Tag Archives: Jordan

The ICJ Ruled That Jordan Is Palestine

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The top court of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s presence in territories it captured in the June 1967 Six Day War is illegal. Specifically, it decided that “Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful.” ICJ’s President Nawaf Salam said that “Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law.”

To arrive at such conclusion, the ICJ must believe that Jordan is Palestine.

The “West Bank and East Jerusalem” were captured in a defensive war that Israel fought after Jordan (Transjordan at the time) attacked it from those lands in 1967. TransJordan had annexed those lands in April 1950 after it fought a war to destroy the nascent Jewish State. Only Britain, Pakistan and Iraq recognized that annexation.

It would appear that the ICJ has now recognized that annexation as well.

The San Remo Conference of April 1920 set the outline for carving up the defeated Ottoman Empire into a number of mandates, including the Mandate of Palestine which covered today’s Israel, Gaza, West Bank and Jordan. According to the British Mandate which took effect in July 1922, Britain had the right to separate Mandate Palestine into two areas: one for the Jews west of the Jordan River and one area east of the river, according to Article 25. It did so on May 23, 1925 in the area that became Trans-Jordan. Trans-jordan declared its independence on May 25, 1946.

Britain was having difficulty dealing with the eastern Palestinian Mandate and turned to the United Nations for assistance. In November 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition the remaining eastern Palestine into a Jewish State and and Arab State, with the area of Greater Jerusalem and Greater Bethlehem to be held by the United Nations in a Corpus Separatum, an international zone.

UN’s plan for an internationally-controlled “Corpus Separatum” including Greater Bethlehem and Jerusalem

The UNGA and the Jews accepted the planned division but the Arabs rejected it. When Britain left the region in May 1948 and the Jews declared a new State of Israel, the Arab world attacked. At the end of the war, Transjordan seized the area that became known as the “West Bank”, the eastern part of Jerusalem and all of greater Bethlehem. Israel took the western part of Jerusalem. Transjordan ethnically cleansed its annexed lands of all Jews and gave citizenship to everyone who lived in those lands in 1954, except if they were Jews (Article 3).

“Corpus Separatum” in purple as divided between Israel (shaded grey) and Trans-Jordan (in white)

Palestine did not exist as a distinct country pre-1948, but was a subset of Greater Syria as part of the Ottoman Empire until 1917, and then under British rule. Under the British, the land was separated into a portion west of the Jordan River set up to be a reestablished Jewish homeland, and east of Jordan River to be Transjordan. After the Israeli war of independence, there was still no “Palestine” but an expanded Jordan which seized the western shores of the Jordan River which were to be part of the Jewish homeland, and eastern Jerusalem which was designated to be an international city.

Whether during the Ottoman Empire, British Mandate, or during Israeli and Jordanian rule, there was never a country called Palestine. Further, “East Jerusalem” a fragment of the city which existed only during 18 years from 1949-1967 under Jordanian rule, was never contemplated to be part of Palestine in any formulation.

Israel fought a defensive war with Transjordan in 1948-9 and then again in 1967 in land that was specifically designated in the San Remo Conference and the British Mandate to be an integral part of the Jewish homeland. In order to consider the “West Bank and East Jerusalem” to be “occupied” and “illegal”, one would have to declare that:

  • the British mandate to have been illegal
  • the annexation of the seized land west of the Jordan River by Transjordan in 1949 to be legal
  • Jordan’s ethnic cleansing of Jews from those lands and barring them from citizenship to be legal
  • Jordan to be Palestine

In no other configuration could the ICJ conclude that Israeli Jews living in eastern Jerusalem is illegal and should be expelled.

The ICJ ruling is revisionist history and deeply antisemitic. It shows the moral rot of the United Nations which still has “Zionism is racism” in its lifeblood.

