MIDEAST UPDATE: 1.7.23 - Temple Mount?

 Why are PA, Jordan so worried about what happens on Temple Mount? – Khaled Abu Toameh - https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-726536 Jordan and the Palestinian Authority said that peace is threatened in response to Jews praying on the Temple Mount The Palestinian Authority and Jordan were quick to condemn National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s 15-minute visit to al-Aqsa Mosque compound (the Temple Mount) on Tuesdaymorning. Both the PA and Jordan seek to be known among the Arabs and Muslims as “defenders” of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Aqsa Mosque compound. So do otherparties, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. According to the PA, Ben-Gvir’s visit was part of Israel’s policy to change the “historical status quo” at the site by allowing Jews to pray there on a regular basis. The PA is convinced that Israel is working to divide the Temple Mount in time and space between Muslim and Jewish worshipers. The PA believes that Israeli plans concerning al-Aqsa Mosque compound are within the context of a larger scheme to “Judaize” the site and the entire city of Jerusalem. Although the PA has no official status at the site, it has been acting behind the scenes over the past few years to establish a foothold there. The PA’s efforts intensified in the aftermath of recurring attempts by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to present themselves as the main “defenders” of Aqsa Mosque against allegedJewish schemes and conspiracies. For Jordan, the most important thing is to ensure that the Hashemite custodianship over the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem (including al-Aqsa Mosque compound)not be undermined or eliminated. This custodianship is crucial for the Jordanian monarch and the royal family because, they believe, it bolsters their political and religious standing among many Arabs andMuslims. Relations between Israel and Jordan appeared to have improved significantly under the former government headed by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. This was in sharp contrastto the tensions that existed between the kingdom and the previous government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At that time, tensions reached a peak when reports in some media outlets suggested that the Netanyahu government was seeking to give other Arabs, specifically Saudi Arabia,a role in administering the Aqsa Mosque compound, which has long been controlled by Jordan’s Wakf Islamic religious trust in east Jerusalem. The return of Netanyahu to power has revived the fears of the Jordanians. Like the Palestinians, Jordan also believes that Israel is seeking to change the status quo at theholy site. The Jordanians fear that Israel is not only trying to pave the way for Jewish prayers, but it also wants to end the Hashemite custodianship over the site. The strong condemnations emanating from Ramallah and Amman in response to Ben-Gvir’s visit aim to send a warning to the new Netanyahu government not to tamper with the Islamicholy site. Global response The condemnations are also directed toward the US administration and other countries with the hope that they will pressure Netanyahu to refrain from “imposing a new reality” at the site. PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh denounced the visit as “a dangerous challenge to the feelings of all Palestinians.” He called on Palestinians to “thwart” the purportedIsraeli attempt to turn the mosque into a synagogue. PA presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Ben-Gvir’s visit was “a challenge to our Palestinian people, the Arab nation and the international community.” The continuation of these “provocations against our Islamic and Christian holy sites will lead to more tension and violence,” he said. Abu Rudeineh said the Israeli government was responsible for any repercussions regarding its “racist policies.” Attempts by Israel “to change the historical and legal status quo reality at al-Aqsa Mosque are rejected and doomed to failure,” he said. Abu Rudeineh called on the US administration to assume its responsibilities and force Israel to stop its “escalation and storming of al-Aqsa Mosque before it is too late.” Jordan also condemned the “storming” of the Aqsa Mosque compound by Ben-Gvir. The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned the Israeli ambassador in Amman and conveyed to him a message of protest against Ben-Gvir’s “storming” of theAqsa Mosque. The “storming of al-Aqsa Mosque by an Israeli cabinet member and violating its sanctity is a condemned and provocative act and amounts to a flagrant violation of internationallaw, as well as of the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its sanctities,” Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Sinan Majali said in a statement. The international community should take swift and decisive action to put an end to the Israeli practices, he said. Israel was solely accountable for the grave consequencesof this escalation, which threatens undermining all efforts made to prevent an upsurge in violence that endangers security and peace, he added. Majali demanded that Israel immediately cease all efforts to alter the legal and historical status quo and impose spatial or temporal divisions. ------------------------------ �The Jewish People Are Not Occupiers�: Netanyahu Blasts Latest �Despicable� Anti-Israel Resolution - By TV7 - https://harbingersdaily.com/the-jewish-people-are-not-occupiers-netanyahu-blasts-despicable-anti-israel-resolution/ Jerusalem strongly condemned a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for an opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on legal consequences ofIsrael�s so-called occupation of Palestinian territories. �The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land nor occupiers in our eternal capital Jerusalem and no UN resolution can distort that historical truth,� Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted in a video message, adding that Israel was not bound by the �despicable decision.