Erdogan proves Muslims don't care about Palestinians - they are just anti-Israel (and antisemitic)

Last week, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would like to obtain the Siloam Inscription, a Hebrew inscription from the 8th century BCE that records the construction of the Siloam water tunnel, from Turkey. According to Hebrew scripture, the tunnel was commissioned by King Hezekiah to secure Jerusalem's water supply in preparation for an impending siege by the Assyrians It is one of the most important ancient Hebrew texts discovered and is a significant piece of evidence supporting the historical accounts in the Tanach.

Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan answered brusquely, saying the artifact "is a trust from our ancestors.....It seems that he (Netanyahu) wanted to try something by using expressions that go beyond his limits regarding our first Qiblah, Holy Jerusalem. We certainly understand what these people are trying to do,. Besides this inscription, we will not give you even a small stone from Holy Jerusalem.....Jerusalem, with Muslims, is the dignity and honor of humanity. We will continue to defend it and the rights of all religions, and we will preserve it as a trust from our ancestors, despite the occupiers."

There are layers of hypocrisy here. 

Turkey claims that since the inscription was found in what is now called "East Jerusalem," it cannot belong to Israel.  But if that is true, why not offer it to the Palestinians to house in one of their museums? His language does not say that Jerusalem is Palestinian, but Muslim, and that anything found there during the Ottoman times are Turkish property, not Palestinian. 

Additionally, Turkey demands that other nations return Ottoman artifacts that were taken from Turkey - but is unwilling to do the same for archaeological treasures from Jerusalem. Indeed, the Istanbul Archaeological Museum that houses the Siloam Inscription also has the Temple Warning inscription that proves the existence of the Second Temple that many Muslims deny.

Moreover, if Turkey cared so much about the inscription, why has it not displayed it in the museum? It was briefly viewable to crowds in Jerusalem in 1891 before being shipped to Istanbul, but there is no record of it being publicly exhibited there in over a century - it's stored in reserves, accessible mainly to scholars. If Erdogan really believes that he defends the rights of all religions, why withhold the Siloam Inscription - that helps prove the historic Jewish claim to Jerusalem from Biblical times - from the public?

Turkey's actions are not consistent with respect for all religions, nor it is consistent with respect for Palestinian claims on Jerusalem. Turkey's statements on Jerusalem have been neo-Ottoman, claiming that Turkey is in the vanguard as custodian of Jerusalem even today.

Turkey, Jordan and the Palestinians all claim the city, in some sense, as their own. The only consistent theme in the Arab and Muslim worlds since 1967 has been that Jerusalem must be taken away from the Jews - the only rulers of Jerusalem in 2,000 years to freely allow all religions to have access to their holy places

---

---

Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)