Related articles:

Jordan’s Deep Hypocrisy and Stupidity About Jerusalem (September 2023)

The Flawed and Inconsistent U.S. Position On Israelis Living In The West Bank (May 2023)

The U.N. Openly Declares Opposition To Jews in Jerusalem (February 2023)

Hey Beinart! Arabs In Jerusalem Can Apply For Israeli Citizenship (May 2022)

Eight Attestations On Jerusalem (December 2021)

The Obama Administration Weaponized the Jerusalem Consulate (October 2021)

Evicting 70,000 Dead Settlers From Jerusalem (August 2021)

The UN on the Status of Jerusalem (June 2021)

Jerusalem Population Facts (May 2021)

NY Times Manufactures “Palestinian East Jerusalem” Narrative (April 2021)

Will the UN Demand a Halt to Arabs Moving to Jerusalem? (December 2020)

Trump’s “eastern Jerusalem” and Biden’s “East Jerusalem” (May 2020)

The 1967 War Created Both the “West Bank” and the Notion of a Palestinian State (May 2020)

The Green Line Through Jerusalem (May 2020)

American Leaders Always Planned on Israel Absorbing Much of the West Bank (January 2020)

“Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” (November 2019)

Considering Carter’s 1978 Letter Claiming Settlements Are Illegal (November 2019)

Abbas’s Harmful East Jerusalem Fantasy (September 2018)

I call BS: You Never Recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital (April 2018)

The New York Times Inverts the History of Jerusalem (December 2017)

Corpus Separatum Ended Forever in 1995 (December 2017)

“Settlements” Crossing the Line (November 2016)

“East Jerusalem” – the 0.5% Molehill (July 2014)

Jordan’s King Abdullah Excuses Palestinian Barbarity

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Several countries met in Cairo, Egypt on October 21 in a “Cairo Peace Summit,” a most disgraceful naming of an event in the aftermath of a savage Arab terrorist attack that killed over 1,400 people in Israel. The naming was presumably meant to shield the barbarians and their supporters in the Arab world.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II certainly took the cue and pretended to talk about peace, while intentionally adding fuel to the flames.

He lambasted Israel for nearly eight minutes, starting recent history AFTER the Hamas attacks, making Israel appear as the instigator. He ignored Hamas’s butchering and burning people alive. He ignored Palestinian Arabs seizing over 200 hostages. He whitewashed the scale and brutality. Instead, he essentially accused Israel of arbitrarily attacking Gazan civilians rather than attempting to bring Hamas terrorists to justice.

In short, the Jordanian king was instigating a “global intifada” in front of his multi-country audience, inciting yet another pogrom against Jews while the Jewish State was still trying to identify the dead.

Jordanian King Abdullah II at poorly named “Cairo Peace Summit” October 21, 2023

While everyone understands that the Jordanian king is very weak, with over half of the country’s population outside his Hashemite tribe, his vitriol against Israel cannot be excused and can never conceal the heinous actions of the Satans of Gaza.

Perhaps this attack will be the final straw, and Israel will pull the courtesy it extended the Jordanian waqf in Jerusalem, and hand it to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of a new alliance with partners who can thwart Iran and its proxies.

Related articles:

Jordan’s King Abdullah II Fights to Retain His Throne

The Jordanian King Abdullah’s Absurdities

Oh Abdullah, Jordan is Not So Special

Jordan’s Deep Hypocrisy and Stupidity About Jerusalem

Amidst Calmer Voices, The Jordanian King Yells ‘Fire’

Jordan’s Deep Hypocrisy and Stupidity About Jerusalem

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On September 5, Papua New Guinea became the fifth country to open its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. It joins the United States, Kosovo, Guatemala and Honduras in moving its diplomatic headquarters from the major Israeli city of Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital. Representatives of three continents now have their embassies to the Jewish State in Judaism’s holist city.

The location is in a high-rise building opposite Jerusalem’s biggest mall, the Azrieli Malcha Mall, located near former mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek Stadium, west of the invisible 1949 Armistice Lines with Jordan.

Jerusalem’s Malcha Mall and Kollek Stadium

The Jordanian Foreign Minister was outraged.

Ambassador Sinan Al-Majali, the official spokesperson for the ministry, issued a statement that condemned the action as a “flagrant and significant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions.” He added “that any actions or decisions aiming to alter Jerusalem’s status or its legal position are null and void, holding no legal weight. He reiterated the importance of achieving a just and comprehensive peace as the sole means to attain a two-state solution based on international legitimacy resolutions. This solution should culminate in the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the June 4, 1967 borders.”

Consider these comments coming from Jordan about Jerusalem.

