Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Ibrahimi Mosque

Showing posts with label Ibrahimi Mosque. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Palestinian intolerance and Jew-hatred summed up in one sentence

Every year, the Tomb of the Patriarchs is open exclusively to Jews for ten days and open exclusively to Muslims for ten days. The shrine is split between the two groups all the other days of the year.

The schedule is publicized well ahead of time (although the Muslim days may move by a day depending on when the new month is declared.) There are no surprises. The Waqf and Israeli side cooperate with each other; when one of the exclusive days comes up the other side puts away their prayer objects.

But in the Palestinian media, every time a Jewish day comes along, they try to incite violence and hatred.

The Palestine Information Center published this morning:

The Zionist occupation authorities closed, this morning, Wednesday, the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, until ten o'clock in the evening today; under the pretext of Jewish holidays.

The director of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, Ghassan Al-Rajabi, said in press statements that the occupation authorities closed the mosque from ten o’clock yesterday, Tuesday, until ten o’clock today, and prevented the call to prayer and worshipers from entering the mosque.

He believes that this closure is a crime against the Ibrahimi Mosque and a flagrant violation of it, stressing: “The mosque is a purely Islamic endowment, and the Jews have no right to it.”

Let's look at that last sentence.

When the Palestinian Muslims deny that the Temple Mount was ever the site of the Temples, they are obviously lying, but that lie is the justification for their insistence that Jews have no right to visit the holiest Jewish site.

But they cannot deny that the "Ibrahimi Mosque" is the burial place of the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs - because they believe it too. They cannot deny that the three (or four) couples buried there are the ancestors of the Jewish people, while only one of them is an ancestor to the Arab people.

So when the director of the mosque at the site says "The mosque is a purely Islamic endowment, and the Jews have no right to it," he is denying that Jews have even a historical or emotional right to visit the burial place of their own ancestors. Somehow the Muslim claim to the burial place of Jacob, who at best is just a prophet to them, is exclusive, while the Jewish claim to their own ancestors' burial place is meaningless.

It is impossible to interpret that statement as anything other than official antisemitism.

The Israeli side always tries to respect the rights of all religions. The Palestinian side expresses nothing but contempt for Jewish rights. And the world is more sympathetic towards the side that is institutionally antisemitic.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Oh noes! "Talmudic dances" in Hebron!

The official Palestinian Wafa news agency is incensed:

The Minister of National Security in the extremist occupation government, Itamar Ben Gvir, stormed today, Wednesday, the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the city of Hebron.

And local sources reported that the storming of Ben Gvir comes as part of a series of continuous incursions by the occupation and its settlers into the Haram since yesterday, Tuesday, as the settlers performed Talmudic dances inside it, to celebrate the so-called "Independence Day."

The Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Sheikh Hatem Al-Bakri, denounced this incursion, considering it a flagrant violation of the holy places and places of worship.

Al-Bakri warned that the occupation, and through the continuous Judaization operations, including broadcasting pictures of settlers dancing inside and outside it with comfort and reassurance, is working to displace Palestinian citizens from the places that it wants to control in Old Hebron in particular, according to a systematic plan implemented by the occupation government with the settlers.

He pointed out that what the occupation is doing is a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the Ibrahimi Mosque and a special endowment property for Muslims that no one else has the right to practice worship in, and this requires serious work to stop it and limit it completely and with all force by flocking to the sanctuary.

Here's that Talmudic dance:

Hamas' Felesteen was no less upset at those Talmudic dances:

Today, Wednesday, the extremist minister of the settler government, Itamar Ben Gvir, performed Talmudic dances in the courtyards of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. And "Ben Gvir" appeared in a video clip, accompanied by a number of settlers, while they were performing Talmudic dances and Jewish rituals inside the Ibrahimi Mosque.

To Palestinians, Jews dancing openly and safely in a Jewish holy place is a horrendous crime. Soon their "human rights" NGOs will be calling it a war crime.

