Download The Rewriting of Jewish History Palestinian Style

May 2001
Iyar - Sivan 5761
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Ari & Shira Sorko-Ram
E
P
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The Rewriting of Jewish
History Palestinian Style
P
alestinian Authority Chairman Yasser going with the flow. Main networks such as
Arafat has repeatedly declared that there CNN, the BBC and other global networks
never was a Temple built by Solomon, nor was which often serve as the Palestinian mouththere a Second Temple built by Herod - the piece are even now beginning to publicize the
Temple in which Yeshua Himself was dedicat- new version of history.
ed and where he taught. Instead the ancient
Incredibly, I myself have heard CNN talk
Temple Mount has now become "Haram al- about "Haram al Sharif, where the Jews claim
Sharif."
their Temple existed." (Also noted in J.P. Mar. 9, 2001)
On February 20, 2001, it became official.
This all-out PR war which claims that neiThe supreme Moslem cleric in Israel, the Mufti ther the Western Wall nor the Temple Mount
of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ikram Sabri, issued a reli- has anything to do with Judaism or the Jewish
gious decree (fatwa) which stated that not only people is another attempt by Arab leaders, relithe entire Temple
gious and political, to
Mount, but even the
rewrite history and
Western Wall (the
erase the memory of
Wailing Wall) is
the Temple Mount
Islamic property,
from world consciousnone of which has
ness. (Ibid., Jan. 5,01)
anything to do with
Palestinian chil- Israel's supreme Moslem cleric, dren are now being
Jewish history.
"No stone of the
the Mufti of Jerusalem taught this version of
Western Wall has
history and, in fact,
any connection to Hebrew history," declares tour groups visiting the Temple Mount may,
the decree. It is, the Mufti claims, simply the at any time, encounter Palestinian teenagers
western wall of the Aksa Mosque. As such, it screaming at them, telling them that their
should not be called the Western Wall, but the guide is lying to them and that no Jewish temAl-Burak Wall, after the name of Mohammed's ple ever existed on that spot.
horse. The fatwa concludes that since the
Even the far-left intellectuals in Israel are
finally
coming to the conclusion that these
Haram al Sharif has never belonged to the
Jews, they should have no right to pray at the denials of Jewish history in the Holy Land are
Wall or to have access to the entire area. part of an overall Palestinian strategy to replace
(Jerusalem Post, Feb. 21, 01)
the Jewish state with an Islamic one - so that
Preposterous? Certainly. Silly? And how. the area from Northwest Africa to India would
Significant? Definitely. The pagan world, be a vast Moslem world. The Jews are a bone
which has little or no Biblical foundation, is in the Moslem throat.
"No stone of the Western
Wall has any connection
to Hebrew history."
ISRAELI LEFT JOINS
THE FIGHT
Up until now, a small fringe group called The Temple
Mount Faithful has been the most vociferous defender of
Jewish claim and legitimacy to both free access and return
to full Jewish sovereignty of the Temple Mount. "Ironically,
today it is the Palestinians’ total denial of any Jewish connection to the site that has galvanized many apathetic
Israelis into taking a more defiant stand on the Temple
Mount.” (Ibid.)
For years, Israeli Jews have not been allowed to set foot
on the Temple Mount. But after the Camp David talks,
many Israelis became aware for the first time that the
Palestinian position maintains there is absolutely no historical Jewish connection to the site. And to think that this is
the place which was consecrated to the God of Israel for
mosque on the site (1360 years ago). He thought that the
two sides - the Jews and the Moslems - "were just trying to
push each other out." But now he knows that his forefathers
have been in this spot "thousands of years while the
Moslems have been there for only hundreds of years."
Well-known leftist Hebrew University professor Shlomo
Avnieri says, "I find it very difficult to imagine a nation giving up a core symbol of its identity voluntarily…I know of
no case in which a modern nation has been ready to give up
something as central as the Temple Mount is to the Jewish
people." (Ibid.)