  • Jordan illegally invaded Israel in 1948
  • Jordan committed a crime against humanity in ethnically cleansing all Jews from land it seized in 1949, including the Old City of Jerusalem
  • Jordan illegally annexed eastern Jerusalem and all of the area that became known as the West Bank in 1950, a move not recognized by the entire world other than the United Kingdom and Pakistan
  • Jordan issued a disgraceful citizenship law in 1954 that specifically excluded Jews
  • Jordan committed a crime against the basic human rights of Jews to live and pray in Jerusalem while it controlled the Old City
  • Jordan illegally attacked Israel again in 1967
  • The Papua New Guinea embassy is located WEST of the 1949 Armistice Lines, which even the Jordanian statement says will be part of Israel

Jordan is a laughing stock, issuing ridiculous and noxious statements that could emerge from a camel’s anus. It is performing a theater of the absurd which highlights its stupidity and hypocrisy. Only fools could be convinced that such inanity whitewashes Jordan’s illegal, belligerent and antisemitic acts.

Such as the Palestinian official news agency, Wafa.

Related articles:

Oh Abdullah, Jordan is Not So Special

The Jordanian King Abdullah’s Absurdities

Time for Jordan To Live Up To Its Peace Treaty With Israel And Support Jewish Prayer On The Temple Mount

All About the Benjamins: Jordan Sells Citizenship While Women Left In The Cold

Time for King Abdullah of Jordan to Denounce the Mourabitoun

Western Jerusalem’s U.S. Consulate and Embassy

Imagining Israel’s Neighbors For The United States

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The United States is blessed in many ways.

One manifestation is that despite the country’s enormous size, it has only two bordering countries. One of them, Canada, is so closely tied to the U.S. in terms of language, culture, trade and military reliance, people often joke that it can be viewed as the 51st state, with 90% of its population living within 100 miles of the U.S. border.

In sharp contrast, small Israel is surrounded by several entities, all of which have gone to war to destroy the country within the last decades. Two of them – Lebanon and Syria – are broken and broke states, with Syria still engaged in its own civil war.

The small sliver of a country has 1,068 kilometers of boundaries with adjacent countries and territories. The breakdown is as follows:

regionboundary (km)percentage
Lebanon817.6%
Syria837.8%
Jordan30728.7%
Egypt20819.5%
West Bank33030.9%
Gaza595.5%
Length of Israel’s boundaries

To apply these percentages with the United States’ lower 48 state’s 9,560km land border with Canada and Mexico, would yield the following map:

Lebanon is led by an Iranian-backed terrorist organization, Hezbollah. It has roughly 150,000 missiles and rockets aimed at Israel. It devalued its currency by 90% last month, as its unemployment rate has rapidly increased each year, now reaching about 15%. The country is a shell of its former self.

Imagine such a neighbor for the states of Washington and Idaho!

It doesn’t get better.

Syria has even a longer border with Israel – it would equivalently cover the Montana-Canadian border. Syria’s genocidal leader slaughtered over half a million of his own citizens, in a civil war that has seen millions of people flee the country and millions of others internally displaced. The destructive leader attempted to build a covert nuclear weapons facility with North Korea a few years ago. The country remains in an active state of war with Israel, as it has been since the modern Jewish State came into existence.

At least not that many people in Montana!

Much of the rest of America’s northern border would be with two countries with a cold peace, Jordan and Egypt. While not at war, little economic activity or tourism exists, and the two countries almost always vote against you at the United Nations. A far cry from friendly Canada.

At America’s southern border, there is strain of millions of migrants coming into the country from Central America. They are coming looking for a better life than they had in Mexico, Nicaragua and elsewhere. They are not looking to upend the United States and overthrow it.

Not so with Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza. Hamas is actively looking to destroy its neighbor from its vantage point south of California and half of Arizona. The Palestinian Authority pays its people who kill its neighbor’s citizens and claim the country as its own.

This ugly theoretical snapshot of America’s neighbors were based on keeping America’s huge water boundaries. If one were to use Israel’s actual percentage of coastline, the map would look like this:

Lebanon would cover almost all of America’s northern border. Syria would wrap Maine’s land and water boundaries. Jordan would abut the New England states down to Virginia, while Egypt would extend southward to Georgia. The Palestinian Authority would envelope all of Florida and the Gulf states and the terrorist enclave of Gaza would border much of Texas. The balance would be coastline.

Now further imagine that instead of a large, tall and wide country that is the USA, it was flattened into a pancake with those same neighbors.

