“If I forget you O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither; let my tongue stick to my palate if I cease to think of you” Psalm 137:5,6
These words from Psalm 137 deeply reflect the Jewish attachment to Jerusalem. It is a part of our history, our religious development and of our soul. One cannot discuss Jerusalem without evoking deep reactions, especially for those who have been to Jerusalem. I lived there for almost one year, the year I began my rabbinic studies. My experience there was life changing. My connection to the city is undeniable. Given the context of President Trump’s announcement recognizing Western Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, allow me to separate from my emotions for a moment and share some historical facts.
First, the Jewish connection to Jerusalem goes back up to 3,000 years. It has always been the capital of Judah, and we can confirm that archeologically at least to the 8th century BCE. At the end of the 19th century, before the Zionist movement began bringing new settlers to Palestine, the majority of the population of Jerusalem was Jewish. This included a Jewish quarter in the Old City. As Jewish immigration in the early 20th century increased Jewish presence in Palestine, Western Jerusalem grew as a Jewish area. In November of 1947, when the United Nations passed the resolution to create 2 states in Palestine, one Jewish and the other Arab, it included a clause that Jerusalem should be an international city, open to all and dominated by none.
The rejection of the United Nation’s resolution by Arab leadership in Palestine as well as the surrounding Arab nations meant Jerusalem became an open target for dominance by either side. During the 1948 war, Jordan captured and took control of the Old City and East Jerusalem. Immediately afterwards the Jordanians destroyed the Jewish quarter of the Old City. The Israelis took control of West Jerusalem and soon afterwards declared it to be the capital of the new state of Israel. In 1967 Israel took back the Old City and Eastern Jerusalem during the Six Day War. It is important to note that during the 19 years of Jordanian occupation of the Old City, no Jews were allowed to enter and pray at the Western Wall. Under Israeli control all religions that see Jerusalem as a holy city are permitted to engage in their religious activities.
Given all that I have related so far, it is clear to see why any Jew who cares at all about Jewish history, Israel, religious observance, or personal connections to Jerusalem; would feel emotional stirring by President Trump’s announcement recognizing West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and promise to eventually move the American embassy there. However, as Americans and human beings, we need to look at Jerusalem and its status holistically; recognizing there is much more depth and complication than the emotional shout of “hooray” that we feel as Jews. In short, I agree with URJ President Rick Jacobs’ remarks at Shabbat services this past Saturday when he stated that as Jews of course we support the reality of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but we must question the timing and context of the announcement.
Why? To start there is the reality of what happens “on the ground,” both politically and in the streets of Jerusalem. The Palestinians see East Jerusalem as an eventual capital of their state if there can be a two state solution. The reaction is not capitulation but resistance resulting in violence – which is harming both Palestinians and Israelis. While we can list criticisms of Palestinian leadership, in particular their support and urging of virulent anti-Semitism in their communities; we cannot deny that the presence of Palestinian Arabs in the whole area once known as Palestine, is as legitimate as Jewish presence. That is the tragic sadness of two peoples, both with real historic and emotional ties to this area, but whose needs and connections are in conflict. How does the President’s unilateral declaring of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital contribute to a true, peaceful resolution of this conflict? It does not. It only adds to existing tension, in addition to the rising of distrust of the United States as a potential moderator/negotiator.
The bigger context than Jewish concerns is the seemingly random acts and declarations made by President Trump that stir controversy. There is no real strategic reason for many of his declarations other than a way to feed his unending narcissistic need of feeling the love and support of his base, and/or trying to draw some others into his base by playing with their emotions on an issue. Another example of this is his declaration of banning transsexual people from the military. His base loved that but those in responsible positions that have to deal with consequences made it clear this was not happening so fast (if at all). If the President is truly concerned about finding a peaceful solution for the issues between Israel and the Palestinians, this random declaration was a senseless act, thinking only for his short term desires not long term strategy.
We must point out that every American administration, whether Democrat or Republican, has put the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in the larger context of being part of an overall peaceful solution. Trump, however, cares not about true solutions, but about his own, egotistical, emotional needs given any moment. I am saddened that a place I care about so deeply – Jerusalem – has now become just another tool for the con artist in chief.
