Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis
escalated over the weekend. Palestinian
violence included two shootings on Friday in Hebron as thousands of Jews took
part in Shabbat Chayei Sarah, which marks Abraham's purchase of the Tomb of the
Patriarchs in Hebron. The Shabbat's Torah portion, Genesis
23:1–25:18, called "Life of Sarah," actually begins with Sarah's
death and Abraham's first land purchase after God's promise to give him the
land he had entered — a burial plot for Sarah that also came to house the
bodies of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rebecca and Leah. It is the second
holiest site of Judaism. With 4,000 Israelis convened to celebrate the
anniversary at the famous burial site, a shooter targeted the crowd, seriously
wounding a 16-year-old boy in his upper body and lightly wounding an
18-year-old. The younger victim's condition improved over the weekend from
"serious" to "moderate." Before the Shabbat began,
international spokesman for the City of Hebron, Yishai Fleisher, promoted the
tomb-visitation event, stating: "Israel has been hit by a plague of jihad,
yet it continues to operate every day with optimism and resilience."
Jewish men and women pray at the Tomb of
Abraham at the Cave of Machpelah.
Abraham at the Cave of Machpelah.
The second shooting occurred north of Hebron by
16-year-old Arab from Bani Na'im. He shot and seriously wounded an
Israeli soldier with a hunting rifle, later admitting to the crime and
relinquishing the weapon. Sunday experienced another hike in Palestinian terror
with three separate attacks on Israelis, injuring six, including a car ramming
in which a 22-year-old Palestinian Arab man from Ramallah drove into three
people waiting at a bus stop. The terrorist drove directly into two men in
their 20s, seriously injuring both, as well as a pregnant woman, who was
injured lightly. The men were stabilized after the attack, and medical
personnel treated the pregnant woman as well as a second woman hit by shrapnel
from the crash. The ramming occurred just hours before 19-year-old border guard
Binyamin Ya'akobovich succumbed to wounds from another ramming attack that occurred
two weeks ago. Later in the day, a 48-year-old
Israeli commuter was attacked and stabbed multiple times while outside the Arab
village of Nabi Ilyas in Judea-Samaria, near the Jewish-majority
city of Alfei Mensahe. According to reports, the Israeli man was sitting in his
vehicle when the attack took place. He had driven to shopping stalls
situated outside the village to make a purchase when two terrorists attacked
him, stabbing him in the stomach before running away. Unable to keep the vehicle
from swerving as he bled, the victim somehow managed to drive himself to the
nearby Eliyahu checkpoint, where he received emergency medical aid from
security guards. "I've been stabbed. I've been stabbed,"
he said before passing out. The man, who is now on a respirator, is
reported to be in critical condition at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba.
A Palestinian woman pulls a knife out of her purse to stab a security
guard at the entrance to Beitar Illit. (MFA screen capture)
guard at the entrance to Beitar Illit. (MFA screen capture)
Earlier in the day, a 22-year-old Muslim woman from
Bethlehem conversed with an Israeli guarding the town Beitar Illit. She
waited until a pair of vehicles had driven by and the guard had looked away
before she stabbed him with a large knife. Because the guard saw her raise
the knife and jumped backwards, he was hurt lightly. Jerusalem Online
writes that the guard then drew his weapon and shot the terrorist to subdue
her, wounding her moderately; both the guard and the woman were treated by
medics and evacuated to the hospital. Mid-afternoon, two rock throwers struck
buses near the Etzion Bloc in the central region and on a road near Kiryat
Tivon, southeast of Haifa. The windshield of the
first bus was damaged and a windowpane of the second was shattered.
In the second incident, medics treated one 13-year-old girl passenger for
shock, but no other injuries were reported. Shortly thereafter, a
19-year-old Palestinian Arab was arrested near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in
Hebron after security guards found a knife in his bag. The teen denied
knowing how the knife entered his bag. At Rachel's Tomb, in the early
evening, some of the 100 participants in a violent protest threw a Molotov
cocktail and an improvised grenade at security guards; no one was hurt. UNESCO
(the United Nation's cultural watchdog) had labelled both sites
"Muslim" in recent days.
"'… what if the number of the righteous is five less than
fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?'