If you think Texans like guns now, imagine if they had Hamas digging tunnels under their homes and firing rockets at their schools!

This is Israel’s reality every day. Terrorist-led broken countries and territories surrounding a small sliver of land, attempting to destroy the only Jewish state through a variety of means, including militarily, economically, legally and via public opinion.

Related articles:

Israel: Security in a Small Country

Seeing Security through a Screen

Gaza, The Terrorist Enclave

Islamic Privilege

Wilayat Sinai: The Other Terrorist Group Abutting Israel

Pro Israel Advocates Should Stop Using “Judea and Samaria”

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In the narrative war in the Israeli-Arab conflict, pro-Israel advocates often use the term “Judea and Samaria” instead of the commonly used “West Bank” in an effort to show that Jews lived in the land far longer than Arabs, and that Arabs are actually occupying Jewish land. While the rationale has merit, the approach does not.

Judea and Samaria

The Children of Israel came back to Canaan in the 12th century BCE. The land was allotted to the twelve tribes, in a division that was mostly stable for about 300 years.

Jan Jansson’s holy land map, 1630, which shows the migration of the Israelites from Egypt to the holy land, and the location of the twelve tribes.

After the death of King Solomon in 931BCE, the Jewish people split their kingdom under two rulers, creating the southern kingdom of Judah and northern kingdom of Israel. Sometimes fighting together against external foes and sometimes fighting internally, the kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians between 734 and 712 BCE from the Assyrian campaigns of Tiglath-Pileser III, Shalmaneser V and Sargon II. Sargon II swapped the population of the Jews and his kingdom in Babylon as told in 2 Kings 17:

בִּשְׁנַ֨ת הַתְּשִׁעִ֜ית לְהוֹשֵׁ֗עַ לָכַ֤ד מֶֽלֶךְ־אַשּׁוּר֙ אֶת־שֹׁ֣מְר֔וֹן וַיֶּ֥גֶל אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אַשּׁ֑וּרָה וַיֹּ֨שֶׁב אוֹתָ֜ם בַּחְלַ֧ח וּבְחָב֛וֹר נְהַ֥ר גּוֹזָ֖ן וְעָרֵ֥י מָדָֽי׃ {פ}
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, at the [River] Habor, at the River Gozan, and in the towns of Media. (2 Kings 17:6)

וַיִּתְאַנַּ֨ף יְהֹוָ֤ה מְאֹד֙ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיְסִרֵ֖ם מֵעַ֣ל פָּנָ֑יו לֹ֣א נִשְׁאַ֔ר רַ֛ק שֵׁ֥בֶט יְהוּדָ֖ה לְבַדּֽוֹ׃ The LORD was incensed at Israel and He banished them from His presence; none was left but the tribe of Judah alone. (2 Kings 17:18)

וַיָּבֵ֣א מֶֽלֶךְ־אַשּׁ֡וּר מִבָּבֶ֡ל וּ֠מִכּ֠וּתָה וּמֵעַוָּ֤א וּמֵֽחֲמָת֙ וּסְפַרְוַ֔יִם וַיֹּ֙שֶׁב֙ בְּעָרֵ֣י שֹֽׁמְר֔וֹן תַּ֖חַת בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיִּֽרְשׁוּ֙ אֶת־שֹׁ֣מְר֔וֹן וַיֵּֽשְׁב֖וּ בְּעָרֶֽיהָ׃ The king of Assyria brought [people] from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the towns of Samaria in place of the Israelites; they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its towns. (2 Kings 17:24)

Those new Assyrians who were settled in Samaria were told to follow Jewish religious customs, but they did not:

עַ֣ד הַיּ֤וֹם הַזֶּה֙ הֵ֣ם עֹשִׂ֔ים כַּמִּשְׁפָּטִ֖ים הָרִֽאשֹׁנִ֑ים אֵינָ֤ם יְרֵאִים֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֔ה וְאֵינָ֣ם עֹשִׂ֗ים כְּחֻקֹּתָם֙ וּכְמִשְׁפָּטָ֔ם וְכַתּוֹרָ֣ה וְכַמִּצְוָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יַעֲקֹ֔ב אֲשֶׁר־שָׂ֥ם שְׁמ֖וֹ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ To this day, they follow their former practices. They do not worship the LORD [properly]. They do not follow the laws and practices, the Teaching and Instruction that the LORD enjoined upon the descendants of Jacob—who was given the name Israel— (2 Kings 17:34)

There are many papers written by historians and archaeologists about Samaria during this time period, as there are written documents such as the Annals of Sargon II and prisms which reflect these battles, as well as a shift in types of pottery found with the population migration.

