of my youth. As for me and my house, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all who call her home. It’s really the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Vice President to a President who cares so deeply for our most cherished ally.”
Because the editors of The Daily Wire believe that the vice president&#8217;s remarks are particularly moving and deserve to be widely read, we are reproducing them in full (with hat tip to <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/we-marvel-at-jewish-resilience-full-text-of-pences-speech-to-holocaust-forum/">The Times of Israel</a>):
<blockquote>
President Rivlin, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Your Majesties, Presidents, Excellencies, honored survivors and distinguished guests: It is deeply humbling for me to stand before you today, on behalf of the American people, as we mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
On this occasion, here on Mount Herzl, we gather to fulfill a solemn obligation — an obligation of remembrance: to never allow the memory of those who died in the Holocaust to be forgotten by anyone, anywhere in the world.
The word “remember” appears no fewer than 169 times in the Hebrew Bible — for memory is the constant obligation of all generations.
And today we pause to remember what President Donald Trump rightly called the “dark stain on human history” — the greatest evil ever perpetuated by man against man in the long catalogue of human crime.
The faces of a million and a half children reduced to smoke under a silent sky for the crime of having a single Jewish grandparent. The night Elie Wiesel called “seven times sealed” consumed the faith of so many then, and challenges the faith of so many still.
Today we remember what happens when the powerless cry for help and the powerful refuse to answer.
The town’s name was Oświęcim. As part of their plan to destroy the very existence of Polish culture, the Nazis gave Polish towns German names. And this one they called Auschwitz.
When soldiers opened the gates of Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, they found 7,000 half-starved, half-naked prisoners, hundreds of boxes of camp records that documented the greatest mass murder in history. Before the war was over, in its five years of existence, more than 1.1 million men, women, and children would perish at Auschwitz.
As my wife and I can attest firsthand, from this past year, one cannot walk the grounds of Auschwitz without being overcome with emotion and grief. One cannot see the piles of shoes, the gas chambers, the crematoriums, the lone boxcar facing the gate to the camp, and those grainy photographs of men, women, and children being sent to their deaths without asking: “How could they?”
Today we mourn with those who mourn and grieve with those who grieve. We remember the names and the faces and the promise of the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.
Today we also pay tribute to those who survived, who all these years have borne witness to that evil and have served mankind by their example.
And today we honor and remember the memory of all the Allied forces, including more than two million American soldiers, who left hearth and home, suffered appalling casualties, and freed a continent from the grip of tyranny.
And, finally, we pay tribute to the memory of those non-Jewish heroes who saved countless lives — those the people of Israel call the “righteous among the nations.”
In an age of indifference, they acted. In an age of fear, they showed courage. And their memory and their example should kindle anew the flame of our hearts to do the same in our time.
We must be prepared to stand as they did against the wave of their times. We must be prepared to confront and expose the vile tide of anti-Semitism that is fueling hate and violence all across the world. And we must stand together.
In that same spirit, we must also stand strong against the leading state purveyor of anti-Semitism, against the one government in the world that denies the Holocaust as a matter of state policy and threatens to wipe Israel off the map. The world must stand strong against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
And, finally, we must have the courage to recognize all the leaders and all the nations that are gathered here that, today, we have the responsibility and the power to ensure that what we remember here today can never happen again.
Mr. Prime Minister, as we honor and remember the six million Jewish martyrs of the Holocaust, the world can only marvel at the faith and resilience of the Jewish people, who just three years after walking in the valley of the shadow of death, rose up from the ashes to reclaim a Jewish future and rebuild the Jewish State.
And I’m proud to say, as Vice President of the United States, that the American people have been with you every step of the way since 1948. And so we will remain.
As President Trump declared in his historic visit to Jerusalem, the bond between our two peoples is “woven together in the fabric of our hearts.” And so it shall always be.
Today we remember not simply the liberation of Auschwitz but also the triumph of freedom — a promise fulfilled, a people restored to their rightful place among the nations of the Earth. And we remember — we remember the long night of that past, the survivors and the faces of those we lost, the heroes who stood against those evil times. And today we gather nearly 50 nations strong, here in Jerusalem, to say with one voice: Never again.
Through pogroms, persecutions, and expulsions in the ghettos, and finally, even through the death camps, the Jewish people clung to an ancient promise that He would “never leave you or forsake you” and that he would leave this people to inherit the land that he swore to your ancestors that he would give them.
And so, today, as we bear witness to the strength and the resilience and the faith of the Jewish people, so too we bear witness to God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people.
May the memory of the martyrs be enshrined in the hearts of all humanity for all time.
May God bless the Jewish people, the State of Israel, the United States, and all the nations gathered here.
And may He who creates peace in the heavens create peace for us and for all the world.
</blockquote>

Mike Pence

Mike Pence At World Holocaust Forum: ‘We Bear Witness To God’s Faithfulness To The Jewish People’

