Palestinians claim Israel will open a synagogue on the Temple Mount "Bab al Rahma" hall. (I wish!)

The Jerusalem Post reports:The controversy surrounding the Bab al-Rahma (Gate of Mercy or Golden Gate) prayer hall, located east of al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, resurfaced on Saturday after the Wakf claimed that Israel Police officers halted renovation work at the site.The site was closed by court order in 2003 after the police discovered that members of the Islamic...

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11/09 Links Pt2: The Jewish Studies Professors Who Traffic in Antisemitism‘; Thomas Friedman: Equal-opportunity Israel-basher; Chilling, newly discovered photos show Nazi Kristallnacht up close

From Ian: The Jewish Studies Professors Who Traffic in Antisemitism What is particularly disturbing is the fact that Jewish studies scholars have no compunction in deploying antisemitic tropes to further their agenda. Myers and Sokatch write: “The apparent return of Benjamin Netanyahu to power in Israel is a gut punch to people concerned about the state of democracy and the...

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05/12 Links Pt2: Matti Friedman: Jerusalem of Glue; Biden failed the Israel-Palestinian rocket and riot test; Kristallnacht in Lod; Gal Gadot, international celebrities speak out over Gaza crisis

From Ian: Matti Friedman: Jerusalem of Glue The idea of a complex place is anathema to the current mood in America and the West, where many people seem to be regressing to a world of childhood, of heroes and monsters. As I sit here typing by a window in Jerusalem, many seem to believe that Israel is attacking Muslim worshippers at prayer and ethnically cleansing the Arab...

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07/29 Links Pt2: Matti Friedman: Israel Was Ground Zero for the New Woke Religion; Jonathan Tobin: On Tisha B'Av, it's time for Americans to step back from apocalyptic rhetoric

From Ian: Matti Friedman: Israel Was Ground Zero for the New Woke Religion Western ideologies generally include a parable about villainous Jews. Because this is a set of ideas that sees itself as a political critique, the parable doesn’t come, as past versions have, from Scripture (in the case of Christianity), or from economic theory (as it did in Marxism), or pseudo-scientific...

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