Palestinian officials are openly talking about using UNESCO to prohibit Jews from worshipping at Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs.
Religious freedom in the Holy Land’s always a hot media topic during the Christmas season, and Karl Vick of Time got himself a scoop sure to raise red flags:
There’s not much about the site that’s in doubt, including what Palestinian officials aim to do with the property if they get control of it — stop Jews from praying there.
The stated reason: The massive stone structure built atop the cave by King Herod, a Jew, and held for a time by Christian Crusaders, has since the 14th century been a Muslim house of worship. The Ibrahimi Mosque has minarets, rugs, washrooms for ablutions and anterooms lined with racks for storing shoes.
“It’s a mosque!” says Khaled Osaily, the mayor of Hebron. “You don’t have to be an architect to see it! Will you allow me to pray in a synagogue or a church?”
. . .
So why frame the World Heritage application as a bid to restrict the use of a religious site, when the only practical effect will be to create bad feelings? For the same reason Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, in his September speech to the U.N. General Assembly, evoked the the Holy Land by name-checking Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mohammed but said nothing about the Jews: In a word, spite.
I have to credit the mayor: At least he’s honest enough to say Jewish ties to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will get absolutely no sanction, and that UNESCO will enable this.
(Image via Wikimedia Commons/Ooman)
19 Comments
“It’s a mosque!” says Khaled Osaily, the mayor of Hebron. “You don’t have to be an architect to see it! Will you allow me to pray in a synagogue or a church?”
As a matter of fact, yes, we would. This is a synagogue in my neighborhood that I often attend:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/nyregion/thecity/07musl.html
King Herod, the bloodthirsty, paranoid murderer of his own family was not Jewish by birth. His mother was an arab. He converted to Judaism because of expediancy.
very awesome article!!!
should this come as a surprise to anyone? the concept behind the UN may have started as a noble cause, but look at what it has degenerated into. an organization with terrorist dictatorships sitting in judgement of democracies. the hypocrisy of the organization knows no limits. it is fitting that the Palestinians find a friend and a home in such an organization. what other civilized entity would be allowed to act as the Palestinians do? can you imagine the outcry if Israel were to enact legislation similar to that which the Palestinians routinely do? can you imagine world outcry to Israel naming a town square after Baruch Goldstein? or the outcry for barring an Arab from his place of worship?
yet the PA does this on a daily basis. where else in the world would it be ok to kill or intimidate reporters, to name town squares after murderers of children, to bar people from their holy sites, or to put to death someone selling land to a Jew? if an Arab skins his knee in Israel, the UN condemns Israel. pre 1967, no Jew was allowed to pray at the western wall. today there is freedom of religion there thanks to Israel..and ONLY thanks to Israel. would the same be true in Palestinian territory? barring people from worship is only allowed on one side…not the other. “do as i say, not as i do”. should be engraved on Palestinian currency..once the UN starts producing it for them.
This is a joke, they take down the mosque , and have some respect for their forefathers .
Let’s face it: Arabs will lie about anything that is to their advantage and attempting to use UNESCO as a way to prohibit Jews from visiting/worshiping at OUR Patriarchs tombs is abominable.
The “United Nations” is, in truth, the “United ARAB Nations.” I don’t know what the over all deal is about, I gladly admit my ignorance of the political garbage behind what the Arabs are trying to pull, but UNESCO is one piece of work that shouldn’t exist as it is not at all interested in performing its basic functions.
Israel’s ass-kissing of the Arabs has caused this kind of a situation to come to the fore; Israel: STOP KISSING ARAB ASS!
There religion , claims to have respect for Judaism and Christianity , then why would they build a mosque on such a holy site . The reason being , to make the history of the Jews disappear . They claim , that our forefathers are theirs , then they should honor our sites . There religion is 1400 years old and our history starts almost 6000 years ago with Adam and eve. When they see a temple or a Jewish site they should honor us for our contributions , to make them civil . Before they had human sacrifice and they prayed to idols , today they believe in one G-d , thanks to us.
They illegally built a mosque on the site of the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem, the holiest place in Judaism and claim that it is exclusively theirs. They claim the Tomb of the Patriachs as exclusively Muslim because they have expropriated it to build a mosque. These sites were not Muslim until the Arabs stole them. Theft does not give due title.
Muslims have operated like that since their beginnings. where do they build their mosques? always in places that show off their dominance and change facts on the ground. they revise history constantly. the Wakf in Jerusalem consistently destroys or discards archeological remnants proving ancient Jewish claims to “their” land. where and why did they build the Cordoba mosque? and attempt to build the mosque only steps from ground zero in NY? and with regards to rewriting history, they’ve learned well from Goebels…that “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Palestinians have mastered this technique & made it into a fine art.
which is EXACTLY WHY Israel should do JUST THAT! When the Arabs whine, and they WILL whine, we point this out. Let Israel ban the Arabs from the Temple Mount (yes, this includes the D.O.T.R. and Al-Aqsa) until they cave (no pun intended) on the Patriarchs. As for Baruch Goldstein Square, I will not comment about this at the present, but it may be worthy to see the reaction if Israel were to go ahead with that too, just to see how the Arabs react and how the hypocrisy runs throughout the streets when they get ‘offended’.
Agreed except I would suggest “United Islamic Nations” because not all of them are Arab.
In Iran, every single holy place belonging to the Baha’i religion has been demolished. In Israeli, the Baha’i gardens, shrines, and world centre buildings in Haifa and Bahji (near Acco) are UNESCO world heritage sites. To Muslims, of course, this is not evidence of Israeli/Jewish generosity and tolerance, but of collusion between heretics and Jews.