Anti-Semitism

Holocaust

Nazi Germany

Nazis

<div>
<div>
Visiting Jerusaelm for the World Holocaust form, French President Emmanuel Macron used the site of a holy church to <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/macron-yells-at-israeli-security-to-leave-french-church-during-jerusalem-visit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.timesofisrael.com/macron-yells-at-israeli-security-to-leave-french-church-during-jerusalem-visit/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579878466728000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGd1lyLaA_FJ-ZMS6QNqiuEPliWKw">yell at the Israeli Police</a> who were protecting him.
This is just another episode of French antagonism to Israel’s presence in Jerusalem. In 2016, France supported a ludicrous UNESCO resolution that implied Jerusalem has no Jewish or Christian historical connection. The French prime minister at the time, Manuel Valls, subsequently expressed regret for his country’s action, but it did not stop France from doing it again: A year later, it abstained on a similar UNESCO resolution.
The following year, when President Trump announced that the United States will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy, France was at the forefront of the passionate and angry European opposition — itself more aggressive than the Palestinian and Arab reactions. Macron repeatedly claimed that the recognition would have negative security repercussions well beyond Jerusalem, stating that “the status of Jerusalem is a question of international security which concerns the entire international community.&#8221;
Such European position is based on a 1949 U.N. resolution that designated Jerusalem and Bethlehem as a “corpus separatum” to be placed under an international legal regime — essentially a European colony.
Macron did not stop there, and tried to link the May 2018 Hamas-led &#8220;Nakba day&#8221; Gaza riots to the opening of the new U.S. embassy: “Experience shows that whether you like it or not, things like that provoke violence in response. … This leads to people dying.” He said.
French disruptive meddling in the Middle East is not new. In 1920, French actions triggered the first shots in what became the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. France invaded Syria in order to dethrone the pro-Zionist Arab Emir Faisal and to instill a French regime instead (nominally posing as a League of Nation mandate). While Jews attempted to stay neutral in the French-Arab conflict, local Arab commanders suspected French soldiers were hiding in the Jewish village of Tel-Chai and a deadly battle ensued.
The residue of French colonialism was very much on display in Macron’s visit to Jerusalem on January 22. Indeed, it traces back as far as the inter-colonialist dealings of the 1850s, when the Ottoman Empire gave the Church of Saint Anne to France as a reward for France’s support in the Crimean War.
“Get out,” Macron yelled at Israeli Police as they entered that church with him. Analysts view this as an orchestrated show directed at Macron’s Muslim and far-left anti-Israel voters. Previous French President Jacques Chirac pulled a similar stunt during his 1996 Jerusalem visit. Walking through the narrow alleys of the Old City — a venue of multiple stabbings and other terrorist attacks — Chirac confronted his Israeli security detail for their tight protection.
What is alarming about the January 22 incident is not that Macron, like Chirac, decided to take a shot at Israel for seemingly internal political grains, but that he chose to do so in one of Christianity’s holy sites, located right on the Via Dolorosa. As Macron ordered Israeli Police out, he yelled at them that those rules have been in place for centuries and “that will not change with me.” Macron got it wrong. This colonialist-era arrangement could have only been in place for one century and a half.
While Macron might wish for Jerusalem and Bethlehem to be taken away from the locals and given to the “international community,” this particular part of Jerusalem should apparently belong to France. His spokesperson even clarified this point. Israeli Police stated that Macron’s team later apologized for the incident, and Macron went on to shake the hands of his security detail as they continued their tour of the Old City.
Notwithstanding the apology, one cannot ignore the disturbing pattern. This week’s actions come just a year after Macron outraged the world in announcing his plans to honor Marshal Petain, murderer of the Jews of France and head of the collaborative Vichy government, for his role in World War I. Macron later retracted the plan. Symbolically, the Macron incident occurred as he gathered along with 45 world leaders in Jerusalem to remember the Holocaust — a genocide for which France is still in the early stages of recognizing its previous occupied government&#8217;s complicit guilt. For example, a recent <a href="http://www.claimscon.org/france-study/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.claimscon.org/france-study/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579878466728000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEVIoRCH-fCTziIpPRiSTN_v0QSVQ">study</a> showed that 45% of French millennials are unaware of the occupied French government’s collaboration with the Nazi regime during the Holocaust.
Let us be clear — France is an important ally of both Israel and the United States, and Macron is a friend. He is a courageous fighter against anti-Semitism, including in his repeated proclamation that there is no difference between anti-Zionism and anti Semitism. But friendship requires honesty and France should be told that it is time to take a deep look inside.
France’s repeated episodes of opposition to Jerusalem should not be taken lightly, even if followed by some sort of retraction or apology. Moreover, anti-Semitism in France is rising yet again and trickling up into the mainstream of French society. This was just as it did in the 1890s during the Dreyfus Affair — a stunning case of state-sponsored anti-Semitism spanning multiple levels of French government and society — and just as it did in the 1940s with the Vichy government&#8217;s collaboration with the Nazis.
Rather than yell at Israeli Police that things &#8220;will not change with me,&#8221; it is time for Macron and France to enact radical changes that will put an end to the French government&#8217;s stance against Jerusalem. This should not be done to please Jews or Christians. It should be done for the sake of France itself.
<div></div>
Gol Kalev analyzes trends in Zionism, Europe and global affairs. For more of his articles: <a href="http://europeandjerusalem.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://europeandjerusalem.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579878466728000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFitK7ujW6YkWYwdOOdDlab9h_iRg">europeandjerusalem.com.</a>
</div>
</div>

