Jerusalem Archives | Page 2 of 3

Trump Admin: No State Has Sovereignty Over the City of Jerusalem

May 19, 2017/0 Comments/in Featured, International /by Jordan Schachtel

After days of noncommittal statements about the status of Israel’s capital city, the Trump administration has finally come clean about its position on Jerusalem. An administration official told Conservative Review Wednesday that the Trump-led government rejects Israel’s claims to sovereignty over the entirety of its historic capital of Jerusalem.

Conservative Review reached out to the State Department after U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, a high-ranking administration official, called for the administration to move its embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“I believe that the capital should be Jerusalem and the embassy should be moved to Jerusalem because if you look at all their government is in Jerusalem,” Haley told CBN Tuesday.

Although her comments were received as encouraging by the pro-Israel community, Haley appeared to contradict statements made Tuesday by national security adviser H.R. McMaster and press secretary Sean Spicer. Both officials refused to answer whether the Western Wall (a Jewish holy site that is in Jerusalem and claimed by Israel) is part of Israel. Spicer, for his part, stated that the Western Wall “is in Jerusalem.”

A U.S. official clarified to Conservative Review that the official Trump administration position on Jerusalem is the same as the Obama administration’s. Israel’s claims over Jerusalem are not recognized and should be solved through negotiations with the Palestinians, the official explained.

“The Western Wall is located in Jerusalem. While we certainly recognize the strong connection between the Jewish people and the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, our position on Jerusalem is unchanged,” the administration official tells Conservative Review.

“Since 1948, every administration has taken the official position that no state has sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem is an issue that should be resolved in final status negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians,” the official added.

By proclaiming that “no state has sovereignty” over Jerusalem, the Trump administration finds itself in a position that is wholly rejected by a bipartisan consensus of congressional leaders.

The Jerusalem Embassy Act, which was originally passed in 1995 by an almost unanimous consensus in Congress, calls for the United States to move its embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Past presidents have put off moving the embassy or even recognizing Israel’s capital, for fear that doing so would incite Muslim nations throughout the region.

Conservative leaders such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and House Freedom Caucus chair Mark Meadows, R-N.C., both released statements yesterday supporting Israel’s claims to Jerusalem. Even Democrat Senator Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called the refusal to include the Western Wall as part of Israel “shocking and offensive.”

On the campaign trail, President Trump pledged to move the “American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.” Since becoming president, his advisers have dramatically walked back that position. Some reports indicate that the president is now using the Jerusalem sovereignty issue as a bargaining chip with an eye toward Israel’s negotiations with the Palestinians.

President Trump will arrive in Israel on May 22 and will visit the Western Wall. (For more from the author of “Trump Admin: No State Has Sovereignty Over the City of Jerusalem” please click HERE)

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Archaeologists Discover 7,000-Year-Old Settlement in Jerusalem

February 20, 2016/0 Comments/in Featured, International /by Evangelical Focus

Photo Credit: Deutsche Welle
Archaeologists in Jerusalem have uncovered an ancient settlement which dates back as far as 7,000 years, they announced on Wednesday. They are calling it the oldest discovery of its kind in the area.

“This is the first time we found architecture of this kind in Jerusalem itself,” said Ronit Lupu, director of excavations for Israel’s Antiquities Authority. “We are talking about an established society, very well organized, with settlement, with cemeteries.”

The excavation exposed two houses with well-preserved remains and floors containing pottery vessels, flint tools and a basalt bowl. Lupu said these items are representative of the early Chalcolithic period, which began around 5,000 BC.

In the Chalcolithic period, humans were “still using stone tools, but began to create high-level ceramics and for the first time, copper tools as well,” said Lupu.

Small settlements from the period have been discovered in parts of Israel and Jordan, but only a few remnants had previously been unearthed in Jerusalem. (Read more from “Archaeologists Discover 7,000-Year-Old Settlement in Jerusalem” HERE)

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3 Israelis Dead as Palestinian Groups Declare ‘Day of Rage’

October 13, 2015/1 Comment/in Featured, International /by CBS DC

A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks Tuesday that escalated a monthlong wave of violence. Three Israelis and one attacker were killed.

The Jerusalem attacks, along with two stabbings in a central Israeli city, marked the most serious outbreak of violence since the current round of tensions erupted. More than 15 people were wounded.

The violence, coming at a time when peace prospects appear bleak, have fueled a sense of panic in Israel and raised fears that the region is on the cusp of a new round of heavy violence.

CBS News’ Jonathan Vigliotti reports Palestinian groups have declared a “Day of Rage” on Tuesday across the region . . .