DESTROYING JEWISH
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROOF
It is with this background that the Waqf (the supreme
Islamic governing authority in the Holy Land) and the
Islamic Movement in Israel have come under severe criticism by both Israeli archaeologists as
well as the Israeli public for carrying
out unauthorized digging and building
on the Temple Mount which is seriously damaging antiquities and artifacts
that would substantiate Jewish claims.
Dozens of trucks loaded with construction material have entered the Temple
Mount area and these same trucks have
left the site loaded, carrying a total of
15,000 cubic meters of debris and earth
saturated with archaeological artifacts
from every era. The obvious aim of the
massive work is to turn the site into an
exclusively Moslem holy site. (Ibid.)
A committee, which includes many
leading archaeologists, is demanding
that the Israeli government enforce the
JEWISH DEMONSTRATION AGAINST PALESTINIAN
law, resume supervision of the site by
SOVEREIGHTY CLAIMS OVER THE TEMPLE MOUNT.
the Antiquities Authority and ensure
1000 years! It is toward this place - which God Himself that no further archaeological artifacts are harmed. The
chose - that Jews have prayed for another 2000 years.
petitioners called on the Israeli Supreme Court to issue an
Now, a lot of secular left-wing Israelis have become angry urgent temporary restraining order. They warned that
at this denial of Jewish history. The defining
extremely grave
moment came when President Bill Clinton
damage is being
presented a proposal to grant the
inflicted on the
Palestinians sovereignty over the Temple
antiquities of the
Mount. In doing so, he not only stirred up
Temple Mount.
Orthodox and traditional Jews, but he
"Rare archaeologisounded an unintentional alarm which
cal artifacts are
awakened dormant feelings of nationalism
being cursorily
and Jewish identity among many Jews who
destroyed by the
don't even believe in God. (Ibid.)
- Official website of Egyptian Embassy in US giant scale activiThe truth is, up until now, many secular
ties of the Moslem
Jews have not given the Temple site much thought. One Waqf and the Islamic Movement in Israel." (Ibid., Mar. 9, 01)
young Tel Avivian explained that he had not realized that
Israelis are convinced that the Moslem leaders are
the Temple Mount had existed long before Islam built a attempting to completely obliterate any scientific proof that
"Jerusalem has been populated by Arab Jebusites,
descendants of the Jebusite
Ben Canaan since 2500 BC."
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Jewish temples existed on the Mount. "The ongoing work
at the site makes more realistic the thesis that the aim of
the Waqf is to turn the whole area from the Dome of the
Rock to the eastern wall of the Temple Mount into one
huge mosque, with Mecca-like dimensions, states Dr.
Eilat Mazar an
archaeologist
from Hebrew
University and
a member of
the Committee
Against
the
Destruction of
Antiquities."
Their account continues with the explanation that
Jerusalem has been populated by "Arab Jebusites, descendants of the Jebusite Ben Canaan" since 2500 BC. Says
Avineri, "If this is what is being presented in English to an
American audience, one can only imagine what is being
taught in Egyptian schools." (Ibid., Dec. 19, 00)
Incidentally, the Egyptians do mention the
word "Jew" a couple of times in their rendition
of Holy Land history. One, when the Jews were
"permanently expelled by Nebuchadnezzar,
never to return,” and the second is this:
"Under the Roman reign, the Jews informed
the Roman ruler about Jesus Christ in 27 AD
and accused him of atheism. Consequently, the
- DR. EILAT MAZAR of the Institute
(Ibid., Mar. 1, 01)
Roman ruler crushed them all and destroyed
of Archeology, Hebrew University, the city and established a new one where the
Indeed, over
the last two
Jews were [prohibited] to enter." (Ibid.)
one of Israel's foremost archeologists
years the Waqf
There is no doubt that a conscious effort is
has constructed on the Mount a mosque that is able to being made to rewrite history through false claims, fabricaaccommodate 10,000-15,000 worshippers. However, tions and distortions on the worldwide web. Anyone
because the Israeli government knows that an Arab-Israeli primed for this anti-Jewish propaganda is an easy and willconfrontation on the Temple Mount has the potential of ing target for the new writers of history.
bringing the entire Moslem world into a war, it has been
SOME ARABS TELL THE TRUTH
loath to try to stop the obliteration of perhaps the most precious archeological ruins in the world.
