By Steve Kramer
KFAR SABA, Israel — Do you believe me or your lying eyes? That’s a relevant question when it comes to today’s news “reporting.” I’ve often mentioned that what is left out of reporting (or analysis) is as important, or more important, than what is included. A few recent examples will illustrate what I mean.
“Every Israeli government since 1967 has expanded Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and settlements in the West Bank, territories that Israel captured in the Six Day War that year and that the Palestinians want for their future state.” — Times of Israel, 12/3/21
Let’s examine some of the abnormal and/or misleading terms which our enemies have managed to implant in the public’s mind about the situation here: “East Jerusalem,” “West Bank,” “Palestinians.” East Jerusalem, with a capital E, is a designation that must have come from the pen of an anti-Zionist. East Jerusalem is a place name that has existed only since it was occupied by Jordanians in 1948.
According to the Book of Joshua, Jerusalem’s name is derived from Jebus, which was the name that the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe, gave their city thousands of years ago: Jebus + shalom (Hebrew for peace, wholeness). Jebus was conquered by King David about 1,000 BCE. David united the Israelite tribes and made the Jebusite city his capital. First known as David’s City, Jerusalem was enlarged by David’s heir, King Solomon, who built the Holy Temple on the top of nearby Mt. Moriah. The walled city surrounding the Temple Mount extended downward towards the desert and the Dead Sea. Over the centuries the city expanded and the walls were rebuilt and enlarged by subsequent conquerors.
Much later, in the latter half of the 19th century, settlements were built beyond the city walls, and this area constituted the “new” city alongside the walled Old City. The Old City had Jews, Christians, and Arabs living there, roughly grouped into their own neighborhoods. The sectors were flexible and changed according to the relative populations, which later also included Armenian Christians.
So it was during the period 1917-1948, when the British ruled the city and the entire Mandate for Palestine. After Israel declared its independence in May 1948, Arab armies attacked it from all sides. In 1949, an armistice line was roughly delineated, unofficially known as the Green Line, separating the Israeli controlled sectors from the Jordanian ones which included both Judea and Samara, the Old City and environs. The Old City, the symbol and birthplace of Jewish independence, was yet to be included in the nascent state.
After the War of Independence, two new geographical names were coined by the Jordanians: the West Bank for Judea and Samaria (which dated from biblical times to the present), and East Jerusalem for the parts of Jerusalem under Jordanian control – which are not strictly in the eastern sector. In fact, many Jewish neighborhoods are in the eastern part of the city and Arabs also live in the western areas of the city.
Ironically, these two geographical names were immediately adopted by journalists and others and have taken on a sheen of authority and even of false antiquity, while both date back only about 70 years. Unfortunately, the reason for these misnomers is antipathy to the Jewish State of Israel, which both the Muslim and the Christian authorities have sought to undermine.
Despite the fact the Jews are the indigenous people of the Land of Israel, the Muslims have never stopped calling Jews interlopers on Muslim land, regardless of the fact that Arab presence dates back only to the middle 7th century CE, while Jews have continuously lived on the land for well over 3,000 years!
Note: Meriam-Webster: Indigenous means, “Of or relating to the earliest known inhabitants of a place and especially of a place that was colonized by a now-dominant group.” Israelites/Jews settled Jerusalem in 1,000 BCE and all of their ancient enemies have vanished. Jerusalem was later colonized successively by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Christians, Arab Muslims (638 CE), Ottoman Turks (1517), and finally Britain, 1917-1948.
“The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution 129-11 on Wednesday, that disavowed Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and called it solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif [Noble Sanctuary].”
This resolution is blatantly anti-Zionist and Jew-hating, denying the Jews’ rights to our holiest site, the Temple Mount, on which Jerusalem’s later conquerors built their own temples, namely the Romans and the Muslims. The Christians built the Holy Sepulcher and other churches in the Old City but cared little for the Temple Mount, site of the Jews’ Holy Temple, where Jesus is reported to have overturned the tables of the money lenders.
Mohammed, founder of Islam, at first ordered his followers to pray not towards Mecca, but towards Jerusalem. It was only after the Jewish tribes of Arabia (of which there were many) declined to accept Mohammed’s new religion that Mohammed did a turnabout and ordered all prayer to be directed towards Mecca, the opposite direction from Jerusalem.
After the conquest of Jerusalem in the middle of the 7th century CE, the Dome of the Rock (a shrine, not a mosque) was built on the site of the Jews’ first and second Temples, which the Christians had used as a dumping ground for refuse. Soon after, the Al Aksa mosque was built nearby. Both of these structures still stand. The Muslims call the Temple Mount, al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), and many claim it as Islam’s 3rd holiest site.
Totally ignored by the UN and most of its members is that the indigenous Jews’ Temple Mount long predates the Muslim claim and the Temple Mount is Judaism’s most holy site. (The Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron is Judaism’s 2nd holiest site).
‘Palestinians’ — The Palestinian Arabs claim the title ‘Palestinians’ as if there were a State of Palestine. In fact, there has never been a state of Palestine and the Muslims never had a capital in Jerusalem. During times of Arab rule over the Land of Israel, Jerusalem was a backwater, with little or no development. Palestine was the name first given to the area after the Romans defeated the Judeans in the 2nd century CE, following several hard-fought wars. The name was chosen to erase the identification of the Roman province of Judea with its indigenous people, the Jews.
During the British Mandate, the British used the term Palestinian to describe Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Arabs. The Jews adopted the term and identified themselves at Palestinian Jews, while the Arabs rejected the Palestinian prefix. Almost without exception, the Muslims living in the British Mandate eschewed nationalism and concentrated on ridding “Muslim land” of its Jews, preferring to call themselves simply “Arabs.” Only after the Six Day War of 1967 did the Arabs begin to actively designate themselves as Palestinians who lived in “Palestine.”
The Palestine Post became the Jerusalem Post after Israel’s independence. The Anglo-Palestine Company became the Anglo-Palestine Bank in 1930 and Bank Leumi le-Israel in 1951. The Anglo-Palestine Bank served as the central bank of the State of Israel until 1954, when the Bank of Israel was founded.
Conclusion: Three subjects in the news, all three lacking historical context, all three using the terminology of our enemies which is calculated to obscure the truth. Even Israeli media uses these bogus terms! Therefore, relying on the media for all one’s information is a fool’s game. Better to read, listen, and watch extensively, to educate yourself, not just swallow what the popular media serves up.
I’m reminded of the joke about an Israeli tourist in Eilat, where there is no sales tax. He buys a newspaper from a vendor, who asks him for 22 shekels. He protests: It says right here: Eilat 18 shekels. The vendor replies: Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.
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Steve Kramer is a freelance writer based in Kfar Saba, Israel. He may be contacted via steve.kramer@sdjewishworld.com
Just as there is no “East Berlin” there is no “East Jerusalem”.