Emmanuel Macron

KALEV: Macron Must End France’s Colonialist-Like Stance Against Jerusalem

Benjamin Netanyahu

France

Daily Wire editor-in-chief and author of The New York Times bestseller &#8220;<a href="https://amzn.to/2HjtBTp">The Right Side Of History</a>&#8221; Ben Shapiro hosts the latest video from Prager University, &#8220;Why Has The West Been So Successful?&#8221; in which he explains how Western Civilization has helped shape the history of the world for the good. 
&#8220;Western civilization; it&#8217;s been around for a while, but suddenly everybody is talking about it. Some are anxious to save it; others are happy to see it go. But what exactly is Western civilization?&#8221; Shapiro begins.
&#8220;The Left likes to focus on the bad: genocide, slavery, environmental destruction. But those have been present in every civilization from time immemorial,&#8221; he continues. &#8220;The positives are unique to the West. Religious tolerance, abolition of slavery, universal human rights, the development of the scientific method: these are accomplishments of a scope and scale that only the West can claim.&#8221;
Shapiro posits that the &#8220;balancing&#8221; of two focal points in history, Jerusalem and Athens, has become the foundation of the West. &#8220;Jerusalem represents religious revelation as manifested in the Judeo-Christian tradition: the beliefs that a good God created an ordered universe and that this God demands moral behavior from His paramount creation, man,&#8221; says Shapiro. &#8220;The other city, Athens, represents reason and logic as expressed by the great Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle and many others.&#8221; 
&#8220;These two ways of thinking, revelation and reason, live in constant tension,&#8221; he continues. &#8220;Judeo-Christian religion posits that there are certain fundamental truths handed down to us by a transcendent being. We didn&#8217;t invent these truths; we received them from God. The rules He lays down for us are vital for building a functioning, moral civilization and for leading a happy life. Greek thinking posits that we only know truth by what we observe, test, and measure. It is not faith, but fact, that drives our understanding and exploration of the universe. Western civilization, and only Western civilization, has found a way to balance both religious belief and human reason.&#8221;
Video and transcript below:
<div>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="481" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RVD0xik-_FM" width="855"></iframe></div>
<blockquote>
Western civilization. It&#8217;s been around for a while, but suddenly everybody is talking about it. Some are anxious to save it; others are happy to see it go.
But what exactly is Western civilization?
Is it the great cathedrals of Europe or the Nazi concentration camps? Is it the freedoms secured in the US Constitution or chattel slavery? Life-saving medicines or poison gas?
The left likes to focus on the bad &#8211; genocide, slavery, environmental destruction. But those have been present in every civilization from time immemorial.
The positives are unique to the West &#8211; religious tolerance, abolition of slavery, universal human rights, the development of the scientific method: these are accomplishments of a scope and scale that only the West can claim.
These aren&#8217;t the only achievements that make the West special and uniquely successful. As Western thought evolved, it secured the rights of women and minorities, lifted billions of people out of poverty, and invented most of the modern world.
Progress hasn&#8217;t been a straight line, of course. But the arc of history is clear. The obvious proof is that the world is overwhelmingly Western. And, with few exceptions, those parts of the world that aren&#8217;t aspire to be.
Why? Why has Western civilization been so successful?
There are many reasons, but the best place to start is with the teachings and philosophies that emerged from two ancient cities: Jerusalem and Athens.
Jerusalem represents religious revelation as manifested in the Judeo-Christian tradition: the beliefs that a good God created an ordered universe and that this God demands moral behavior from His paramount creation, man.
The other city, Athens, represents reason and logic as expressed by the great Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle and many others.
These two ways of thinking &#8211; revelation and reason &#8211; live in constant tension.
Judeo-Christian religion posits that there are certain fundamental truths handed down to us by a transcendent being. We didn&#8217;t invent these truths; we received them from God. The rules He lays down for us are vital for building a functioning, moral civilization and for leading a happy life.
Greek thinking posits that we only know truth by what we observe, test, and measure. It is not faith, but fact, that drives our understanding and exploration of the universe.
Western civilization, and only Western civilization, has found a way to balance both religious belief and human reason.
Here&#8217;s how the balance works.
The Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that God created an ordered universe, and that we have an obligation to try to make the world better. This offers us purpose and suggests that history moves forward. Most pagan religions taught the opposite: that the universe is illogical and random, and that history is cyclical. History just endlessly repeats itself &#8211; in which case, why bother to innovate or create anything new?
Second, Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that every human is created in the image of God; that is, each individual&#8217;s life is infinitely valuable. This seems self-evident to us now, but only because we have lived with this belief for so long. The far more natural belief is that the strong should subjugate the weak &#8211; which is precisely what people did in nearly every society in all of history. Only by recognizing the divine in others did we ever move beyond this amoral thinking toward the concern for human rights, democracy and free enterprise that characterize the West.
But Judeo-Christian religion alone didn&#8217;t build our modern civilization. We also required Greek reason to teach us objective observation: that man has the capacity to search beyond revelation for answers.
Greek reason brought us the notion of the natural law, the idea that we could discover the natural purpose &#8211; the telos &#8211; of everything in creation by looking to its character. Human beings were created with the unique capacity to reason; therefore, our telos was to reason. By investing reason with so much power, Greek thought became integral to the Western mission.
Nowhere is this more perfectly expressed than in the American Revolution, in which the Founding Fathers took the best of the European Enlightenment with its roots in Greek thought and the best of Judeo-Christian practice with its roots in the Bible and melded them into a whole new political philosophy.
Without Judeo-Christian values, we fall into scientific materialism &#8211; the belief that physical matter is the only reality, and therefore also fall into nihilism &#8211; the belief that life has no meaning, that we&#8217;re merely stellar dust in a cold universe.
Without Greek reason, we fall into fanaticism &#8211; the belief that fundamentalist adherence to unprovable principles represents the only path toward meaning.
The Soviet Union, Communist China and other socialist tyrannies rejected faith and murdered 100 million people in the 20th century.
Much of the modern Muslim world has embraced faith but rejected reason. It&#8217;s noteworthy that when the Muslim world did embrace Greek reason, from the 8th to the 14th centuries, it was a leading center for scientific advancement.
So, again, we need both &#8211; Jerusalem and Athens. Revelation and reason.
And yet, many want to reject both. These people call themselves &#8220;progressives.&#8221;
Ironically, they want to take us backwards, to a time when man was governed neither by reason nor faith, but by feeling, and therefore back to a time of moral chaos and disorder, of feeling over fact.
It would be a fatal mistake to follow the &#8220;progressives.&#8221; Stick with Athens and Jerusalem.
I&#8217;m Ben Shapiro, editor of The Daily Wire and author of The Right Side of History, for Prager University.
</blockquote>
</div>

Ben Shapiro: Here’s Why The West Has Been So Successful

American History

Ben Shapiro

Conservatism

Making History

Prager University

Why Do Christians Love Israel? What I Learned.

