David Mark, Author at Israel Rising

February 10, 2017

Arab Squatters in Jerusalem Leave Evidence That Their Apartment Originally Belonged to Jews

On el Khaladiya, the heart of Northern Jewish Quarter, another former Jewish home has been restored to Jewish hands. The Supreme Court shot down the claims of the Arab occupants that the home had been theirs. For the time being only the store front which covers over the former home behind it has been returned. The older Arab woman who tried to defend her right to live there can remain above for the next ten years if she really does move in.

El Khaladiya street was once known as Hebron Street and was the main street of the Jewish Quarter in pre 1948 Jerusalem’s Old City. Starting in 1920 and until the Jewish residents of Jerusalem’s Old City were expelled by the Jordanians in 1948 a series of Arab pograms allowed byt the British pushed the indigenous Jews into small quarter of the Old City.

Now with the recent reacquisition of the latest property, El Khaladiya feels more and more like another Jewish Quarter.

Despite the claims of the squatters, Jewish students from nearby Yeshivas that have started renovating the property found a piece of evidence that proves Jews were the original occupants of the building, a hole for fastening the mezuza to the doorpost of the apartment, which was covered up by the squatters.

“This entire street was once Jewish. What we see here is the court righing an historic injustice,” Rabbi Ben Packer said as he pointed out other properties about to be handed back to the original Jewish owners.

Mezuzah Hole, once covered to hide the original Jewish presence

February 1, 2017February 1, 2017

AMONA DESTRUCTION: Israel’s Left Won’t Simply Fade Away, the Swamp Must Be Drained

Amona is destroyed. Its residents removed, houses bulldozed, and farmlands uprooted. For 20 years these pioneers worked the land and settled the abandoned hill, making it flourish and come to life. Multiple governments, from Sharon’s to Olmert’s to Netanyahu’s aided and encouraged the Jews who came to the strategic hill. They were provided with electricity, water, and even mortgages. Now that same government under overwhelming pressure from the Supreme Court has wiped an entire community off the map. Why? Because a European funded left-wing organization found a long lost Arab family member of the original land owners who had left and abandoned the property over 50 years ago.

In a normal civilized country this would be solved as a monetary settlement with the government paying the Arab more than the price of the property, yet in Israel Jews get their houses bulldozed. What makes Amona more frustrating is that a bill (now nearly passed) was introduced to prevent future occurrences of a similar type. Originally this bill was meant to retroactively include Amona and two other communities pending destruction, but the bill eventually dropped those three communities paving the way for today’s action.

We are told that although Amona is destroyed, the law is sufficient to protect Judea and Samaria in the future. We are told that the government had to change the law to allow the Supreme Court to ok it. Finally, we are told that today is actually a win for Zionism and Judea and Samaria.

The assumption that the Supreme Court is set to play ball now that they have been fed their quota of Judea and Samaria destruction is absurd. We who live in Judea and Samaria must understand that the left who set up the internal organs of the state might not be in overt control, but they are embedded in the bureaucracy and judicial system to such a point that they will not simply fade away. Three generations ago they succeeded in becoming the founding members of the State of Israel. They succeeded although Begin was far more popular with the Jewish street. Those 29 years between 1948 and 1977 which marked the rise of Menachem Begin and the Likud gave the Left ample time to set the system up in a way that would allow them to continue to control the State of Israel without overt ruler-ship.

The Left will not go away. Their control is too important for them. The government dropped the ball on Amona, because they insisted on fighting the Left with kid gloves and as long as they are not willing to take the fight to the organs of power still controlled by the Left, then the government which is backed by a majority of Israelis will never be able to implement or enforce its will. If Bibi wants to be remembered as a great leader long after he is Prime Minister he must wake up and clean house entirely. He must fight Israel’s internal enemies from a point of faith and clear direction towards a true Jewish State. The first focus must be the Judicial system. It is this tool the Left uses to rule over Israelis and it is this system that must be completely overhauled and rectified. If the Prime Minister is not up for the task, it is time to find a leader that is.

January 27, 2017January 27, 2017

Is the Tipping Point Upon Us? Jews Nearly Finished Renovating Home Near Lions Gate Jerusalem

A few months ago I had the opportunity to follow Rabbi Ben Packer of the Heritage House into an area of the Old City even the most adventurous activists would think twice before entering. That did not deter Rabbi Packer and I from making the left at Lions Gate and up stairs and walkway into an all Arab neighborhood. The neighborhood is known to Jew and Arab alike as a vipers nest, but this area, void of Jews since the 1930’s contains an old Jewish property. When I walked there a few months ago, this Jewish property had only recently been handed back to Jews. The Arabs were violent and threatening.

The property was broken down. To make matters more uncomfortable the property shared a courtyard with a divorced Arab woman and her children and some grandchildren.

Today I returned and found a transformed place. As we make a left down the small street, a kid, once antagonistic now gives us a high five. The shop owner says hello warmly. In my experience where Jews move and stay, the Arab population eventually learns to live with it.

As we enter the courtyward we see the old Arab woman. She shows us some rocks the neighbors had thrown down on her due to her stubborn refusal to harm the Jews sharing the courtyard with her. After greeting us she disappears into her home.

The rocks that had been thrown at the woman

“Other than the rocks, her life has gotten a lot better since we moved in here,” Rabbi Packer says as we enter into a room under renovation. “This is real peace.”

A hit piece was recently written in the Electronic Intifada about Rabbi Ben Packer, claiming he has ties to white supremacists. His concern for the older Arab neighbor and his protection extended to her dispels that myth.

The work has progressed a lot since the last time I had been there. One room is completely re-tiled, waiting for yeshiva students to move in. The adjacent room will become an apartment for a young family.