Here and there is a voice in Islam that stands against the
Meanwhile, the international community is mute. This fundamentalist fanaticism coming out of Orthodox Islam.
same international community was recently outraged by the Citing Koran passages that show that the Land of Israel was
latest campaign of Afghanistan's Talibans to demolish given to the Jews and that the Jews would be brought back
Buddhist statues in their domain.
to Israel before the end of days,
Though the rampant destruction on the
Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi
Temple Mount is part and parcel of the
Palazzi, Secretary General of
identical phenomenon, this time, no other
the Italian Moslem Association
nation seems concerned. (Ibid. Mar. 9, 2001)
is an aberration in his beliefs
and highly criticized by many
GOING GLOBAL WITH
of his contemporaries.
THE LIES
"Palazzi says that the Mufti
Can it be that world consciousness is
of Jerusalem's denial of a
buying into the new account of Middle
Jewish Temple is a flagrant slap
East history which seeks to erase the
at Islamic tradition. He claims
Jewish link? As far-fetched as these
that ancient Islamic wise men
wrote clearly and truthfully
assertions may seem to the informed
student of history, thousands of visitors
about Israel's history. For
a day can now connect to any number of
example, in the Middle Ages,
Internet sites which back these claims.
Imam Qurtubi, the Islamic
For example, one visit to the official
counterpart of the Jewish commentator, Rashi, quotes an earwebsite of the Egyptian embassy in
Washington (www.sis.gov.eg) will show
lier commentator, Imam Tabari,
that Jews have no link to Jerusalem.
who related the Prophet
Professor Shlomo Avineri, who wrote an
Mohammed's response to a folarticle titled "A Pack of Egyptian Lies,"
lower's query about the ruins of
the fabled Jewish Temple.
states that the Egyptian government's
website has all but eradicated Jewish
Qurtubi sets out in writing
history. The Jewish people simply are nowhere to be seen as Tabari's words about the destruction of the Temple, which
the website gives the history of the area beginning with tally in every detail with the biblical accounts of the
"Arab conquest of the area in 3,000 BC."
Temple's destruction by the Babylonians, reconstruction,
"Palestinian plans are to
turn the Temple Mount into
one huge mosque with
Mecca-like dimensions."
and final destruction by the Romans." (Ibid., Feb. 9, 01)
Even as late as 1930, the Moslem Council Guide, written during the British Mandate by the Holy Land's Moslem
leaders, stated categorically that the "Jewish Temple Mount
connection is beyond dispute." It further states, "The site is
one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the
earliest times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple
is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which David built there an altar unto the
Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings."
(Jerusalem Post, January 26, 01)
Nevertheless, today Islam is rewriting Jewish history - or
more exactly, obliterating it. It is replacement theology
taken to its logical end. For if there were no Temple, ever,
then God did not reveal Himself as the Presence above the
Cherubim in the Holy of Holies. If the children of Israel did
not sacrifice their lambs at the Temple in atonement for their
sins, then the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the
world has no meaning. In fact, if there had never been a
City of David, where the sweet Psalmist reigned, and where
He was promised a Son who would reign on his throne forever, then there can be no Messiah. For the Bible testifies
that the Messiah will be the Son of David from the tribe of
Judah. Actually, if Islam's version is true, as certainly millions of people now believe, then the Bible is a lie.
Here is what we know; Let God be true and every man a
liar! The reason for the current revisionist history is because
the last days are upon us. Satan is giving it his best. If only
he could destroy Israel. . .his kingdom would come, not God's!
It will never happen. Nevertheless, believers must be
aware of these incredible attempts to destroy the single most
physical sign - Israel - in all of history that witnesses to the
truth of God's Word and the certainty of His promises.