Bible

Catholic Church

Christianity

Democratic Party

Jesus Christ

Jews

Just as many predicted, several countries are beginning to follow the United States&#8217; lead and move their Israeli embassies to Jerusalem in defiance of the European Union.
<a href="http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/slovakia-moving-embassy-to-jerusalem/2018/07/04/">According to Jewish Press</a>, Andrej Danno, the Slovak National Council, told Reuven Rivlin, the President of Israel, that Slovakia plans to move their embassy to Jerusalem.
The decision was made by the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini.
Slovakia will be the sixth country to move their embassy to Jerusalem following the Trump administration&#8217;s decision to make the politically significant change.
Both Guatemala and Paraguay moved their Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem in May, just weeks after the United States. 
The president of Colombia, Ivan Duque, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-colombian-president-open-to-moving-embassy-to-jerusalem/">also flirted with the idea</a> of moving the Colombian embassy last month, saying he would not rule out &#8220;the possibility of placing the diplomatic seat in Jerusalem.&#8221;
Following President Trump&#8217;s announcement of the embassy move last year, both the EU and UN <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-israel-jerusalem-reaction/arabs-europe-u-n-reject-trumps-recognition-of-jerusalem-as-israeli-capital-idUSKBN1E0312">expressed their disagreement</a>.
<a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2018/07/04/slovakia-declares-it-will-move-its-embassy-to-jerusalem/">Jewish Press</a> notes that in making the announcement, Slovakia is joining Bulgaria and Czech Republic in planning to move their embassies and breaking from EU&#8217;s policy of not recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
<div> </div>

Slovakia Announces Intention To Move Embassy To Jerusalem As The Sixth Country To Do So

Slovakia

On Wednesday, Guatemala joined the United States by opening its own embassy in Jerusalem. This is not the first time Guatemala has followed the lead of the United States regarding Israel; in May 1948, after the United States became the first country in the world to recognize the Jewish state, Guatemala immediately did the same thing.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, &#8220;This is the beginning of something extraordinary,&#8221; adding Guatemala&#8217;s decision went &#8220;hand in hand&#8221; with the U.S. move. He noted Guatemala&#8217;s decision 70 years ago, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/16/guatemala-embassy-jerusalem-590959">saying</a>, &#8220;You were always among the first. We remember our friends and Guatemala is our friend, then and now.&#8221;
The embassy is located at the Malha Technological Park in Jerusalem.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales added, &#8220;70 years ago the U.S. and Guatemala voted in favor of partition. Three friends that share friendship and loyalty.&#8221;
As <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Guatemala-opens-embassy-in-Jerusalem-two-days-after-US-556589">The Jerusalem Post</a> noted, Netanyahu pointed out that Jerusalem already has a Guatemala Street near the new embassy. He asserted, &#8220;I think we need more Guatemala Streets in Israel. And we&#8217;d also like to see Israel Streets in Guatemala.&#8221; He said the next time he visits Latin America, which he surmised will happen in late 2018, he intends to visit Guatemala.
Roughly 150 people were jammed into the foyer of the embassy, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Sheldon Adelson, Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat and numerous Guatemalan ministers and members of the legislature.
Paraguay has already stated it will also relocate its embassy to Jerusalem; Romania, the Czech Republic and Honduras have stated they are thinking of following suit.

TRUMP LEADS THE WAY: Guatemala Opens Its Embassy In Jerusalem

Guatemala

This week, the Trump administration inaugurated the new American embassy in Jerusalem. The celebration in Israel was palpable; the embassy move came amidst the national celebration of the 70th anniversary of the creation of the state. The streets filled with Jews of all sorts, cheering and dancing.
Meanwhile, on the Gaza border, Hamas broadened its monthlong campaign to break down the Israel border, staging border &#8220;protests&#8221; attended by thousands &#8212; including terrorists who have used the supposed protests as a staging point for violent attacks on Israeli troops and territory. Palestinian terrorists have caused mass chaos, throwing Molotov cocktails at troops, attempting to rush the border, flinging explosives and tying incendiaries to kites in an attempt to set Israeli territory alight. The Israeli Defense Forces have responded with restraint. Despite this, a few dozen Palestinians have been killed, not the hundreds or thousands Hamas would presumably prefer.
But even as Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in Gaza, suggested that &#8220;more than 100,000 people could storm the fence&#8221; between Israel and Gaza, and as 23-year-old Mohammed Mansoura announced, &#8220;We are excited to storm and get inside &#8230; to kill, throw stones,&#8221; the media covered the slow-rolling terror assault as a form of peaceful protest. A New York Times headline read &#8220;Israeli Troops Kill Dozens of Palestinian Protesters.&#8221; A Wall Street Journal headline reads &#8220;Scores Killed, Thousands Injured as Palestinians Protest US Embassy Opening In Jerusalem.&#8221;
Never mind that the riots had been going on for weeks preceding the embassy opening. Never mind that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority could quickly and permanently end all violence simply by stopping the violence. The real issue, according to the press, is President Trump and his Israeli friends.
What drives the leftist press&#8217;s coverage? Simply put, antipathy to the West. Israel is seen as an outpost of colonialism by leftists, and has been since the 1967 war. Then-President Barack Obama expressed the view well in his 2009 speech in Cairo, suggesting that Israel&#8217;s rationale relied on its &#8220;tragic history&#8221; that &#8220;culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust.&#8221; In this view, the Palestinians were shunted aside in favor of providing national reparations to Jews; the Jews took their Western ways into the heart of a foreign region.
This isn&#8217;t true. The living proof of that is Israel&#8217;s eternal connection to Jerusalem. That&#8217;s why both radical Muslims (including the Palestinian leadership) and the far left deny Israel&#8217;s historic bond with its homeland and hope desperately to stop public recognition of that bond. If Israel exists because Jewish connection pre-existed everything else, then Israel isn&#8217;t a new outpost of the West; it&#8217;s the oldest center of the West. That&#8217;s why Trump&#8217;s announcement is important: It&#8217;s a recognition that the West was founded on Jerusalem, rather than the other way around.
Peace will come when everyone recognizes what Trump has recognized: The Jewish connection to Jerusalem is unbreakable. And peace will come when Israel&#8217;s enemies realize that violence can&#8217;t change that underlying fact.
COPYRIGHT CREATORS 2018

