David Mark, Author at Israel Rising

September 7, 2017September 7, 2017

After 70 Years Jews Return to Sheikh Jarrah Property in “East” Jerusalem

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Jewish residents of Jerusalem with the help Israel Land Fund’s Councilman Aryeh King moved into a newly reacquired property in Jerusalem’s Shimon HaTzadik/Nachalat Shimon (Sheikh Jarrah) neigborhood Monday morning. After a tense and sometimes violent morning with Arabs throwing rocks and firebombs on the new residents , the area calmed down. The Arab family who had lived in the residence were pulled out after an Israeli court saw clear evidence they were in fact squatting in what was a Jewish property before the Jordanian army chased the home owners away in 1948.

Rabbi Ben Packer of the Jerusalem Heritage House said the following about the new property and court decision:

“The recent reclaiming is a very positive step but way overdue. Its time for the Israeli Government to allow real development in Shimon HaTzadik/Nachalat Shimon for the rightful Jewish owners, as they have for the Arab owners. That’s real Israeli sovereignty and basic fairness.”

Until 1948, west of the road linking Sheikh Jarrah, the American Colony and Mt. Scopus, was the neighborhood of Nahlat Shimon. The name is a reminder of its closeness to the Cave of Shimon HaTzadik. The neighborhood was founded in 1891 and was home to hundreds of Jewish families. Just before the British Mandate ended in 1948, security in Nahlat Shimon deteriorated considerably and its residents were evacuated to the Israeli side of Jerusalem. The Jordanians took control of the neighborhood and settled “Palestinian” Arab refugees there.

With one house now firmly back in Jewish hands, the many more houses stolen from their original Jewish owners may find themselves returned as well.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”6016,6017,6018,6019,6020,6021,6022″ img_size=”150×75″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

August 29, 2017August 29, 2017

HEBRON RISING: Israel Elevates Status of Biblical City’s Ancient Jewish Community

Hebron’s upgrade will have a direct and almost immediate effect on the “peace process.” The message is clear: Judea and Samaria will not be handed over to the Palestinian Authority.

Seemingly in conjunction with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comments last night that “Judea and Samaria will be Israel’s forever,” Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman elevated the official status of the ancient Hebron community to that of a separate municipality from their Palestinian Authority counterparts.

The move is significant for the simple fact that all Jewish neighborhoods will be united under one municpal board. This board will have the independent right to buy property in Hebron, essentially pushing forward private avenues to redeem more of the city and continue to return it to Jewish hands.

Yishai Fleisher, Official Spokesman for Hebron said the following:

“The City of the Patriarchs is also the city of the Sons: We want to thank the Justice Minister, Defense Minister and his Deputy, the Attorney General and the Legal Advisor for the Judea and Samaria Area for their hard work, which has led to the regulation of normal life and municipal services for the Jewish community in Hebron.”

This status change essentially opens up Hebron for development in a way that it never has had before. Seen as a place of extreme conflict between Jews and Arabs, the Hebron Jewish community has worked hard to open the ancient city and grave site of the Jewish people’s Patriarchs and Matriarchs to a wider array of Jews and Israelis.

Liberman’s announcement can be seen as a quiet game changer for Hebron and Israel’s permanent control of its historic Biblical Heartland.

Rabbi Ben Packer’s lecture titled the Tipping Point, filmed two years ago which can be viewed below is an important road map to why decisions like the upgrade for Hebron are game changers.

Both Bibi Netanyahu’s statement yesterday and Liberman’s announcement today appear to be born from the realization on the part of the White House that the Palestinian Authority has all but torpedoed “Peace” negotiations with Israel.

Whether or not Trump gave his approval is perhaps secondary. What is important to note is that Israel appears to be moving forward in holding onto Judea and Samaria for good.

August 8, 2017

Cape Verde, Togo, and the Continued Rectification of the Israel-Africa Relationship

Cape Verde, an island nation of half a million people off the coast of Western Africa who has traditionally voted against Israel at the UN announced a few days ago that they were “no longer going to vote against Israel at the UN.” Coupled with this, they announced separately that Jewish cemeteries and synagogues in the country would be considered national heritage sites and protected against any changes.

The intiative to push the Jewish aspect of Cape Verde’s history was spearheaded by the Cape Verde Jewish Heritage Project (CVJHP). The CVJHP has been active since 2008 and together with donations from the King of Morocco, has identified and helped restore and protect Jewish sites throughout Cape Verde.

Cape Verde was the destination for thousands of hidden Jews, fleeing persecution in Portugal in the 1500’s. Many of the citizens of Cape Verde are actually aware of their hidden ancestry. Later the Jewish population increased due to immigration by Jews from Morocco and Gibraltar.

Cape Verde’s switch from antagonistic to Israel is part of a process that has seen many sub-Sahara African countries open their doors to Israel. This movement has increased growth between the African continent and Israel in many sectors such as agritech, medtech, security, and more.

Last night’s visit and dinner hosted at the Prime Minister’s residence between the Togalese President and the Netanyahu’s is an example of the growing closeness between the Jewish State and Africa.

Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe, wrote in the guestbook: “I dream of Israel’s return to Africa and Africa’s return to Israel.”

This return has been a product of not only politics, but an awareness that both the Jewish people and many countries in Africa have much in common.

I wrote the following last year:

The war against Judah morphed into a religious struggle as the Roman Empire adopted Christianity, a small Jewish sect and warped it, cutting it off from its root. The Jewish exile swung into full force and oppression as the Jews that had now been scattered became second class citizens under both Christian Europe and the Islamic Middle East.