'If I find forty-five there,' He said, 'I will not destroy it.'" (Genesis
18:28)
Last week, the United States House of Representatives
and the Senate stood in solidarity with Israel, unanimously passing resolutions
against anti-Semitism and anti-Israel incitement. On
Monday November 2, a resolution was passed by all 435 House members urging
Palestinian Authority (PA) officials "to discontinue and discourage
incitement in Palestinian civil society." The resolution was
co-sponsored by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who chairs the Middle East
and North Africa Subcommittee, and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.). "There should
be no doubt that the Palestinian Authority sets the tone with its incitement,
resulting in the recent wave of attacks that we’re seeing against innocent
Israeli civilians," said Ros-Lehtinen in a press release. "The
House has sent a clear message to Palestinian leadership that its anti-Israel
incitement causing so much of the recent tension, violence, and terror will no
longer be tolerated." Ros-Lehtinen further stated that the PA's
anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric has emerged in its official statements,
media, and textbooks. "The House’s passage
of this resolution sends an important signal that we’ll continue to support the
democratic Jewish State of Israel during this difficult time and we will hold
Palestinian leadership accountable for its destructive words and actions,”
she said.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Member of the US House
of Representatives.
of Representatives.
Deutch also stated that the wave of terror attacks
in Israel since the start of October "is a direct result of incitement by
Palestinian leaders accusing Israel of changing the status quo on the Temple
Mount." “These false accusations
send a dangerous message that violence and acts of terrorism are acceptable and
even justified,” he said. “It is well past time for [Palestinian]
President Abbas to stand up and condemn all acts of violence, rather than
encouraging violence by glorifying terrorists and teaching children to view
Israelis as animals.” A second House resolution on Tuesday also received
unanimous backing. With 89 co-sponsors, the resolution calls on the US
administration to urge European governments and other official agencies to
recognize and connect with Jewish community groups in Europe in order to
"strengthen crisis prevention, preparedness, mitigation and responses
related to anti-Semitic attacks." Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced
the resolution. "The number of violent
anti-Semitic attacks has increased from 100 to 400 percent in some European
countries since 2013," Smith said, referring to the murders in Paris
and Copenhagen among other places as sobering reminders that "there are
those who are motivated by anti-Semitism and have the will to kill."
Ted Deutsch, Member of the US House
of Representatives
of Representatives
"I have heard the prayer and
plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have
built, by putting My Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always
be there." (1 Kings 9:3) A council of Muslim religious
leaders has announced they wish to return the Temple Mount to the same status
it had under Jordanian occupation, effectively banning Jews from the Temple
Mount. "The Muslims want Al-Aqsa Mosque to be returned to the situation
before 1967, when it was liberated from all occupation and under the rule of
the Arabs and the Muslims, since it belongs only to the Muslims,"
stated the Muslim council, which gathered in Jerusalem. (Arutz 7) "The
Muslims demand to have the key of the Mughrabi Gate returned to them, after it
was seized by the occupation army and currently serves for aggressive
invasions," said the council, referring to the only gate to the Temple
Mount that allocates entrance to non-Muslims. "The Islamic department of
holy sites is the one that determined who was allowed to enter and exit from
among the non-Muslim visitors," in vague reference to the threat of a full
ban against Jews.
The Temple Mount, where the First and Second Jewish Temples were
located, is the holiest site in Judaism. It is the third holiest site in Islam.
located, is the holiest site in Judaism. It is the third holiest site in Islam.
The Old City of Jerusalem festered under Jordanian occupation
between 1949 and 1967, and the Temple Mount was entirely off-limits to
non-Muslim visitors. As well, Jordanian forces burned 35 of 36
synagogues. Meanwhile, the State of Israel offers freedom of religion — except
for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. And while Jews can tour the Temple
Mount, they do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Yet, increased incitement against
the Jews since the Jewish New Year — leading to a spate of murderous attacks
against Israelis — has falsely stated that the Al-Aqsa is "in danger"
and being "desecrated" by Jews. It is not only Jewish People who are
experiencing trouble on the Mount. At the end of October, a self-professed
Jordanian guard ousted a Danish Christian named Jane Kiel from the Mount,
claiming she had prayed inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque. After Kiel denied the
accusation, the guard pointed to the entire grounds of the Mount and told her:
"Same area. This is all mosque. … This is only for Muslims." Knowing who she was, the Jordanian called out,
“Jane, …we waited two months for you!” and called her a “born-again
believer.” The man took her to the Waqf "boss" who demanded she
delete her videos and photos and leave. On a previous visit, a Waqf guard took
her phone from her and deleted her videos and photos himself. But that
didn't stop her from posting other videos and writing about her experiences on
her blog and on Facebook. Since then she has received numerous threats. While
Israel's enemies falsely accuse her of "apartheid," the Waqf guards’
hostility — which is popular among Muslims — and the Muslim council's requested
ban on Jews are true apartheid sentiments.