On Tuesday, police closed major highways leading in and out of Jerusalem, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an emergency meeting of his Security Cabinet, where police were to present a plan to halt the violence. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the country’s internal security minister, Gilad Erdan, was considering a number of immediate steps, including sealing off Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, where many of the attackers have come from, and making it easier to get gun licenses. (Read more from “3 Israelis Dead as Palestinian Groups Declare ‘Day of Rage'” HERE)

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Watchdog Blasts BBC Coverage of Jerusalem Stabbing Spree, Forces Corrections

October 4, 2015/1 Comment/in Featured, International /by Ruthie Blum

A media watchdog group slammed the BBC for its reportage of Saturday night’s bloody terror attack in Jerusalem, in which a knife-wielding Palestinian killed two Israelis and left the wife and baby of one of them seriously wounded, and the British outlet was forced to change its headline – three times.

BBC Watch, an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, exposed the headline – “Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two” – for failing to reflect what actually happened during the murderous rampage, making it sound as though the perpetrator had been a victim of Israeli security forces.

“[This] is not only a prime example of the ‘last-first reporting’ regularly employed by the BBC, but of course fails to clarify to audiences that the dead Palestinian was the terrorist who killed two people (later named as father of seven Rabbi Nechemia Lavi and father of two Rabbi Aharon Benita) and wounded a mother and her two-year-old son,” wrote BBC Watch in a dispatch on the coverage.

“Predictably, that headline prompted considerable protest on social media,” the dispatch went on. “And shortly after its publication, the title was changed to one displaying yet another regular feature of BBC reporting; the use of superfluous punctuation.”

The changed headline read as follows: “Jerusalem attack: Israelis killed in Old City ‘by Palestinian.’” (Read more from “Watchdog Blasts BBC Coverage of Jerusalem Stabbing Spree, Forces Corrections” HERE)

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Watch: Arab Harassment of Jews in Jerusalem Terrorizes Children

September 30, 2015/1 Comment/in Featured, Video /by Ruthie Blum

Two amateur video clips circulating on social media, both posted in Arabic, provide a glimpse into the less-reported side of the escalating tensions in and around Jerusalem.

One shows a mob of angry Arabs verbally harassing Jews, among them children, as they make their way to the Western Wall on Monday, the first day of the Sukkot holiday. Loud chants of “allahu akbar” accompany menacing fist-waving at passers-by.

The other captures a young Muslim man planting a hard, swift kick on a baby stroller being pushed by a father with a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) on his head. Here, too, taunting and shouting in Arabic can be heard, while the father whisks his child away from the scene of the Old City of Jerusalem site as fast as he can.

These incidents are part of the ongoing riots – characterized by rock-throwing and the hurling of firebombs – that have Israeli security forces stepping up efforts to prevent the violence and bring its perpetrators to justice. (Read more from “Watch: Arab Harassment of Jews in Jerusalem Terrorizes Children” HERE)

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‘Israel Must Be Obliterated’: New Iranian Video “Shows” Muslim Invasion of Jerusalem

August 19, 2015/6 Comments/in Featured, International, Updates /by Sharona Schwartz

A new video out of Iran presents the imagined scenario of Jerusalem being conquered by a military alliance of the country’s Revolutionary Guard forces and Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists, a Jewish news site reported Tuesday.

Quoting the Middle East terrorism research organization the Investigative Project, the Algemeiner reported that the video was released two weeks after the Iran nuclear deal was announced.

The video showed the fighters preparing for battle with their gear, headbands, shoes and weapons, then descending on Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly pointed to Iran’s continued sponsorship of international terrorist groups including Hezbollah and to its dedication to destroying Israel as two reasons he believes the deal is dangerous for Israel.

The Algemeiner detailed the lineup of fighters portrayed in the video which, according to the Investigative Project, was produced by the Islamic Revolution Design House: “One dons the IRGC [Revolutionary Guards] insignia on his left arm, another the emblem of the Iran-backed Iraqi Shia Badr Organization. Yet a third dons a headband bearing the Lebanese Hezbollah logo, and a fourth is seen clad in Hamas’ characteristic balaclava and the Qassam Brigades green headband.” (Read more from “‘Israel Must Be Obliterated’: New Iranian Video “Shows” Muslim Invasion of Jerusalem” HERE)

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ISIS-Linked Group Said to Issue Leaflets Threatening Christians in Jerusalem

June 26, 2015/0 Comments/in Featured, International /by Times of Israel Staff

Leaflets threatening Christians and signed by an organization referring to itself as the “Islamic State in Palestine” were distributed in East Jerusalem Thursday, Israel’s Channel 10 news reported.

The flyers, which displayed an image of the black flag associated with the Islamic State terrorist group, warned Christian residents of the city that “vengeance” will be exacted upon them, the TV report stated . . .