Map of holy land after Israel exiled by Assyrians, from The Carta Bible Atlas

Judea refers to the province of the tribe of Judah which held Jerusalem and the area to the south. King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple in 538BCE, after Nebuchadnezzer destroyed the Temple in 586BCE.

The term “Jews” arose because they were the people of Judea. As noted above, Samaria was part of the region but inhabited by non-Jews who did not follow Jewish rituals.

The Christian Bible also referred repeatedly about the Jew Jesus from Judea (Matthew 19:1; 3:1; Luke 1:5; 4:44; 7:17; 23:5; John 4:3; 11:7; Mark 10:1; Acts 10:37; 11:1, 29; 26:20).

Creation of the “West Bank”

The United Nations General Assembly voted to partition the holy land into a Jewish State and an Arab State in November 1947, but the Arab countries uniformly rejected the effort. Five Arab armies invaded Israel when it declared itself a new state in May 1948, and by the end of the war in 1949, Israel secured more land than conceived under the partition plan.

While the borders were not considered official under the 1949 Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement, (“The Armistice Demarcation Lines… are agreed upon by the Parties without prejudice to future territorial settlement or boundary lines”), the Kingdom of Transjordan opted to unilaterally – and illegally – annex the region it had seized in an offensive war.

United Nations map showing the contours of the various Armistice Lines Israel signed with its neighbors to halt the fighting.

When Transjordan annexed the area on April 24, 1950, only the United Kingdom, Iraq and Pakistan recognized its actions while the rest of the world rejected it. After that time, during the years 1950 through 1958, the United Nations used various terms for that area which were tied to either Jordan or the Jordan River:

  • “west bank of the river in Arab Palestine” (1951)
  • “the area west of the Jordan River” (1952)
  • “West Jordan” (1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958)
  • “the western bank” (1952)
  • “Western Jordan” (1951, 1952)
  • “that part of Jordan west of the Jordan River” (1956)
  • “west bank of the Jordan” (1957)

Then, in 1959, the United Nations seemed to embrace the de facto Jordanian annexation, referring to the area simply as “Jordan,” no different than the eastern part of the kingdom. To the extent that the U.N. wanted to specifically call out that area it used wordy terms:

  • “Jordan side of the armistice demarcation line”
  • “frontier villagers in Jordan”

That changed after Jordan illegally attacked Israel in June 1967 and lost the region. By the end of that month, the United Nations quickly moved to shorthand (A/6713) by the third mention:

  • “the West Bank of the Jordan”
  • “West Bank area of the Jordan”
  • “West Bank”

This shortened version for that area east of the 1949 Armistice Line has stuck at the U.N. and media parlance since that time.

Judea and Samaria Versus the “West Bank”

As reviewed above, Judea and Samaria and the West Bank are not the same. Judea and Samaria are historical names to much of the land, while the “West Bank” is a smaller, modern day creation due to an illegal act of war waged by Arab states upon Israel.

When people refer to the West Bank, they are only reviewing that part of the land that has been subject to negotiation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, as laid out in the Oslo Accords, signed by both parties. They are not considering the broader reach of all of Judea and Samaria, which includes land west of the 1949 Armistice Lines inside of Israel.

If one does not like to give the term “West Bank” – an area that existed for only 18 years from 1949 to 1967 and named only upon its extinguishment – any legitimacy, then perhaps a better term would be “east of the Armistice Lines (EAL)”, to highlight that the contour of such region was created as a temporary measure to halt hostilities, was never intended to be a border, and has no historic significance.

Related articles:

When You Understand Israel’s May 1948 Borders, You Understand There is No “Occupation”

The Legal Israeli Settlements

Considering Carter’s 1978 Letter Claiming Settlements Are Illegal

The 1967 War Created Both the “West Bank” and the Notion of a Palestinian State

Related First One Through video:

The Green Line (music by The Kinks)

Judea and Samaria (music by Foo Fighters)

Amidst Calmer Voices, The Jordanian King Yells ‘Fire’

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September 20, 2022 started off much better than usual for the Middle East. A region, normally aflame with hatred seeking the end of the Jewish State, began with calmer voices.