The Mughrabi Gate, the only access point to the Temple Mount for
Christians and Jews, is located at the Western (Wailing) Wall.
Christians and Jews, is located at the Western (Wailing) Wall.
In surprising juxtaposition to the United States'
early struggle for civil rights, this sentiment was affirmed by US Secretary of
State John Kerry upon a recent visit to Jordan, saying: "It is
Muslims who pray on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif and non-Muslims who
visit." Meanwhile, in rejection of this overt discrimination, a far-right
Israeli group named "Returning to the Mount," has announced they
would give 2,000 NIS ($516) to anyone caught praying on the Mount. To prevent rioting on the Temple Mount and
enforce the ban on Jewish prayer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
King Abdullah of Jordan recently agreed to install surveillance cameras;
however, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki rejected the idea as
a "trap" meant to arrest Palestinians "under the pretext of
incitement."
"For you took My silver and My gold and carried off My finest
treasures to your temples. You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to
the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland. See, I am
going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return
on your own heads what you have done." (Joel 3:5–7)
With Chanukah but weeks away, the Israel
Antiquities Authority (IAA) has announced they may have found Acra, the Greek
stronghold built by Antiochus IV. This Greek king
desecrated the Holy Temple and devastated Judea before the Maccabees rose to
recapture the Jewish state. From the vantage point of the Acra citadel, the
Greeks maintained control over Jerusalem and monitored the Temple Mount. Israel
Antiquities Authority (IAA) site directors Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, Salomé Cohen and
Yana Tchekhanovets announced evidence of the citadel just outside the Old City
walls under the Givati parking lot at the City of David. That evidence includes
a massive wall with an embankment, lead slingshots, bronze arrowheads, and
ballista stones stamped with a trident, the symbol of Antiochus’ reign.
The remains of the Acra citadel and tower uncovered in Jerusalem.
These
tools of war are "the silent remains of battles that were waged there at
the time of the Hasmoneans in their attempt to conquer the citadel, which was
regarded as a ‘thorn in the flesh’ of the city,” says a statement by the dig
directors. Other evidence reinforcing the dating of the presence of the Greeks
in Judea include numerous coins dating from the reign of Antiochus IV to
Antiochus VII, as well as a large number of Aegean region wine jars. The IAA
unearthed what was once a monstrous watchtower that stood during Antiochus'
reign. “The new archeological finds indicate the establishment of a
well-fortified stronghold that was constructed on the high bedrock cliff
overlooking the steep slopes of the City of David hill," the IAA statement
read. "This stronghold controlled all means of approach to the Temple
atop the Temple Mount, and cut the Temple off from the southern parts of the
city," they write. Also an embankment of earth, plaster and
stone that was found "extended as far down as the bottom of the Tyropoeon
— the valley that bisected the city in antiquity, and constituted an additional
obstacle in the citadel’s defenses."
Lead sling stones and Bronze arrowheads stamped with the symbol of the
reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.
reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.
Both the Book of Maccabees and first century AD
Jewish-Roman historian Josephus Flavius describe the stronghold as a tall
structure that overlooked the Temple. "In that citadel dwelt the
impious and wicked part of the multitude, from whom it proved that the citizens
suffered many and sore calamities," Josephus wrote. He also
recorded that Antiochus had installed in the stronghold a garrison of
Macedonians. In 164 BC, three years
after the Acra citadel was built, the Maccabee family, known better as the
Hasmoneans, recaptured God's Temple and purified it from the idol of Jupiter,
altars erected to Greek gods, and the stain of pigs' blood that had been
offered there. However, while the first Chanukah
was celebrated, the Acra stronghold remained nearby, unconquered.
The remains of handles from wine jars used by the inhabitants of the
citadel.
citadel.