There have been intermittent reports of attempts by IS-affiliated groups to organize in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel, and a trickle of cases of Israeli Arabs journeying to join IS forces elsewhere in the region or being arrested en route to do so.

Earlier this week, an Israeli Arab family from Sakhnin, in the north, contacted authorities for help in locating their son and his family, who they said they believe are trying to enter Syria to join the Islamic State . . .

The cell members were arrested by operatives of the Shin Bet security service and stand accused of launching an unsuccessful attack against IDF soldiers and conspiring to kidnap and kill civilians and military personnel in the West Bank. (Read more from “IS-Linked Group Said to Issue Leaflets Threatening Christians in Jerusalem” HERE)

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Mayor of Jerusalem Takes Down Knife-Wielding Terrorist Who Stabbed Pedestrian [+video]

February 24, 2015/1 Comment/in Featured, International /by News Editor

By Reuters. Israel’s mayor of Jerusalem and his security guard wrestled a Palestinian attacker to the ground near city hall on Sunday after an ultra-Orthodox Jew was stabbed with a knife at a busy intersection.

Security camera footage showed mayor Nir Barkat, in a white shirt, walk towards the suspect together with his bodyguard and lunge at him, pinning him down on a pedestrian crossing before others took charge and detained the man.

Before Barkat intervened, the distant but distinct black-and-white footage showed a man waving his arm in a stabbing motion and making contact with one individual and attempting to stab others as they waited to cross the road. When they realized what had happened, the pedestrians ran clear . . .

“My bodyguard took out his weapon and when he aimed at the terrorist, the terrorist dropped his knife and we immediately tackled him on the ground to make sure that he cannot continue with the terror attack,” Barkat told reporters shortly afterwards. (Read more about what the Mayor of Jerusalem did HERE)

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Palestinian Group Faces $218 Million Fine for Israel Terror

By BBC. A US court in New York has found the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority liable for attacks in Israel over 10 years ago.

Six attacks in and around Jerusalem killed 33 people and wounded hundreds more during the second Palestinian intifada between 2002 and 2004.

The jury awarded victims of the attacks more than $218 million.

The Palestinian groups expressed dismay at the court’s decision and vowed they would appeal.

As some of the victims were American citizens, the lawsuit was filed in a US court. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Obama Responds to Jerusalem Synagogue Attack: 'Too Many Palestinians Have Died'

November 23, 2014/10 Comments/in Featured, News /by News Editor

Photo Credit: AP

By FRANCES MARTEL.

President Obama has responded to [yesterday’s] terrorist attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem in which four Israeli Jews attending morning prayers condemning the attack, and stating that “the majority of Palestinians” want peace.

In a statement delivered to the White House press pool, President Obama responded to the attack by declaring that “too many Palestinians have died,” as well as Israelis, in the struggle between the state of Israel and the terrorist group Hamas and its affiliates, including the internationally active Muslim Brotherhood. “At this difficult time,” the President told reports, “I think it’s important for both Palestinians and Israelis to try to work together to lower tensions and reject violence.”

“We have to remind ourselves that the majority of Palestinians and Israelis overwhelmingly want peace,” the statement concludes, before the President begins remarks on the Ebola crisis in West Africa. The President did not take questions.

Fatah Calls for ‘Day of Rage’ in Jerusalem

October 31, 2014/4 Comments/in Featured, International /by NOAH ROTHMAN

Photo Credit: HotAirIn what was believed to have been an assassination attempt, the prominent American-born Israeli activist Yehuda Glick was shot in Jerusalem on Wednesday by a motorcycle gunman. Glick, a controversial figure due to his advocacy in favor of allowing Israeli Jews greater access the Temple Mount, was wounded in the attack. The gunman is believed to have been an Arab.

In the wake of this incident, some members of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction issued praise for the would-be assassin.

Via Arutz Sheva:

Joining in on the praise of the assassination attempt was Sultan Abu Al-Einen, a member of the Fatah Central Committee and Abbas’s advisor on NGOs, who just last week praised the terrorist who murdered a three-month-old baby and 22-year-old woman in Jerusalem with his car as a “hero.”

“With great honor and pride…Fatah’s Jerusalem branch accompanies its heroic Martyr to his wedding (with “72 virgins” – ed.), Mu’taz Ibrahim Khalil Hijazi, who carried out the assassination attempt of Zionist rabbi Yehuda Glick,” wrote Al-Einen.

Israeli officials closed access to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem following this attack. “Israel’s call to block access to the Temple Mount area of Jerusalem’s Old City—the first such closure since 1967—led the Palestinian government to call for armed resistance and accuse Israel of declaring war,” The Washington Free Beacon reported.

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