Issa Amro, who is considered the most moderate Palestinian and a hero to the Jewish Left, was equally upset at those dances, tweeting, "They are dancing for what Baruch Goldstein did in 1994."

Now, people who celebrate are rarely shy about saying why they are celebrating. They will openly tell you the reason - in this case, of course, celebrating Israel's Independence Day.

But Palestinians are equally open about why they celebrate. They openly celebrate in the streets every time one of them manages to kill a Jew, handing out candy and shooting off fireworks. They aren't shy about telling the world why they are celebrating.

Issa Amro must have gotten mixed up between the Palestinians who celebrate death and the Jews who celebrate life.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Do Palestinians have love for the "Ibrahimi Mosque" in Hebron, or hate for Jews?

The official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that thousands of Muslims jammed the Tomb of the Patriarchs and the surrounding streets on Friday, the first Friday of Ramadan.

It is one of the ten days of the year that Jews are banned from the sacred site, the second holiest site in Judaism.

Wafa interviewed one of the worshipers, who explained why she came. "It is our duty, we, the people of Hebron in particular, and Palestine in general, to stay in it by praying in it, because our presence here enrages the occupation and its settlers who are trying to Judaize the Haram, and we must protect it through our permanent presence and prayer in it."

The main reason to go to the site is apparently not for prayer, but to send a message to Jews and enrage them.

This point was repeated by Palestinian officials as well.

The Director General of the Hebron Endowment, Nidal al-Ja’bari, told Wafa, “Today, thousands of worshipers came the first Friday of Ramadan in all the Ibrahimi Mosque's corridors, squares, and internal and external courtyards. The sanctuary will remain purely Islamic, and the Jews have no right to it."

He added, "Jerusalem, Hebron, and Palestine, along with the unified Arab and Palestinian sanctities in them, will remain, and will not be the legacy of the abhorrent Israeli occupation."

The preacher of the sanctuary, Sheikh Atta al-Muhtaseb, urged during his Friday sermon that Palestinians flock and pray in the building, to protect it and provide for it in light of the arrogance of the occupation and its settlers.

The language is never how holy or sacred the site is. It is never about the importance of Abraham to the Islamic religion. Invariably, when Palestinian are talking about the holy sites in the land, it is is terms not of their importance to Islam but their desire to rid those sites of Jews.

The Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Temple Mount were off-limits to Jews altogether when Muslims controlled the region. They make no secret that they want things to return to the way they were - a status quo from the 19th century.

And much of the world agrees with this official antisemitism of the Palestinians.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Judaism's second holiest site was Judenrein yesterday - but no one reported that

Last week, Arab media was filled with anger at news that the Jews of Hebron had taken over the Tomb of the Patriarchs and held a concert there on Sunday for the Selichot prayers.

They emphasized that Muslims were not allowed into the building, insisting that this was unacceptable.

But yesterday, no Jews were allowed into the same building. It was filled exclusively with Muslims. It was Judenrein.

The reason? It was Mohammed's birthday, one of the ten days a year the shrine is dedicated to Muslims only. Just as there are ten days a year it is for Jews only.

Yet there are no screaming headlines about how no Jews were allowed to the site. Because the rules are clear and well-known. The holidays are published ahead of time every year.

Three of the exclusively Jewish days are coming up - this coming Wednesday and Thursday, and next Monday. Expect more angry articles in the Palestinian media, none of which will mention the fact that the holy site is exclusively Muslim exactly as often as it is exclusively Jewish.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Muslims upgrade Hebron site to "fourth holiest mosque in Islam" to keep Jews away

The director of the mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Sheikh Hefzy Abu Sneina, now claims that his mosque is the fourth holiest mosque in Islam after the Al-Haram in Mecca, the Al-Nabawi mosque in Medina and the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. He says that it contains Islamic sanctities and the tombs of their prophets, "which proves the right of Palestinians and Muslims to it and denies any Israeli claims of their rights in it. "

Even though the prophets buried there have nothing to do with Islam, with the exception of Abraham, but everything to do with Judaism.