Though it may become “politically incorrect”, "old-fashioned," or "naïve," the Lord's people around the world must
become Israel's most faithful friend.
"For if I forget thee O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning."
Christians speak out
By Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International Director, Bridges for Peace, Jerusalem
"Because Islam teaches that Jews
and Christians perverted the faith
given them by God, they believe
Allah gave the final revelation to
Mohammed. Because Islam considers
itself superior to both Judaism and
Christianity, they have no theological
problem in usurping Jewish and
Christian sites and changing them
into Islamic sites, or simply building
a mosque next door. A Moslem
mosque in Bethlehem's Manger
Square, with a minaret towering
above the Church of the Nativity's
bell tower, is a case in point. Today,
Bethlehem,
Hebron,
Nablus
(Shechem), and Jericho which were
Jewish towns in the days of the Bible
have been given over to the
Palestinian Authority, and now the
last vestiges of Jewish life and presence are quickly being eradicated.
However, of most concern is the
Islamic usurpation of the Temple
Mount, the site of Solomon's and
Herod's Temple, which is a central
holy site for both Jews and Christians.
At present, there are three mosques
on this site; the third one recently
built in the underground "Solomon's
Stables," and a fourth, unauthorized
mosque being constructed at the
Golden Gate. According to Prof.
Eilat Mazar from the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem and a specialist on Jerusalem archaeology, not
only Temple artifacts, but layers of
Biblical history are being destroyed in
the construction process, and Israel is
unable to stop it.
Here is what the official
Palestinian Authority website says
about the Western Wall, sacred to the
Jewish people as one of the remaining
fragments of Herod's great Temple
complex. You can see that Islam
totally redefines the entire area and
eradicates its history.
"Al-Boraq Wall: Some Orthodox
religious Jews consider it as a holy
place for them, and claim that the
wall is part of their temple which all
historic studies and archaeological
excavations have failed to find any
proof for such a claim.” See
http://www.pna.org/mininfo/j_ourcap/sites.htm
This revisionist description not
only flies in the face of history and
archaeology, but also has the more
sinister motive of eradicating the
Biblical history of the area which
undermines the validity of Judaism
and Christianity. Furthermore, the
Palestinian Authority is calling this
uprising the 'Intifada of Al-Aqsa,'
after one of the mosques on the
Temple Mount, and calling the
Moslem world to declare a jihad (holy
war) against Israel and come to help
defend the mosque. Frankly, it has
never been threatened.
In a day when everyone is calling
for religious freedom, freedom of
access to holy sites, and freedom of
worship, the historical record shows
that Israel has been the only one who
has respected and encouraged this
practice, while the Palestinian
Authority and its majority Moslem
community have proven just the
opposite. The PA cannot protect the
sites nor guarantee free access. These
most recent incidents require us as
Christians and Jews to speak out to
the proper international authorities to
protect our Biblical sites and places of
worship before they are lost forever."
(Adapted from March-April 2001
edition)
Reprinted by permission
May 2001
Dear Maoz Israel Partner,
How can we thank you enough?
How can we express to you the importance of what you are doing? You are actually
taking part in the promises of end-times - God’s pledge that all Israel shall be saved!
You are helping to…
raise up a Messianic Jewish congregation in downtown Tel Aviv.
publish books in Hebrew for the people of Israel so that they may be saved, discipled
and trained to produce spiritual fruit themselves.
develop the Israeli Institute of Messianic Judaism in order to immerse hungry seekers
in the Word of God and to raise up leaders who will participate in the harvest among the
Jewish people.
evangelize the area of Tel Aviv by sending out young men and women into the city’s
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give the children and teenagers who are coming to the congregation the chance to
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help promote unity in the Body of Messiah through Maoz sponsorship of such national
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You are our partners in the Battle of the Ages. Who will be saved and who will perish? The
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In the love of our Messiah,
Ari & Shira Sorko-Ram
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