The Palestinian Arabs published their quarterly poll of sentiment on the street. It showed a more moderate, albeit still troubling, tone regarding making peace with Israel.

Palestinian Arabs favored the political terrorist group Hamas over the more moderate Fatah in theoretical presidential elections, by 15 points, down from 22 points three months earlier. Support for a two-state solution rose to 37% from 28% in the prior quarter (60% still oppose a two-state solution). Currently, 48% support armed attacks against Israel, down from 55% in favor of returning to intifada-terrorism, just three months prior.

The pollsters believe that the rise in moderating positions stems from “greater appreciation of the [Israeli confidence building] measure in which a larger number of work permits are issued by Israel for laborers from the Gaza Strip.” It added that there was also “negative public assessment of the last armed confrontation between Islamic Jihad and Israel [in which most Arabs believe Palestinians lost and noted Hamas stayed out of the fight], the findings indicate a significant decline in support for armed attacks or a return to an armed intifada and a significant rise in support for Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.“

So far, so good.

At the United Nations in New York City, the General Assembly got underway in an annual ritual in which leaders of the world explain why their country was noble and everyone else was terrible.

Qatar, a state sponsor of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, did not slam Israel, but only called for a two-state solution. Turkey, which also has supported Hamas, took a softer tone about Israel. It obnoxiously called for a two-state solution that only could have the contours of the 1967 “borders” (they were never borders) with eastern Jerusalem as its capital, but still, a far better statement than in years past.

Unfortunately, the positive direction fell apart with the address from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. While his English was wonderful and his voice soothing, King Abdullah II disappoints every year.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022 at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

As he’s done frequently, Abdullah incorrectly said several things such as UNRWA helping Palestinian “refugees” rather than compelling them to remain wards of the world. But the king went so much deeper than a bad opinion, as he waged an attack on the Jewish State regarding Jerusalem. At 9:09 of his speech, he ramped up the temperature:

“Today, the future of Jerusalem is of urgent concern. The city is holy to millions of Muslims, Christians and Jews around the world. Undermining Jerusalem’s legal and historical status quo triggers global tensions and deepens religious divides. The holy city must not be a place for hatred and division.

“As custodians of Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites, we are committed to protecting the historical and legal status quo and to their safety and future. And as a Muslim leader, let me say clearly, that we are committed to defending the rights, the precious heritage, and the historic identity of the Christian people of our region. Nowhere is that more important than in Jerusalem.

“Today, Christianity in the holy city is under fire. The rights of churches in Jerusalem are threatened. This cannot continue. Christianity is vital to the past and present of our region and the holy land. It must remain an integral part of our future.”

This is outrageous and pathological.

At the most basic, churches in Jerusalem and all around Israel are not threatened. Israel actually helped build the Mormon church in Jerusalem. Christian pilgrims are found everywhere, as Christian tourists to Israel outnumber Jewish ones. There is not a single Muslim-majority country in the world where Christian tourists outnumber Muslim visitors.

Further, the Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty of 1994 specifically addressed Jerusalem in Article 9.2. It said:

“in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.“

Jordan has no “custodianship” and no role to “protect” any shrine, let alone non-Muslim sites which are never mentioned. To assert a special role as savior of Christians from fabricated non-existent threats is delusion of the highest order.

The king not only suffers from a messiah complex, he is abrogating the peace treaty signed with Israel. The following sentence, Article 9.3, clearly states that the countries will work together to promote religious cooexistence:

“The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.“

The Jordanian monarch is promoting the opposite, seeking a religious confrontation of Muslims and Christians against the Jews.

The Jordanian king is inciting a religious war against the Jewish state, seeking to alarm the Christian world that ‘Jerusalem is in danger’ the same way radical jihadists scream ‘al Aqsa is in danger’ to Muslims, in the hopes of killing Jews and the Jewish State. It is an alarming development and one which must be addressed swiftly, such as demanding a public recanting and apology from the king, or risk the 1994 peace treaty which he defecated upon.