Why Jerusalem Matters

Conservative author and radio host Mark Levin blasted the mainstream media&#8217;s coverage surrounding Israel&#8217;s response to the Palestinians&#8217; violent protests following the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. The media, Levin said, &#8220;have blood on their hands&#8221; for continuing to fall for the tactics of Hamas, who use human shields as props for the cameras so the press will unfairly blame the Israeli government for the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/30664/watch-shapiro-fox-rips-medias-israelhamas-coverage-daily-wire">violence</a>.
&#8220;But they force children into these actions. Remember the last war with Gaza? Where do they put their headquarters? Under elementary schools. Remember? Where do they put their missile inventory? Under hospitals,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You see, what our media do not understand or do not care to understand is that for Hamas every human being is expendable. Because it&#8217;s a war. Every one of their citizens, expendable. Children and women first!
&#8220;Why? I&#8217;m gonna tell you why,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And I don&#8217;t mean to be provocative, but I&#8217;m gonna tell you why.
&#8220;The media in our country &#8212; hell the worldwide media and the Democratic Party in our country, just like all the left European parties&#8230; You know what? They have blood on their hands! You know why they have blood on their hands? Because they encourage this activity. Because Hamas watches them. The more children that are killed, the more the media turn on the Israelis. The more women killed, the more the media turn on the Israelis. So they push the women to the front. They push the children to the front.&#8221;
The host condemned Hamas for the violence the perpetrate on their own people. &#8220;You and I look at this and say holeeeee&#8230;these terrorists are unbelievable, what they do to their own people!&#8221; he said. &#8220;The media, they say the Israelis are unbelievable, look what they do to these people.&#8221;
You can listen to the audio on <a href="http://therightscoop.com/the-media-have-blood-on-their-hands-mark-levin-blasts-the-media-over-biased-coverage-of-israel-defending-itself-from-palestinians/">The Right Scoop</a>. 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/30638/hamas-planned-violence-gaza-border-media-act-their-ben-shapiro">SHAPIRO: Hamas Planned The Violence On The Gaza Border. The Media Act As Their Propaganda Arm</a>.

Mark Levin: The Media ‘Have Blood On Their Hands’

Media

Media Bias

Republican Party

On Monday, Andrew Kugle of The Washington Free Beacon released a rather <a href="http://freebeacon.com/politics/israel-controversial-cuba-historic/">brilliant video</a> showcasing the differences in news coverage between the Jerusalem embassy move and the Obama administration announcing normalized relations with Cuba.
Take a look:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w-SVTVKMPnE" width="720"></iframe>&#8203;</div>
It&#8217;s almost as if the mainstream press has a script. What&#8217;s good in their eyes is &#8220;historic,&#8221; and what&#8217;s bad is &#8220;controversial.&#8221;

WATCH: ‘Historic/Controversial’ Supercut Shows That Two Simple Words Can Change The Way We See World Events

Cuba

On Monday, the Trump administration officially opened the US embassy in Jerusalem. It was a moment to cherish: an acknowledgment by the most powerful nation on the planet that Jerusalem was indeed Jewish, that it is the eternal capital of Israel, and that neither revisionist history nor sheer anti-Semitic malice can separate Jerusalem from her people.
Naturally, not one elected Democrat showed up.
On the surface, this decision makes little sense. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) signaled his excitement over the Trump administration&#8217;s decision: &#8220;In a long overdue move, we have moved our embassy to Jerusalem. Every nation should have the right to choose its capital. I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it.&#8221; Back in 1995, Congress passed a law mandating the embassy move with bipartisan support; in the Senate, the bill passed 93-5. In June 2017, a bill reaffirming the principles of the 1995 vote passed 90-0 in the Senate.
Yet no Congressional Democrats showed up to the Jerusalem event. By contrast, a bevy of elected Republicans ranging from Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) showed up in Jerusalem to celebrate. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that he had invited Democrats to come along. &#8220;I am disappointed that not one Democrat came,&#8221; Graham stated. &#8220;What does that say? It&#8217;s not for me to tell you what that says. It hurts me. Because I work across the aisle on a regular basis. I think it was a mistake, because there&#8217;s too much going on in the region.&#8221;
According to Israeli reporter Ariel Kahana, every member of Congress was invited to attend, but &#8220;people involved in the process blame the Democratic leadership of Congress.&#8221;
So why didn&#8217;t the Democrats show up?
<a href="http://jewishjournal.com/opinion/ben-shapiro/234098/democrats-missed-boat-jerusalem/">Read the rest by clicking here</a>.