Within a short time these two colonial forces borrowing religious motifs from the crushed Judean culture undertook a continuance of their expansion past Israel into the heartland of Africa itself. It is not surprising that expulsions and forced slavery ensued over the centuries in Africa much the same way it began in Israel since the latter was seemingly an extension of the former.

The clear connection between Israel’s suffering and African suffering at the hands of European Christians and Arab Muslims is made that much more powerful by the fact that Israel is actually part of the African continent. The African plate’s Northernmost part ends in Northern Israel and runs along the Jordan River to the South. Looking at Israel in this light makes the Judean expulsion the beginning of Africa’s colonial period.

The shift in mindset across Africa towards Israel is a realization that the colonialism forced on the African continent was designed to not only exploit the natural resources of the colony, but to essentially subvert the indigenous culture that had grown within the continent itself. Israel had not only suffered from the same sort of persecution, but remained away from the exploitation itself.

Israel’s return to Africa and many Africa’s embrace of Israel is the beginning of a rectification process that can and will reverse the millenia of colonization, exploitation, and neo-colonialism that has been carried out both in Africa and throughout the Middle East as well as the Indian sub-continent by Western imperialists and radical islamists.

July 27, 2017

Failing to Clearly Liberate the Temple Mount, Places Israel in a Security Hell

History will show that the Israeli government’s response to the intense rioting in reaction to metal detectors having been placed at the entrances to the Temple Mount is not only a retreat against terror, but an outsourcing of its own security concerns to the Hashemite royal family in Jordan.

By making a deal with the Jordanian King, a known Muslim Brotherhood supporter rather than simply stamping out the rioting a flood of increased rioting and security incidents are already heating up.

The PA viewed Israel’s capitulation to Arab terror as if it surrendered on the battle field.

“We have defeated Israel in the struggle over the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Netanyahu caved in completely,” PA officials said.

Israeli’s concur, with 77% against the Prime Minister’s decision to take away the security measures and viewing them as a retreat.

The Temple Mount is the holiest place to the Nation of Israel. It is not a lone piece on a chessboard, meant to be tossed away if necessary. Zionism and the character of the renewed Hebrew Kingdom of Israel requires that we as a nation take our coveted spaces like the Temple Mount to a higher point than just another “holy” space. Our national ethos requires that we as a Nation guard our places of worship and our historical, spiritual, and national treasures beyond the normal level.

The Temple Mount is the very spot that Abraham, our father bound Isaac. It is the site of the Holy Temples and the site of third and final Temple to be built in the future if we merit it.

The current crisis will not go away by simply outsourcing the Temple Mount to some made up country. Now that they have tasted “victory” the Arabs will continue to riot as if there is no agreement.

The enemies that surround us, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, and Hamas have all noticed that we are now unwilling to take a certain measure of sovereignty over our most Holy site even when the perfect opportunity arises for that sovereignty to be placed. This in their eyes, is weakness.

The issue is not metal detectors, but how our government relates to our most cherished heritage and our future. By retreating on the most central of all issues, the Temple Mount, it retreated on its own viability. This is why Bibi may in fact have doomed his government. There is little patience for policies that appear cowardly and without reason. The Temple Mount fiasco may very well be the beginning of the end of the peceived inevitability that Netanyahu has crafted with the public.

With Israel surrounded by enemies, its unity of purpose is far important than temporary quiet. The Nation has finally taken notice and does not like what it sees.

July 20, 2017July 20, 2017

TEMPLE MOUNT SOLUTION: History Shows that Islam Shared the Dome of the Rock with the Jews

One of the biggest misconceptions about the near cyclical tumult on the Temple Mount is that the shrine called the Dome of the Rock, built in 691 by the Umayaad Caliphate is a Mosque. Nothing can be further from the truth. Until the later Islamic period the Dome of the Rock was never treated as a Mosque. Mosques point to Mecca, the Dome of the Rock does not.

Extensive research shows the Dome of the Rock folds in on itself in veneration of the Foundation Stone below. Not only that, the building shares four pillars in a similar placement to the pillars shown on coins minted by the Jewish leader Bar Kochba.

The connection is more than a mere coincidence. Muslims at the time, were ordered by Abd el-Malik, the Umayyad ruler of Damascus and an ally of the Jews to build the Dome of the Rock as a House of Prayer for Jews. One can clearly see the attempt by Malik to mimic the Jewish Temples by using blue stone for the building and adorning the Dome with pure gold as King Solomon did. The blue gives of a wave appearance similar to the Temple.

The Umayyads were very friendly to the Jews and historical evidence shows that the dynasty invited Jews to pray on the site.

Lost Islamic History says the following about Jewish access to the Temple Mount:

“One of Umar’s guides in Jerusalem was a Jew named Kaab al-Ahbar. Umar further allowed Jews to worship on the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall…”

With these facts in mind, one can already arrive at a solution to the tension involving the Temple Mount. Using Islamic history as a guide it would seem appropriate that the House that Malik built serve not as an affront to Jews and a place that is politicized by the Arabs, but rather a meeting point and placeholder for Jews and their cousins to pray to the Almighty.

In a world where history is honest there would be no need for metal detectors or police. The children of Yitzhak and Yishmael coul once again come together. As the sages said: Yishmael will return to proper path at the end. The time for a real solution to the Temple Mount is now. Understanding that the Dome of the Rock was meant to be a shared space for prayer by the children of Abraham until the arrival of the Messiah is an important step forward to a lasting peace and true coexistence.