The Jewish ties to Hebron have given the Ibrahimi Mosque some holiness inflation, it seems.

I have not seen the Hebron mosque listed as the fourth holiest in any other source.

This article in The Guardian says that #4 is Imam Ali in Iraq, #5 is the Dome of the Rock, #6 is Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali and #7 is the Quba Mosque in Medina. Hebron isn't mentioned.

This site lists the Quba mosque as #4.

Wikipedia gives three sources saying that the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus is the fourth holiest site in Islam.

So how did the mosque in Hebron rocket to the top of the charts? (No one will argue about 1,2 or 3, although Shiite Muslims used to rate Al Aqsa as #5, behind Najaf and Karbala.)

It seems that the holier Jews consider a site, the more Muslims want to take it away from Jews. It happens in Jerusalem, in Hebron, in Bethlehem, in Shechem (Nablus.)

It is pure antisemitism, and something that no one is willing to talk about.

An elevator for the disabled is called a "racist, Judaizing, colonialist,Talmudic crime" by the Palestinian Authority

The Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement condemning Israel for doing...something..at the Cave of the Patriarchs, what they call the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Nowhere in the entire press release does the ministry actually say what Israel is planning to do.

The mentality of the racist colonialism dominates the government in the occupying state and its various arms, and is embodied in its worst forms, with the operations of control, familyization and Judaization of the Ibrahimi Mosque, changing its historical, cultural, cultural and religious landmarks, and depriving the original owners of the land and Muslims from accessing it and praying in it. The occupation is one, its mentality is one, and its narrative is one, whether as it constantly appears in the oppression of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in prisons, or in the theft of Palestinian land and targeting the Palestinian presence through mass demolitions and forced displacement, or in the attempt to impose Israeli sovereignty and control over all the holy, archaeological and historical sites that are located in the heart of cities and Palestinian towns. As a result of this racist mentality, Palestinians are constantly paying high prices for the occupation’s complex crimes and violations. ....It is the mentality of Judaization and creeping annexation that denies the right of the Palestinian to his homeland and tries to change the parameters of the historical and legal reality to serve the Talmudic narrative of occupation, with the aim of replacing the political character of the conflict with the religious one.

The Ministry condemns in the strongest terms Israel's colonial attacks on the Ibrahimi Mosque and Christian and Islamic holy sites, and bears the Israeli government full and direct responsibility for this crime. The Ministry calls on UNESCO to defend its decisions and take the necessary practical measures to protect the Ibrahimi Mosque and return it to its historical and legal reality that was distorted and stolen by the occupation forces....

When the ministry says they want the Cave of the Patriarchs to "return to its historical and legal reality," they mean they want to revert to the days before 1967 when Jews were not allowed to visit the site altogether.

So why did they issue this unhinged screed?

This is all about an elevator that Israel approved to be built to that handicapped people can access the holy site. Right now, anyone in a wheelchair needs to be physically carried up the ancient stone stairs to visit the site.

Israel unilaterally decided to build the elevator after many years of lobbying because the Palestinian Authority would never agree to anything like this. The human rights of the disabled would not even be considered as a factor. In fact, you will not find any supposedly liberal anti-Israel activist who supports the idea that Jews have the human right to visit the site freely, let alone that disabled people have the right to visit safely, because the imperative of being anti-Israel is much more important than mere human rights.

Arab media claim that this will be a Jewish-only elevator. Arab media is lying - the elevator is for all. But the hate that the Palestinians and their supporters have for Jews is far, far higher than their desire to allow even disabled Muslims to visit their own holy sites, as long as the plan also helps any Jews.

The main Palestinian argument is that this elevator and supporting infrastructure is using land that belongs to Arab Hebron and the Waqf, and therefore this violates agreements. But the Palestinians have also signed agreements saying that Jews should have free access to their holy places. No one seems to insist that they hold up those agreements. If they were a normal government that cared about human rights and peace, something could have been hammered out to allow wheelchair access for all back in 2003.