Related articles:

Oh Abdullah, Jordan is Not So Special

The Jordanian King Abdullah’s Absurdities

Time for Jordan To Live Up To Its Peace Treaty With Israel And Support Jewish Prayer On The Temple Mount

Replacing the Jordanian Waqf on The Temple Mount

Jerusalem’s Old City Is a Religious War for Muslim Arabs

Mother’s Day And Ahlam Al-Tamimi

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Summary: Pause the debate on abortions on Mother’s Day, and demand justice for a woman who smiles as she slaughters children eating ice cream.

Mother’s Day 2022 was a peculiar affair as the United States debated the legal case for abortion with renewed vigor, after the leak of the Supreme Court draft questioning the validity of Roe v. Wade. Americans focused again on the rights of women on one hand and the rights of the unborn on the other, just as they celebrated the mothers who had and raised children.

While Father’s Day is definitely special in celebrating the men who raise children, the bond is a degree removed from the tether between mother-and-child. Only women can give birth. Only women can nurse a baby. The umbilical cord may only last nine months but the connection between women and child seems to carry far into the future.

Yet there are women who despise children. Jewish children anyway.

Ahlam Al-Tamimi is a Palestinian Arab who is a member of Hamas. In 2001, she walked around Jerusalem looking for a place to kill as many religious Jews as possible, “because the base of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is a religious struggle.” She chose a Sbarro restaurant in the center of town, frequented by many Jewish women and children for pizza and ice cream. Years later she smiled when she learned that eight children were killed in the suicide bombing attack that she orchestrated.

Ahlam al-Tamimi smiling when told she killed eight children, not three as she had thought.

Al-Tamimi was released after serving several years in an Israeli jail, as part of the prisoner exchange for Israeli Gilad Shalit, and was transferred to Jordan. The FBI put her on the “Most Wanted List” and considers her armed and dangerous. As recently as October 2021, she said that she loves the “scent” of Palestine, the “scent of musk from the martyrs (who kill Jews)… this is a pleasant relaxing scent, as if it was coming from Paradise.” She considered her terrorist operations as “crowns on my head.”

That interview was posted on YouTube on the “Gathering4Youth” site based in Turkey. The site includes interviews with other terrorists from Hamas such as Khaled Mashaal. This site that features a terrorist group addressing youth with calls for violence is still operating openly.

Regarding Al-Tamimi, FBI’s most wanted terrorist similarly lives freely in Jordan.

Several Jewish groups have been pushing the U.S. to extradite this murderer for several years as two of the victims were American citizens, but Jordan has long refused to hand her over.

During his confirmation hearing, Henry Wooster, now U.S. ambassador to Jordan said he would “explore all options to bring Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi to justice, secure her extradition and address the broader issues associated with the extradition treaty.” That remains to be seen.

On May 13, 2022, just a few days after Mother’s Day, U.S. President Joe Biden will host Jordanian King Abdullah II to “reinforce the close friendship and enduring partnership between the United States and Jordan.” If the relationship is indeed close, Biden should be able to get Abdullah to hand over the murderer of Jewish children and Americans who openly calls for the next generation of youth to continue to slaughter innocent people.

Click here to CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE to demand Biden secure the extradition of Ahlam Al-Tamimi, and shut down the Gathering4Youth incitement to terrorism YouTube page.

Related articles:

Palestinians Want Their Young Girls To Become Terrorists

Empowering Women… To Murder

The Proud Fathers of Palestinian Terrorists

Stopping the Purveyors of Hateful Propaganda

What do you Recognize in the Palestinians?

Time for Jordan To Live Up To Its Peace Treaty With Israel And Support Jewish Prayer On The Temple Mount

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In 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty that saw Israel relinquish roughly 380 square kilometers to Jordan and set a framework for the two countries to live peacefully together side-by-side.

The treaty had a section that dealt with religious tolerance. Article 9.2 is often misquoted by Jordanian King Abdullah that he is a “custodian” of Christian and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, when it merely states that “Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem.” Abdullah never talks about clause 9.3:

The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.

Jordanian – Israeli peace treaty, article 9.3

Despite the treaty to promote religious tolerance, peace and freedom of worship, Jordan praised Palestinian Arab rioters on the Jewish Temple Mount in April 2022. Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh said “I salute every Palestinian, and all the employees of the Jordanian Islamic Waqf, who proudly stand like minarets, hurling their stones in a volley of clay at the Zionist sympathizers defiling the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the Israeli occupation government.“

This is appalling on its own – a senior government official promoting violence against civilians – and flies in the face of the tenet of the peace treaty signed between the parties. Article 4.3B states that each country will “refrain from organizing, instigating, inciting, assisting or participating in acts or threats of belligerency, hostility, subversion or violence against the other Party,” which is exactly what the Jordanian Foreign Minister did.