Before leaving I look up at the recently tiled apartment. Etched into the stone above the doorway are two Hebrew letters, still visible from over 8o years ago. In an undying proof of the Jewish people’s claim to their homeland, the letters stand as a marker that we will never disappear and just like the return to this apartment, the Jewish people will return to every house that was stolen from us.

Our return is part of a larger movement. We are coming home and yes proudly pushing Israel towards the Tipping Point, when the idea of the two state solution will no longer be an option.

Entryway with Old Hebrew Letters etched into the Stone

Work progressing on the floor in one of the rooms

Rabbi Ben Packer speaks to students about the significance of the site

January 22, 2017January 22, 2017

Bennett Understands Trump Better Than Bibi Does

A few things have come to light in the lead up to President Trump taking the oath of office and today, the second full day of his presidential tenure. Bibi Netanyahu is still afraid to push the button on annexation and Naftali Bennett is willing to call him out on it. For eight years nationalists in Israel gave Bibi Netanyahu a pass due to the immense pressure the Obama administration placed on him over “settlements.” After Trump’s miraculous win, the conventional wisdom was that Israel would just have to wait until January 20th to bury the “two state solution.” After all, he appointed David Friedman as the US Ambassador to Israel and has consecutively confirmed his intention to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

With this in mind, the odd reports of Bibi Netanyahu pleading with fellow party members and Naftali Bennett to freeze the advancement of a bill to annex Maale Adumim, a city of forty thousand Israelis, seems counter productive. As of the writing of this article, Bennett has acquiesced, but a video interview with the Times of Israel 13 days ago shows Naftali’s Bennett’s thoughts on the unique point in history Israel now finds itself in.

“Donald Trump has shown in his own personal history the ability to take very creative and bold approaches. This [annexing Area C of the West Bank to Israel] is a creative and bold approach. I know it differs from what we’ve been doing for the past two decades. But heck, what we’ve been doing for the past two decades has failed again and again and again,” Bennett states in the interview.

The challenge for Bibi is clear. He must put aside the chess board he is used to playing with and grasp onto the new path being blazed in front of him or younger leaders like Bennett, Glick, and Hotovely will over take him and follow the Trump administration forward.

There is no need for playing games and worry at this point. A unique G-d given opportunity has indeed arisen and as many have pointed out, one that the Israeli leadership should not squander.

January 20, 2017

Trump, Israel, and the Final Redemption

Today is the day. The unlikely rise of Donald Trump, from building mogul, reality TV Star to the highest office in America has been the story of the past year. Pundits counted him out, the left thought he was a clown, and his own party wanted nothing to do with him. Yet, he succeeded in a near miraculous fashion.

Jewish history is ripe with unexpected events, historical anomalies, and non-Jewish political leaders lending a hand to help push the long march towards redemption. It is not lost on anyone that Trump’s rise is more than just about a flamboyant entertainer unexpectedly rising to the top. Trump’s daughter and son-son-law are both observant Jews who support Israel in an unwavering fashion. Some of Trump’s closest friends are both orthodox and highly supportive of Israel’s permanent return to all of its historic homeland.

While all of the above makes a Trump Presidency truly historic for those who support the Jewish return to all of the nation of Israel’s ancestral homeland, there is something far deeper going on.

America is Different

The Founding Fathers of America understood that there is a Creator to all things; an active G-d which is involved with the history of the world.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

By naming the Creator as the source of our rights Jefferson was hooking the destiny of America with that of the Bible. The Founder Fathers believed their destiny was so bound up with the Hebrew Bible that there were those among them that wanted to make Hebrew the official language of America. Afterall Adams and others were considered to be Hebraists, which was a movement that sought to reconnect Christianity to its roots in Judaism.

The final redemption is about mankind recognizing that the Creator and his Torah are the source and building blocks for all. Trump may not be politically correct. He may be thrice married and expresses himself in a way liberals scoff at, but he understands the roots of America’s greatness. This greatness unlike its European counterparts, is America’s connection to the G-d of Israel, which goes back even before the Declaration of Independence.

While Europe has done everything in its power to rid itself of Christianity’s Hebrew roots, America has done the opposite and embraced them.

Eisav’s Head is Burried with the Patriarchs

There is a midrash (tanaic story from the time of the Mishna) that relates to Eisav coming to the Cave of the Patriarchs when Jacob’s sons come to bury him. Chushim the son of Dan quickly lobbed his head off. The head rolled into the cave and is buried with Israel’s patriarchs and matriarchs.

The sages of the Torah teach that Rome is the expression of the exile of Eisav in the world. Rome became Christian and spent centuries attempting to sever Christianity from its source. Now at the End of Days, the midrash makes more sense than ever. Eisav’s head was always “kosher,” while his body, not. America has a unique role in reconnecting “the head” of Eisav to its Israelite source while disconnecting it from its pagan influence, which is drawn from the decadent liberal culture flowing from the main stream media, Europe, and American universities.

The battle between Israel and the world is far more to do with reaffirming a direct connection to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and spreading their teachings to the world. Far too many Jews have forgotten that this is Israel’s mission. Ironically, Americans understand that they too can share in this mission by lending a hand to the Jews that do embrace the covenant of their forefathers.

On a subconscious level, this is what angers those who oppose Trump. At a base level they desire to break America’s bonds with its Hebrew roots, because they themselves are fearful of the responsibility such roots carry with them.

At the End of Days, just before the Redemption as Israel returns to its Land, the prophecies are unfolding as written. There is another midrash that clearly states: Eisav will return the Crown of Torah to Israel. It does not say Israel will take its crown, but rather it will be returned to it, connotating a partnership.

Trump and America appear ready to stand up to the global elite and fulfill the USA’s mandate to be a partner in redeeming Israel and all of mankind, that is if those that oppose the new President don’t try to uproot the source of its wellbeing first.