When the PA uses language like "racist" and "colonialist" and "Talmudic" - one of their favorite epithets - to describe an elevator to help the disabled, it proves yet again that this is all about hating Jews and denying Jews their rights.

Israel set to build elevator for all to access to Tomb of the Patriarchs, Palestinians claim it is only for Jews

The planned additions

Palestinian site Safa reports that Israel's attorney general Avichai Mendelblit recently approved a plan use land next to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron to build an elevator and ramps to help access "for the Jewish disabled" to the holy place.

Even though they are quoting Arutz-7, the original report makes clear that the elevator is meant for all, Arabs and Jews as well as tourists.

Israel has tried for years to cooperate with the PA in helping give access to all to the site, and the PA refused to talk with Israeli authorities, as this 2019 report notes. Even the most right-wing Jews of Hebron insist that the elevator be open to Muslims, saying "The Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs belongs to the people of Israel, and the state must ensure that every person of every religion can pray there."

Even the far left Meretz agrees that there should be universal access:

A wide variety of elected officials this year have joined the call to create access for the disabled. Mossi Raz, a former Member of Knesset from the left-wing Meretz party called for wheelchair access. Despite being an and an ardent opponent of the Jewish community, Channel 20 reported he sent a personal letter to the Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs and to the PA mayor of Hebron asking them to approve the permit.

Right now people in wheelchairs need to be physically carried up some 60 stairs.

The Palestinians are saying that the land surrounding the site belongs to the Waqf.

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Palestinians hold a conference where they claim to be Canaanites (update)

On Saturday a "Palestinian Canaanite Conference" was held in the Mahmoud Darwish Museum in Ramallah.

At the conference, Palestinian prime minister Mohamed Shtayyeh claimed that the Palestinians are descendants of the Canaanites.

There is no historic evidence of this claim. But Shtayyeh seems to know this, because at the same time he said that this is a war of "narratives."

"We launched this conference because Israel is waging a systematic war against us. Of all those wars - geography, demography, water and money - the most dangerous is the war of the narratives."

Shtayyeh continued, "All the excavations under the Aqsa Mosque, the settlers' attacks on the Ibrahimi Mosque [Cave of the Patriarchs], Joseph's Tomb, and the enactment of the Law of Nationalism all relate to the war of the narratives."

In other words, the entire purpose of the conference was to push the fiction that Palestinians are Canaanites, because even the Torah admits that the land was Canaanite before the Israelites conquered it. Identifying as Canaanite allows Palestinians to claim that not only were they there before the Jews, but that the Jews had expelled them thousands of years ago.

Even more absurdly, Shtayyeh claimed that the modern Palestinians still worshiped Baal as their alleged ancestors did: "Baal was the most important god among the Canaanites, and we to this day call on his name when we pray for water for the land which is watered from rain water."

Worshipers of Baal were known for other things he might not wish to be associated with.

Engraving of Baal Pe'or, defecating

UPDATE: Shtayyeh ("Winter") is a relatively rare name for Palestinians. I see a Shtayeh family centered in northern Egypt and a Syrian Bedouin tribe with that name in the 19th century.

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Muslim "Protest praying" in Hebron

Last weekend was he one Sabbath of the year where Jews celebrate regaining control over the second most sacred spot in Judaism, the Cave of the Patriarchs. It is one of the ten days of the year that Jews have access to the entire building. Some 45,000 Jews came to celebrate, most staying (and eating) in tents because there are not nearly enough rooms to accommodate them all.

Some youngsters apparently got out of hand but from what I can tell the vast majority was well behaved and had a great time.

But this upset the Muslims so they decided to make their own "protest prayer" event in Hebron on Friday.