I have been reading a lot about Israel, Palestine, and recalling stories my grandfather told be when I was little. I remember watching the wars against Israel on TV when I was a little kid and I remember telling my father that if America and Israel became enemies, I would fight for Israel.
Jerusalem has always been the capital of Israel until recent years and that, apparently, is coming to an end. The last four presidents of the US have declared, during their respective campaigns, that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the US embassy would be moved there. Why did the prior three go back on their promise?
Israel has offered everything the Arabs wanted and acceptance has been declined for 69 years. The only thing not offered to the Arabs was the demise of the Jews.
There will never be a peaceful solution to the problem. The Jews make an offer, the Arabs decline. They make another offer and it is declined. This has been a vicious cycle for 69 years. I think this is a step by a ballsy president who has no decorum (politically) to say, “The time for talk is over. It is time to get on the bandwagon and enjoy the great things that have happened here despite your attempts to stop them. It is time to reap the rewards of what this nation can become. It is time to be a part of something good because the Jews are going nowhere.”
Last I read, the Koran does not mention Jerusalem as a holy city to the Muslims. There is no such thing as a Palestinian just like there is no such thing as a Mesopotamian. Those countries never existed. Last I heard and read, the majority of Israeli Arabs are happy living in Israel and they have voices in government just as anyone else.
The people who call themselves Palestinians need to understand they are not the indigenous people. They need to stop oppressing their own people. They need to stop lying to their people and the world. They need to stop firing rockets at innocent civilians and they need to go to the negotiating table one last time with some reasonable demands, excluding the death to the Jews, and be willing to accept 50% of those demands. That’s how a negotiation works.
There is no two-state solution. The nation is Israel and at one time it was part of a region, not a country, called Palestine, that was so named by the Romans to spite the Jews. Why is it that the other lands of this region now have their own countries but the Jews, who have no where else in the world to go, cannot have what G-d gave them more than 3,000 years ago without interference from the Arabs? The Jews of Israel built the nation, not the Arabs. And the 69-year thing I mentioned above, the infighting has been going on much longer than that according to my grandfather who was there in pre-state Israel.
I am proud of my president for taking a stand. He has acknowledged that for the last 69 years, all negotiations have failed but negotiators have kept trying the same thing over and over again with no success. I see Israel as taking a stand as well. Sometimes in negotiations it is better to simply ignore the other side until they come begging to the negotiating table. That is what Trump is doing. He is telling the other side, “We no longer need your opinion and you have not brought anything positive to the negotiating table for 69 years. There is no incentive for us to negotiate any longer.
Just the opinion from the son and grandson of pioneers of Israel.
I am deeply disappointed that you have decided to put dislike of the president and the desires of rioters above the the clear factual reality on the ground and the only possible 2 state solution that could be acceptable to Israel or the Jewish people as a whole.
Those who know me, even if only on facebook, know that I am one of the most extreme opponents of this administration and president – sort of those advocating illegal actions. However, the president carefully stated that his words did not prescribe or proscribed any final boundaries of Jerusalem that the parties freely agree to. There was no support in his words for the idea that an equivalent recognition for the Abu Tor area could not happen. What was discouraged was the warped thinking under which the site of the Israeli Knesset, President’s Residence, and Supreme Court will not be under Israeli sovereignty when a settlement is reached. It is precisely this sort of delusion that has caused the palestinians to reject all solutions offered to them wherein they do not obtain every square inch of territory lost in the Arab war of aggression and annihilation undertaken but lost in 1967. Further, they will accept no solution for refugees, their children, grandchildren,and others with tenuous relationships to mandatory Palestine that fall short of repatriation with no geographic restriction. The former means Israeli return to a most precarious border situation wit the country subject to being cut in half or cut off from Jerusalem, its capital, at the whim of palestinians. The latter means that there is no location within mandatory Palestine that could be free of the threat of malcontents claiming that it must be repatriated to them or riots will ensue. No war victor in the history of the world has ever submitted itself to such harsh and unfavorable conditions of “peace”.
