When the Arab cries, the world cries. Why?

This morning (October 30, 2014), Walla! News ran two stories that speak volumes about Israel. In one headline (“UN official: Israel must hear the cries of the world”, October 29, 2014), we learned that Israel must accept peace in Jerusalem so that members of all faiths can have access to holy places there. The inference was that Israel currently blocks free access and freedom of worship to non-Jews.

This comment was made at a special UN meeting called by Jordan on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA has cried that Israel was guilty of ‘aggression’ in Jerusalem. The PA wanted the UN to stop that ‘aggression’.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Proser, told the gathering that, “The Palestinian leadership is responsible for the current crisis in Jerusalem. Palestinian militants threw stones and petrol bombs”, and when Israeli police tried to stop the violence, the PA ran to the Security Council. He said, “the hypocrisy here is clear”.

The PA’s representative to the UN explained the PA’s position: “Jerusalem remains the key to peace. East Jerusalem is the heart of Palestine” (ibid). Jerusalem, he claimed, has always been Arab and Muslim (ibid).

His remarks suggested that Arabs fight in Jerusalem in order to get back what is theirs. If Israel won’t give us Jerusalem, he suggested, we will fight for it. This is what will happen if the UN won’t help us against Israel.

The PA calls East Jerusalem the ‘heart of Palestine’. It wants Israel to cede that real estate. But the Arabs overlook a singular fact: that same East Jerusalem is also home to the 2,800+ year-old Jewish Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site on earth.

That’s a problem because the Jewish Temple Mount was first built for Jews by Jews some 1,400+ years before Islam. The Jews were there before Islam.

The Arab doesn’t care about such fact. The Temple Mount is the heart of Jerusalem. He wants that heart.

The Arab claims that the Temple Mount is Islam’s third holiest site. It’s irrelevant to him that the Temple Mount is the Jews’ ‘first’ holiest site.

The second headline put an exclamation point on what this Arab demand for Jerusalem means for Israel. Last night (October 29, 2014), pro-Israel leaders and politicians gathered in Jerusalem for an event titled, ‘Israel returns to the Temple Mount’. One of the speakers at that event was Rabbi Yehuda Glick. Rabbi Glick heads an organization that fights to secure freedom of access and freedom of worship for Jews on the Temple Mount. These freedoms had been promised to Jews in a 1994 peace Treaty between Israel and Jordan. But Jordan, which ‘administers’ the Temple Mount, has worked to deny those freedoms to Jews. Jews can’t go to the Mount any time they want. They’re often banned for days at a time.

Jews discovered on the Temple Mount moving their lips without sound, bowing, praying or opening a prayer-book are immediately arrested. By contrast, Arabs walk, run, play and pray on the Mount as often they wish, any time they wish.

Rabbi Glick works to change that. That’s why he was at that conference. After his speech, while he stood outside the conference center, a man walked up to him and asked, “are you Yehuda Glick?” Rabbi Glick replied, “yes.”

The man then shot Rabbi Glick three or four times (early reports differ) at point-blank range (“Security forces kill man suspected in shooting”, Walla! News, October 29, 2014). The man escaped on motorcycle.

Hours later, Israeli police and security approached the man’s house. He began shooting at them. They killed him (ibid).

The New York Times correctly called this as “an apparent assassination attempt” (“Activist in Israel Is Wounded in Shooting”, New York Times, October 29, 2014). Eighteen hours after the shooting, we continue to pray for his recovery.

Less than 20 hours after the shooting, Fatah, the political Party that rules the PA, called the suspect killed by Israeli police a ‘heroic martyr’ (“Abbas's Fatah Calls for 'Day of Rage' Terrorism”, Arutz Sheva, October 30, 2014). Fatah called for a Day of Rage against the Jews after prayers tomorrow at the Temple Mount, Friday, October 31, 2014 (“Aqsa reopened to Palestinian worshipers ahead of 'Day of Rage'”, PLO news service, October 30, 2014). It declared that it considers Jews who visit the Temple Mount “a desecration” that is “a declaration of a religious war against the Palestinian people and the Arab Islamic nations" (Arutz Sheva, ibid).

As of 8 pm Israel time, October 30, 2014, no one at the UN has objected to these anti-Jewish incitements. But the US has urged Israel to make sure Muslims can go to prayer tomorrow on the Temple Mount (“US Urges Israel to Open Temple Mount to Muslims”, Arutz Sheva, October 30, 2014). Jews are banned.

The US statement didn't mention a concern for Jews having access to the Mount.

These headlines tell an Israel story: Arabs riot in Jerusalem. A Jew who works for freedom of religion on the Temple Mount is shot. Arab leaders incite for more attacks against Jews while Arabs cry Jerusalem is theirs.

The world cries, ‘Jerusalem is theirs’. The UN cries, ‘you must listen to the cries of the world—and yield to the Arab’.

The G-d of Israel has a Story for you. It’s the Story of the Final Jewish Redemption. Do you think UN hypocrisy, US indifference  and Arab hate will play a role in that Story?

Stay tuned. The G-d of Israel won’t disappoint you.