� The 193-member UNGA on Friday asked the ICJ to provide an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel�s presence in the disputed territories regarding �occupation,settlement and annexation � including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures.� �Just like the hundreds of distorted UN General Assembly resolutions against Israel over the years, today�s disgraceful resolution will not obligate the Government of Israel,� insisted Netanyahu. Israel captured most of the areas disputed by the Palestinians in the 1967 Six Day War, when it conquered the east side of a then-divided Jerusalem and parts of the West Bankfrom Jordan; in addition to the Golan Heights from Syria and Gaza from Egypt. The Palestinians, rejected a peace plan proposed by former-United States President Donald Trump, demanding the captured territories for a future state. The Hague-based ICJ, also known as the World Court, is the top UN court dealing with disputes between states. While its rulings are considered binding, the ICJ has no powerto enforce them. The measure passed 87 in favor, 26 including Israel and the United States against, with 53 abstentions. �No international body can decide that the Jewish people are �occupiers� in their own homeland. Any decision from a judicial body which receives its mandate from the morallybankrupt and politicized UN is completely illegitimate,� stressed Israel�s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan ahead of the vote. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid � who was replaced last Thursday by Benjamin Netanyahu � last month sent a letter to more than 50 heads of state, urging them to exerttheir influence to oppose the resolution saying that bringing the matter to the court would �only play into the hands of extremists.� In his Saturday statement, Netanyahu revealed that he had also appealed to world leaders for support against the measure in a joint effort with Israeli President Isaac Herzog,Ambassador Erdan and the personnel at the Foreign Ministry. �We have achieved something important,� he said, pointing out that the November resolution passed by �an absolute majority,� whereas, �after our intervention, 11 countrieschanged how they voted and as a result there has been a turnaround: the countries that supported the Palestinian initiative were a minority of UN members and those that did not support the Palestinians were a majority of UN member states.� The Israeli Premier further vowed, �We will continue to fight for the truth.� Palestinians predictably welcomed the UN measure. �The time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people,� said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Spokesman for PalestinianPresident Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian leader slammed the new Israeli government, claiming that its �motto is extremism and apartheid.� An official with the Islamist terror group that controls Gaza, Basem Naim, said this marks �an important step toward confining and isolating the state of occupation (Israel).� Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from its Fatah rival in a brutal Palestinian internecine war in 2007, has waged three wars against the Jewish State, which it denies hasthe right to exist. The Friday vote presents a challenge for the Israeli leader, who returned to office 29 December 2022 at the head of a government which has set settlement expansion as a priorityand includes members advocating formal annexation of the disputed territories. Noting the ICJ vote came just one day after the Netanyahu government was sworn in, Palestinian UN Envoy Riyad Mansour told the UNGA, �We trust that, regardless of your votetoday, if you believe in international law and peace, you will uphold the opinion of the International Court of Justice when delivered and you will stand up to this Israeli government right now.� The ICJ last intervened in the conflict in 2004 by ruling that Israel�s separation barrier with the West Bank was illegal. The security fence was built to prevent Palestinianterror attacks on Israeli citizens during the Second Intifada, September 2000 � February 2005. Suicide bombings in Israel emanating from the West Bank dropped from 73 between 2000 to July 2003 to 12 between August 2003 and the end of 2006, upon completion of the firstcontinuous portion of the fence. HD Editor�s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant? The United Nations has been less than shy about the bias against Israel. From 2012-2020 the UN condemned Israel a total of 180 times, in contrast to 45 times for all othernations combined. The Bible has a great deal to say about supporting and blessing Israel. In Genesis, we read that those who despise and work against Israel place themselves at enmity withGod. Genesis 12:3 KJV � �I will bless them that bless [Israel], and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.� This warning also, if not especially, applies to nations. In the Book of Numbers, a man named Balaam was hired to curse the people of Israel. However, despite his best efforts, God insisted Balaam bless the Jews instead. When explainingto the king why he could only bless Isreal, he told him that God shall �eat up� nations who make themselves enemies of the Jews (Num. 24:8). He then echoed Genesis 12:3, saying, �Who shall stir [God] up? Blessed is he that blesseth [Israel], and cursed ishe that curseth thee� (Num. 24:9).