Shapiro At ‘Jewish Journal’: Why Democrats Missed The Boat On Jerusalem

Charles Schumer

On Monday, it was reported that an Iranian group has offered $100,000 to anyone who blows up the new American embassy in Jerusalem. That news came courtesy of the University Student News Network, a <a href="http://snn.ir/fa/news/685010/%D8%AC%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B2%D9%87-%DB%B1%DB%B0%DB%B0-%D9%87%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AF%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%AC%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%B4-%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%AC%D9%88%DB%8C%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D9%87-%DA%A9%D8%B3%DB%8C-%DA%A9%D9%87-%D8%B3%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AA-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B3-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D9%85%D9%86%D9%81%D8%AC%D8%B1-%DA%A9%D9%86%D8%AF">regional Farsi-language site</a>, as <a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iranian-group-offers-100000-blow-new-u-s-embassy-jerusalem/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> reports.
The Iranian Justice Seeker Student Movement reportedly distributed posters with a message written in Farsi, Arabic, and English, that states, &#8220;The Student Justice Movement will support anybody who destroy the illegal American embassy in Jerusalem,&#8221; adding that there would be a &#8220;$100,000 dollar prize for the person who destroys the illegal American embassy in Jerusalem.&#8221;
The report from the University Student News Network stated, &#8220;The Student Movement for Justice declared, &#8216;Whoever bombs the embassy&#8217;s building will receive a $100,000 award.&#8217;&#8221;
Michael Rubin told The Washington Free Beacon that the threat was reflective of the Iranian government&#8217;s championing of terrorism. He said, &#8220;Unfortunately, terrorism directed toward diplomats and embassies has become a central pillar of the Islamic Republic&#8217;s culture. Terrorism is lionized in Iranian schools. This bounty is more the rule than the exception. To blame Washington or Jerusalem is to blame the victim and give terrorists a veto over U.S. policy.&#8221;
Behnam Ben Taleblu, an research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, added, &#8220;This is nothing short of an invitation to a heinous act of an international terror by a student group that looks up to the world&#8217;s foremost state sponsor of terror&#8212;the Islamic Republic of Iran.&#8221;

Report: Iranian Group Offers $100,000 To Blow Up American Embassy In Jerusalem

U.S. Embassy

There is a famous story in the Talmud about the great rabbis of the era of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Here is the story, in full:
<blockquote>
Again it happened that Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria, Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva went up to Jerusalem. When they reached Mt. Scopus, they tore their garments. When they reached the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from the place of the Holy of Holies. The others started weeping; Rabbi Akiva laughed.
Said they to him: &#8220;Why are you laughing?&#8221;
Said he to them: &#8220;Why are you weeping?&#8221;
Said they to him: &#8220;A place [so holy] that it is said of it, &#8216;the stranger that approaches it shall die,&#8217; and now foxes traverse it, and we shouldn&#8217;t weep?&#8221;
Said he to them: &#8220;That is why I laugh. For it is written, &#8216;I shall have bear witness for Me faithful witnesses&#8212;Uriah the Priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.&#8217; Now what is the connection between Uriah and Zechariah? Uriah was [in the time of] the First Temple, and Zechariah was [in the time of] the Second Temple! But the Torah makes Zachariah&#8217;s prophecy dependent upon Uriah&#8217;s prophecy. With Uriah, it is written: &#8216;Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field; [Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Temple Mount like the high places of a forest.]&#8217; With Zachariah it is written, &#8216;Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem.&#8217;
&#8220;As long as Uriah&#8217;s prophecy had not been fulfilled, I feared that Zechariah&#8217;s prophecy may not be fulfilled either. But now that Uriah&#8217;s prophecy has been fulfilled, it is certain that Zechariah&#8217;s prophecy will be fulfilled.&#8221;
With these words they replied to him: &#8220;Akiva, you have consoled us! Akiva, you have consoled us!&#8221;
</blockquote>
Akiva&#8217;s consolation is now a reality.
According to Jewish tradition, the first mention of Jerusalem in the Bible comes in Genesis 14:18, when Abraham meets the King of Shalem; in Genesis 21:14, Abraham names the site of his near-sacrifice of Isaac &#8220;Yare,&#8221; meaning &#8220;the Lord will provide.&#8221; Yare-Shalem &#8212; Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the city of David&#8217;s tower and Solomon&#8217;s Temple; it is the city of Hezekiah&#8217;s water tunnels; it is the city of which the psalmist wrote after the destruction of the First Temple (587 BCE), &#8220;If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue leave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.&#8221;
Jerusalem is the eternal Jewish dream: the dream of a free nation living in a land promised by God.
It was the dream of Bar Kochba, who revolted against the Romans in 132 CE, sixty years after the destruction of the Second Temple, and used Roman coinage to mint his own &#8212; an engraving of the temple, with the words, &#8220;For the freedom of Jerusalem.&#8221; It was the dream of millions of Jews over hundreds of years, who prayed thrice daily for its restoration. It was the dream of Mordechai Anielewicz, the secular leader of the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto: &#8220;The dream of my life has risen to become fact. &#8230; Jewish armed resistance and revenge are facts. I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men in battle.&#8221;
Jerusalem was never abandoned by the Jews; God did not abandon the Jews. Despite forcible expulsion, despite genocidal mania, despite terrorism and brutality, Jerusalem remained Jewish. And when, in 1967, the Israeli Defense Force announced &#8220;Har HaBayit beyadeinu&#8221; &#8212; the Temple Mount is in our hands &#8212; the footsteps of the living God could be heard across the planet, resonating from the top of the hills of Jerusalem.
That dream is real.
President Trump&#8217;s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is not merely a wise one politically (it has been Congressional law since 1995), it is a resonant one spiritually. Jerusalem is the center of the Jewish heart; it always was, and it always will be. Recognizing that fact is key to recognizing the legitimacy of the entire Judeo-Christian tradition upon which the West relies. There is a reason that a Jewish Jerusalem is an open Jerusalem, where all can worship as they see fit &#8212; a place from which &#8220;the word of the Lord&#8221; goes out (Isaiah 2:3). History exists; truth exists. Jerusalem has not been forgotten and will not be forgotten &#8212; its streets sing with throngs of Jews, nearly wiped off the planet within living memory, and its temples are filled with the psalms of David. The tears have turned to laughter.
&#8220;Eternity,&#8221; the Talmud says in Tractate Berachot. &#8220;This refers to Jerusalem.&#8221;
Jerusalem is eternal, as is the God who made it.

