by Ruthie Blum
If anything proves the power of propaganda over truth, it is the Temple Mount issue.
On Sunday night, the
Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem was nearly empty. Though it was the eve
of Simchat Torah, when thousands of Jew normally congregate at the holy
site to celebrate the holiday by dancing with Torah scrolls, the
Palestinian terrorist attack that took place in the area 24 hours
earlier served to scare off even those people who believe that
everything is in God's hands.
No one could possibly be blamed for such fear.
The stabbing of an
Israeli family by a 19-year-old Ramallah resident and Jerusalem law
student -- culminating in the death of 22-year-old Aharon Bennett and
41-year-old Rabbi Nehemia Lavi, who came to the rescue; the critical
wounding of 21-year-old Adele Bennett; the injury to the couple's
two-year-old boy and trauma to their physically unscathed baby daughter
-- was not merely brutal. It was documented on the cellphones of Arab
onlookers, who laughed and spit at the young mother covered in blood,
begging for help as she tried to flee the scene with a knife wedged in
her shoulder.
"You should die, too," they chanted, while she stumbled ahead in the direction of Israeli Border Police.
The horrifying event
also came on the heels of Thursday night's slaying of Naama and Eitam
Henkin, the parents of four children under the age of 10, among them a
nursing baby, whose own lives were spared by a fluke accident that
occurred, mid-slaughter, to one of the Hamas terrorists. Different
neighborhood, same purpose: to kill Jews for being Jews, whenever and
wherever possible.
The ostensible impetus
for the current escalation in Palestinian violence, which is being
touted as the start of the third intifada, is the Temple Mount. More
specifically, according to a blood libel being spread by the Palestinian
Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, it is a response to the
Jewish "rape" of the Al-Aqsa mosque and attempt to prevent Muslims from
praying there in peace.
That this is a
bald-faced lie makes no difference. The fact that it is only Jews (and
Christians) who are forbidden from praying on or around the holiest site
in Judaism, while Muslims -- including members of the Israeli Knesset
-- taunt and harass non-Muslim visitors to the Mount, is ignored
internationally. If anything proves the power of propaganda over truth,
it is this issue.
Abbas' response to the
savagery, which continued early Sunday morning with the stabbing in
Jerusalem of 15-year-old Moshe Malka, was to blame Israel for the death
of two Palestinians. The ones he was referring to were the perpetrators
of the latter attacks, killed while on their rampages. The five Nablus
residents who shot the Henkins at point-blank range in front of their
children were apprehended after the carnage. They are now alive and
well, in custody.
Though the Western Wall
has been relatively deserted, an estimated 10,000 people gathered
outside of the Prime Minister's Residence on Monday night to demand that
the government take action to stop the latest wave of terror.
Ironically, some government ministers were among the protesters.
Later that night, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that cabinet had approved a set
of measures to confront the violence: expediting the demolitions of
terrorists' houses; stronger police presence and operational latitude in
Jerusalem; administrative detention for rioters; and fast-tracking
plans for building roads to circumvent Palestinian areas.
However, Netanyahu also
stressed that he intends to preserve the "status quo" on the Temple
Mount -- which means the continued prohibition of Jewish prayer there.
Since this egregious policy has remained constant, it is unclear how a
statement of the obvious, other than from the Muslim-Arab world, will
make a dent in the lies about it.
Meanwhile, a
demonstration was held at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday night,
also attended by some 10,000 people. This protest was against the
violation of animal rights. According to a report in Haaretz,
"Participants chanted and held up signs protesting consumption of meat
and dairy products, as well as placards opposing animal experimentation.
'Justice, compassion, veganism' and 'Meat is murder' were chanted
repeatedly. ... They also called for the cessation of shipments of live
calves and lambs from Australia and Europe, stopping the poultry market
reforms, increasing budgets for the sterilization or neutering of cats
and dogs, as well as imposing criminal responsibility on directors of
corporations found abusing animals."
Channel 10 morning-show
host Orly Vilnai, who moderated the rally, said, "While we are here
tonight, the conversation elsewhere is quite different. I imagine we'll
be accused of being disconnected from reality, as part of the Tel Aviv
bubble. [But] we must continue this conversation in order to remain
sane."
Or insane, as the case
may be, particularly in the current context. Still, the "Let the Animals
Live" campaign probably has a better chance of achieving its goals in
the foreseeable future than the "Let Israel Live" endeavor of the
Jewish-state faithful, whose blood, sweat and tears continue to flow.
Ruthie Blum is a Tel Aviv-based author and journalist.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=13901
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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