Muslims love to say that Israel is trying to turn this into a religious conflict - but what is a "protest praying" if not a desire to turn it into a religious conflict? Using prayer as a protest tool pretty much ignores the entire purpose of prayer.

If religious Jews held a "protest prayer" there would be angry op-eds that they don't know what prayer is. (When left-wing Jews try to hijack religious rituals for their own politics, no one seems to mind.) But a Muslim "protest prayer" shows again what a huge double standard there is between Muslims and Jews.

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Jews dedicating a Torah to the Cave of the Patriarchs to help families of kids with cancer. Arabs want UNESCO to stop it.

Tonight at 8 PM Israel time, there will be a ceremony dedicating a Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) to be used at the Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Cave of the Patriarchs where tradition says Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives are buried.

It is the second holiest site in Judaism after the Temple Mount.

The ceremony will include a concert. The money raised for the event is being used to provide vacations to families of children with cancer in Israel.

In response, Palestinian Arabs are now claiming that the site is the fourth holiest in Islam, and saying that the idea of Jews dedicating a Torah to a synagogue is a desecration of the site.

They are threatening violence.

The Hebron Waqf said in a press release: "Some Hebrew sites published a promotional video stating that the settlers will present at 8 pm on Thursday a Torah scroll to the Haram al-Ibrahimi Mosque with a concert.

"This attack is a grave violation of the sanctity of the Haram al-Ibrahimi Mosque and a dangerous precedent, and it affects the feelings of Muslims," the statement said.

The Waqf said that "the occupation government has full responsibility for the visits of the settlers and their desecration of the Haram al-Ibrahimi Mosque, the change in its Arab Islamic features, and the imposition of punitive measures against it."

The organization called on all international and human rights institutions, especially UNESCO, to shoulder their responsibilities towards the holy place, and to stop this "grave violation."

In a veiled threat, the Waqf said "the occupation government bears full responsibility for what happens as a result." Meaning that Muslims will riot.

The Palestinian Authority issued a very similar statement denouncing the event.

Ma'an published this video of a large tourist group visiting the holy site, whom they call "settlers," in order to inflame Arabs to stop large numbers of respectful Jews and non-Jews from visiting the holy site.

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Abbas says allowing Jews to visit the Temple Mount is a "red line"

The official Palestinian Wafa news agency reports:

The head of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas spoke about the need to stop violations against Al Aqsa Mosque, stressing that it is a red line that can not be tolerated in the face of the suffering of daily attacks and violations by the occupation forces and settlers.

The PA Ministry of Information says that any Jews that visit the holiest spot in Judaism are doubling their "terrorism" by visiting during Ramadan, that Israel is "waging war on holy sites" and is disregarding the feelings of Muslims by entering the site. The ministry requested that UNESCO put pressure on Israel to stop its "religious terrorism" and "prevent the establishment of Talmudic rituals in the Haram al Sharif."

Nothing is being said against Christians peacefully visiting the site. Only Jews must be banned, and now Abbas is saying that such a ban on Jews is a red line before any peace agreement is made.

Abbas is demanding that the world support his antisemitism as a prerequisite for "peace."

This joins his demand that Israel release all Arab terrorists from prison before any "peace" agreement could be signed.

Which means that Abbas is telling the world that the state that he is demanding will enforce terror-supporting and antisemitic policies.

And still not one Western nation or major Western media outlet is willing to publicly call their "moderate peacemaker" out for what he explicitly says.

The Ministry of Information also complained about the fact that during the Shavuot holiday, Muslims are not allowed to visit the "Ibrahimi Mosque" in Hebron. This is a long standing agreement where the Cave of the Patriarchs is used exclusively by either Jews or Muslims for an equal number of days every year, and the spaces are divided between Jews and Muslims the rest of the year.

When Abbas says he wants a return to the "status quo" on the holy sites, he means the status quo of when Jordan didn't allow a single Jew to visit any of Judaism's holy sites in Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem or elsewhere.

Antisemitism is part and parcel of the Palestinian Authority's official policies.

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