Rejoice With Jerusalem: Be Glad For Her, All You Who Love This City!

Three European Union countries &#8212; Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Romania &#8212; blocked an effort by the EU&#8217;s general council to condemn and &#8220;isolate&#8221; the White House for moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
The effort, led by France, was designed to punish the United States for the decision to relocate its official presence in Israel, <a href="https://www.axios.com/hungary-czech-romania-block-eu-statement-against-embassy-move-jerusalem-6b85f6bb-8861-4dab-8473-e542196d1368.html">Axios reports</a>. If all 28 European Union member nations had signed it, it would have signaled a major effort to oppose the United States&#8217; change in policy and might have &#8220;embarrassed&#8221; the Trump Administration, even though the administration was adamant in its commitment to the move.
According to Axios, the draft resolution called for Jerusalem to be recognized as a dual capital &#8212; the central city of both Israel and &#8220;Palestine,&#8221; and claimed that the United States could not unilaterally decide that Jerusalem was the capital without the consent of other members of the United Nations, after significant debate. In addition, the draft statement suggested that no European nation would consider moving its own embassy to Jerusalem based on the United States&#8217; example.
Fortunately for the United States, three member nations derailed the effort. Without Romania, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, the issue has no EU consensus, and the resolution carries no weight.
Senior officials aren&#8217;t happy about the block, according to Axios. At least one source complained to the outlet that &#8220;the Hungarians didn&#8217;t want to poke Trump in the eye and the Czechs and the Romanians are considering to move their embassies to Jerusalem against the EU position. This is the state of the EU these days.&#8221;
The black eye gives the United States a win at the end of a contentious week, arguing with the European Union &#8212; and especially France &#8212; over whether to exit the Iran deal. The EU still opposes America&#8217;s decision to drop the handshake agreement the Obama Administration made with the Mullahs.

European Union’s Effort To Shame America Over Jerusalem Embassy Move Falls Flat

On Monday, the White House released a statement regarding the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem that seemed to pass under the radar, but implied a significant difference from previous history, acknowledging that Jerusalem is a part of Israel. The White House statement<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-trump-announces-presidential-delegation-state-israel-attend-opening-united-states-embassy-jerusalem-israel/"> read</a>, &#8220;President Donald J. Trump today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to the State of Israel to attend the opening of the United States Embassy on May 14, 2018, in Jerusalem, Israel.&#8221;
To the uniformed observer, this would seem an innocuous enough statement, but acknowledging Jerusalem is in Israel is something the U.S. State Department has refused to do for decades.
After President Trump announced last December that the United states would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the State Department <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/international/363821-state-dept-still-wont-allow-american-citizens-born-in-jerusalem-to">quickly reiterated</a> its long-standing position that American citizens born in Jerusalem could only list the city on their passport, as opposed to listing Israel as well, asserting, &#8220;At this time, there are no changes to our current practices regarding place of birth on Consular Reports of Birth Abroad and U.S. Passports.&#8221;
At the same time, State Department officials told <a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/u-s-still-wont-list-jerusalem-israels-capital-official-docs-passports-maps/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> that the United States would continue its policy of not formally recognizing Jerusalem as being located in Israel on official documents, maps, and passports.
American citizens born in Jerusalem prior to 1948 had to list &#8220;Palestine&#8221; as their birthplace.
In 2002, Congress passed legislation that instructed the State Department to allow American citizens born in Jerusalem to list Israel on their passports as their birthplace. <a href="https://www.jpost.com/International/US-court-invalidates-law-allowing-US-citizens-born-in-Jerusalem-to-chose-Israel-as-birthplace-on-passports-320804">In 2013,</a> a U.S. federal appeals court ruled against the law. The court upheld the tradition that the president had the sole authority to say who controls Jerusalem.