Although Judah Maccabee had led the Jews to victory
over the occupying Greeks, freeing the Temple and recapturing most of
Jerusalem, he did not manage to win Acra. Neither did two of his sons,
Judas and then Jonathan, who led the rebellion after Judas died in battle. According
to Josephus, on the 23rd of Iyar, 141 BC, 23 years after the Temple was freed,
Simon, one of the Maccabee sons, succeeded in capturing and destroying the
Greek citadel where it stood in the lower part of the city. The excavations
in the City of David National Park are operated by the Elad Foundation and have
brought to light artifacts from 10 ancient cultures in Jerusalem's history.
"But the wicked are tossed like the sea; for it is not able to keep
still, and its waters toss up mire and mud." (Isaiah 57:20)
Last Wednesday, Jerusalem police arrested a
well-known preacher of hate, Sheikh Khaled al-Mughrabi, at his Jerusalem
residence on charges of incitement to hatred during sermons in the Aqsa mosque
on the Temple Mount. Al-Mughrabi's arrest came after video clips from his
twice-weekly sermons were published on Palestinian social media and reposted
after being translated by Palestinian Media Watch. Honenu, an Israeli
Zionist legal aid organization, is one group that filed a complaint against
him, claiming that he was inciting Muslims to attack Jews. "We will
pursue the Jews everywhere. They won't escape us. The sons of
Israel will all be killed," al-Mughrabi said in one recorded sermon. "Allah
can erase every memory of the Jews from every place on the planet, but he wants
us to act in order to fulfil his commandment," he has said. "The most important thing that it’s possible to do
is to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and every one of its guardians will receive
70 virgins," al-Mughrabi said in the midst of a climate already
rife with terror against Jews by angry or alarmed Muslims.
Sheikh Khaled Al-Mughrabi preaches on the Temple Mount that Jews
should not have returned to the Holy Land.
should not have returned to the Holy Land.
Furthering the incitement, especially with his
sermon posted on the Al-Aqsa YouTube channel, al-Mughrabi said, “The Children
of Israel will be forced — they will not concede — they will be forced to
change their plans to build the Temple inside the structure of the Al-Aqsa
Mosque and will have to build it outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque… A Temple of
heresy to worship the Devil.” He also reiterated the Hadith (tradition) of
Muhammad that "the tree and the rock will speak and say: 'O Muslim, there
is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' The Children of Israel will all
be exterminated, the Anti-Christ will be killed and the Muslims will live in comfort
for a long time." In a third incident, in June, al-Mughrabi publicized
blood libels against the Jews, stating that Jewish people "would look for
a small child, kidnap and steal him, bring a barrel called the barrel of nails
… They would put the small child in the barrel and his body would be
pierced by these nails. In the bottom of the barrel they would put a
faucet and pour the blood." Right-wing
legal aid group Honenu filed an indictment against Al-Mughrabi in August, over
a month before the spate of killings by rock-throwing, stabbing, car-ramming
and shooting accelerated on October 1. "We are happy that the inciting
sheikh was finally arrested and hope that a serious indictment will be filed
immediately," Honenu said in a public statement. "It cannot be that a young Jewish man is arrested
and immediately banned from the Temple Mount for praying, while Islamic leaders
incite against the Jews uninterrupted."
Meanwhile in Jordan, Sheikh Ali Halabi backpedaled
on a fatwa (Islamic religious decree) proclaimed earlier this year that killing
Jews was permissible only during a declared war. At that time, when asked about
the issue of Jews in Palestine, the Sheikh answered, "Someone who
provides you with electricity and water, transfers you money and you work for
him and take his money — would you kill him, even if he’s a Jew? No. … If
you both pledge for the safety of one another, you are not allowed to betray
him." Following Muslim backlash for his declaration, Habib now calls
Jews "the brothers of apes and pigs," "occupiers and plunderers
[prone to] betrayal, fraud, cunning and deceit." In further clarification,
he declared last week that "Jihad against
the Jews, fighting them and liberating the land from them is a binding and
mandatory duty, incumbent upon the Islamic countries and upon the
Muslim individuals, but it depends on capabilities, because everybody knows
that America has Israel's back." Halabi further states that holy war
against the Jews is mandatory for "any Muslim who accepts Allah as the
lord and Islam as his religion."
At such a time as this, your support of Israel and
the Jewish People really makes a difference! Please stand with prayer in
these last days as bring the Good News of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah)
to the Jewish People and Arabs in Israel and around the world.