The EU, the UN, the Arab League, and the other nations of the world are heavily biased against any Jewish state and cannot be relied upon to determine Israel’s short or long term fate. Sometimes a bad person does a good thing, perhaps as a result of divine providence or the bit of good tat actually survives within him. It is not for Jews to ungratefully reject such an action because of his unworthiness. We must look to truth, reality, and survival as our paramount interests in the modern world. We must resist those who wish to maintain an attitude of submission to the priorities of others as a sure fire survival mechanism. On the contrary, nothing fails as abjectly as subjecting oneself to abuse in the hope the abuser will realize his folly and end his unfairness. We tried that. It was a literal DEAD end.
The article reminds me of any number New Yorker Magazine reviews of a swanky restaurant or some other benign, apolitical subject that invariably ends with “…and that’s why Trump is a lying, scheming, homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic, duplicitous ogre who suffers from an extreme case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and will lead this nation thru the Gates of Hell at flank speed.” Israel is the size of New Jersey and is surrounded by failed states, vicious civil wars, kingdoms and violent repressive oligarchs and it would be a good thing if the Reform community considered that before heaping opprobrium on her at every opportunity.
Approximately 750,000 Arabs were displaced in the 1948 War. Few of these have been granted any rights other than refugee status by the 22 Arab nations surrounding Israel. About a like number of Jews were expelled at the same time from Arab nations. Most of these Jews and their forebears had lived in the region for thousands of years. Israel has never declined to accept any expelled Jew as a full citizen and has gone to great lengths to rescue them. Visit Israel and you will see Jews from many cultural backgrounds and regional origins.
“Philistine” is the root of the word “Palestine.” The Romans named the region after Israel’s ancient enemies to compound the insult after the failure of the Jewish revolt and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. The spark for the revolt was the Roman order to place a bust of Caligula(!) in the temple. Palestine was a dusty backwater of the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years that received no attention from anyone until Jewish financier Count Montefiore built a windmill near Jerusalem in 1857. This act of placing a formidable, modern industrial infrastructure in the sleepy town by an outsider was viewed with much suspicion by both the local Arabs and Jews. Montefiore’s vision was the seed of Zionism that was nurtured later by the kibbutzniks, Herzl, Jabotinsky, ben Gurion… Modern “Palestine” was created by the KGB and Yassir Arafat out of land that used to belong to Jordan and Egypt.
When someone starts running on about the “nation” of Palestine, ask them where Palestine was before 1967. Ask them to show a Palestinian passport dated before 1967. Any display of Palestinian unity under Jordanian or Egyptian rule would have been met with violent repression. The Palestinian political organization behaved itself so well in Jordan after King Hussein allowed them to take refuge there that he conducted a massacre and tried to kill them all.
This massacre was called “Black September” and spawned the most violent and cowardly organization of the same name that murdered Israeli Olympic athletes in 1972. The Palestinians were also thrown out of several other Arab nations after starting civil wars and attempting coups against their hosts.
The al Aqsa Mosque and the “Dome” of the Rock (the Dome is not a mosque) were built early in the 8th C to commemorate Muhammad’s ride on a magical flying steed to the “farthest” mosque where he ascended into heaven for a tour. The Muslims decided that Jerusalem was the site of the “farthest mosque” in an attempt to deny other religions title to their holiest places. The flying horse was tied up, of course, at the Kotel which means that this too is a Muslim holy place that has been over run by Jews and must be liberated. It should be noted that as soon as Israeli troops reclaimed the Temple Mount in 1967, Moshe Dayan immediately seized the keys to the place and turned them over to the Muslim authorities (Wakf). To repay Dayan’s respect, the Wakf has missed no opportunity to dig up antiquities on the slightest pretext and send them off to the rubbish heap to try to erase any evidence of a Jewish, Canaanite, Jebusite… presence there. One might think the Arch of Titus is also on the Wakf list of item to be destroyed, since it vividly documents the destruction of the Jewish temple and its obvious presence on the mount. Bob Sargeant
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, and that opinion should be subject related never personal. Thought the Bible is clear in saying condemning a person is like committing murder.
Please let‘s get back to a mature handling of subjects and grants others what the we want others to grants us: Civility