TRUMP BUCKS TRADITION: Acknowledges Jerusalem Is In Israel

On Wednesday, Mike Pompeo was sworn in as Secretary of State, replacing Rex Tillerson. During the ceremony, Pompeo reaffirmed the Trump administration&#8217;s plans to move the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem very soon (emphasis added):
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We are but 15 months into this administration and we&#8217;ve already made outstanding progress by speaking the truth about the challenges we face, by confronting them head on, by partnering with strong, sovereign, independent nations to make America and the world more prosperous and secure.
We put hurt on the ISIS caliphate in Iraq and Syria. We&#8217;ve done so by great, diplomatic work. We&#8217;re confronting all types of Iranian hostility and are deciding on the next steps for the flawed JCPOA [Iran Nuclear Agreement]. We have imposed real consequences on Russia for its acts of aggression, and we will soon move our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem years ahead of schedule.
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On December 6, 2017, President Trump announced that the United States would officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, <a href="https://it.usembassy.gov/statement-president-trump-jerusalem-december-6-2017/">stating</a> in part:
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In 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, urging the federal government to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize that that city &#8212; and so importantly &#8212; is Israel&#8217;s capital. This act passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago.
Yet, for over 20 years, every previous American president has exercised the law&#8217;s waiver, refusing to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem or to recognize Jerusalem as Israel&#8217;s capital city.
Presidents issued these waivers under the belief that delaying the recognition of Jerusalem would advance the cause of peace. Some say they lacked courage, but they made their best judgments based on facts as they understood them at the time. Nevertheless, the record is in. After more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result.
Therefore, I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. &#8230;
However, through all of these years, presidents representing the United States have declined to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel&#8217;s capital. In fact, we have declined to acknowledge any Israeli capital at all.
But today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel&#8217;s capital. This is nothing more, or less, than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It&#8217;s something that has to be done.
That is why, consistent with the Jerusalem Embassy Act, I am also directing the State Department to begin preparation to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This will immediately begin the process of hiring architects, engineers, and planners, so that a new embassy, when completed, will be a magnificent tribute to peace.
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The embassy is scheduled to move from Tel Aviv to a temporary site in Jerusalem on May 14, the 70-year anniversary of Israeli independence. A new, permanent embassy will be built at a later date.
<a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/pompeo-will-soon-move-embassy-jerusalem-years-ahead-schedule/">H/T: Andrew Kugle/Washington Free Beacon</a>

WATCH: Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo Talks About Moving U.S. Embassy To Jerusalem

A picture of the inside of the Dome of the Rock, which was built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where the ancient Jewish Temples were built, reveals the respect that the Palestinians have for a place whose ground is the holiest spot on Earth for the Jewish people:
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This is THE holiest spot on Earth for Jews, where our Temples stood, where Jews are not permitted.Its now the center of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount See the tools, trash, &amp; man on top of it? Thats how it is being treated. The disrespect is painful. Imagine the reverse <a href="https://t.co/R4iAQsL0dZ">pic.twitter.com/R4iAQsL0dZ</a>
&#8212; shoshanna k jaskoll (@skjask) <a href="https://twitter.com/skjask/status/989446528753389568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Palestinians have treated the area of the Temple Mount with disdain for decades. Often they have displayed an active desire to destroy any evidence that the site was where the Jewish Temples stood in an effort to discredit the Jewish claim to Jerusalem, which dates back roughly 3,000 years.
In September 2,000, the Muslim Waqf refused permission for any archeological oversight by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Then it removed 13,000 tons of rubble from the Temple Mount and deposited it into the garbage; that rubble included archeological remnants from the First and Second Temple periods. For details see <a href="http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp483.htm">here</a>.
A <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163528">report</a> in 2012 stated that the Muslim Waqf was continuing to destroy Jewish antiquities on the Temple Mount.
As Dr. Gabriel Barkay, professor emeritus from Bar-Ilan University and recipient of the 1996 Jerusalem Prize for Archeological Research, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Disproving-Temple-Mount-denial-one-bucket-at-a-time-506539">stated</a> last October, &#8220;Temple denial started in the 1990s, even though the Islamic Wakf itself in the 1920s and &#8217;30s issued booklets which were given to visitors of the Temple Mount in which they said the existence of the Temples is beyond any doubt. It was accepted and in the Islamic literature through the generations there is a plethora of mentions of Solomon&#8217;s Temple and the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, so it is very strange that they deny it now.&#8221;
The Temple Mount was where King Solomon established the Temple; it contained the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant, containing the Ten Commandments and the Torah, was housed. Jews were required to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year. The First Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE by the Babylonians, but Jews returning from Babylonia rebuilt it in 538 BCE and finished building it in 515 BC. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. To this day, Jews face in the direction of the site of the Temple when they are praying.

Look How Palestinians Treat The Site Of Judaism’s Holiest Place

Here&#8217;s a picture that says a lot more than a thousand words:
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Street signs about to go up in Jerusalem. <a href="https://t.co/s78pUewwFw">pic.twitter.com/s78pUewwFw</a>
&#8212; Yoram Hazony (@yhazony) <a href="https://twitter.com/yhazony/status/986988004056227840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The signs giving directions to the U.S. Embassy that is supposed to be moved to Jerusalem next month are a powerful reminder of the enormous step President Trump took when he announced last December he would finally acknowledge what every American president before him had evaded: that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and the Jewish people&#8217;s eternal capital.
On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted his anticipation of the event:
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Best wishes to Prime Minister <a href="https://twitter.com/netanyahu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Netanyahu</a> and all of the people of Israel on the 70th Anniversary of your Great Independence. We have no better friends anywhere. Looking forward to moving our Embassy to Jerusalem next month!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/986643179452747776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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That was echoed by acting Secretary of State John Sullivan, who <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/244690">stated:</a>
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The State of Israel has prevailed over every challenge it has faced over the past 70 years. In just a short time, the people of Israel have created a successful nation that has flourished and continues to thrive. The United States established our diplomatic presence in Jerusalem well before the State of Israel was born, over 170 years ago. This year, we look forward to opening the new Embassy of the United States in Jerusalem on May 14 which coincides with the 70th anniversary of President Truman recognizing the nascent State of Israel. Israel and the United States have an unshakeable bond that has endured and grown even stronger over the past seven decades.
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The move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv will happen in <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/244622">three stages</a>: first, on May 14th &#8212; Israel&#8217;s 70th Independence Day &#8212; the U.S. will convert a U.S. consulate in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem into an interim embassy. That will house the U.S. Ambassador&#8217;s office, and a small portion of the staff.
Then the Arnona compound will be expanded, with the addition of a new annex, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019. Finally, the construction of a new embassy in Jerusalem to replace the interim facility at Arnona.

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