It gets worse.

It was reported that Jordan is now asking the United States to pressure Israel to give complete control of the Jewish Temple Mount Compound to the Jordanian Waqf, and to forcibly ban Jewish prayer at Judaism’s holiest site.

Jordan seemingly doesn’t believe there is any price to pay for instigating violence against Israeli Jews, and should actually be rewarded with a greater role in the land Jordan illegally seized in 1949 and then formally withdrew from in 1988.

Israel might want to keep its part of the peace treaty with Jordan in acknowledging the “special role” Jordan plays narrowly at the al-Aqsa Mosque, much the way a guardian takes care of a ward with “special needs.” Make them feel important. But everyone understands that the guardian is in control and will make all substantive decisions.

Israel could always offer actual custodianship of the revered mosque to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in exchange for another peace treaty.

An obscured view of the Jewish Temple Mount from the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. al-Aqsa Mosque is the dark-domed building at right (photo: First One Through)

Related articles:

Time for King Abdullah of Jordan to Denounce the Mourabitoun

The Waqf and the Temple Mount

Visitor Rights on the Temple Mount

Replacing the Jordanian Waqf on The Temple Mount

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After Israel defeated the attacking Jordanian army in June 1967, it allowed the Jordanian Islamic Waqf to have administrative control of the Jewish Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem while Israel controlled the security of the area. In 1980, Israel officially applied sovereignty and reunited the city of Jerusalem as its eternal capital but still allowed the Jordanian Waqf to administer Judaism’s holiest site. And in Israel’s 1994 peace treaty with Jordan, the country continued to be sensitive to Jordan, stating “Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.”

However, in recent months, Jordan has come out very aggressively against Israel’s contemplated application of sovereignty over more of the west bank of the Jordan River.

In May 2020, Jordanian Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz said “We will not accept unilateral Israeli moves to annex Palestinian lands and we would be forced to review all aspects of our relations with Israel.” King Abdullah also said that if Israel “really annexes the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.”

In light of the statements and contemplated reaction by Jordan, it makes sense for Israel to approach both Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to see if they would be interested in taking over the role of the Jordanian Waqf in Jerusalem.

Egypt has maintained a peace treaty with Israel since 1979 and there is a good working relationship with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Israel’s relationship with KSA has improved in recent years, especially because of the countries mutual distrust of Iran. As the guardian of Mecca and Medina, KSA would logically welcome the role to extend its guardianship of Islamic holy sites, and the move could be part of an important peace treaty with Saudi Arabia.

The Old City of Jerusalem including the Jewish Temple Mount/ Al Aqsa Compound during the Jewish holiday of Passover

Jordan’s threat to abandon its peace agreement with Israel is an opening for Israel to offer Saudi Arabia a place in Jerusalem and to forge a new peace agreement with the powerful kingdom. In light of the Trump Administration’s deep ties with KSA, it makes sense to advance those initiatives now.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Jordan’s King Abdullah II Fights to Retain His Throne

Oh Abdullah, Jordan is Not So Special

Time for King Abdullah of Jordan to Denounce the Mourabitoun

The Waqf and the Temple Mount

Hamas Charter, Articles 11 and 12

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There is No Jewish Temple Mount for The New York Times

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The New York Times has earned and re-earned its anti-Israel bona fides over many years. It seems to want to burnish its anti-Jewish credentials as well.

In a November 11, 2019 article called “Jordan Reclaims Lands in 1994 Accord,” the Times wrote about a parcel of land which Israeli farmers had been working in the Jordan Valley which was recently reclaimed by Jordan. The Times framed the article that the land was legally Jordanian, and that the Jordanians had allowed the Israelis to work there for decades but how now reclaimed it as a matter of course in line with the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan struck in 1994.

The article continued to work a similar pattern, of Israelis living in lands which were rightfully Jordanian:

“Israeli-Jordanian tensions have flared periodically because of disputes with the Israelis over the handling of security at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, a hotly contested holy site over which Jordan has official custodianship.”

The article continued that Jordan had no choice to cancel the Jordan Valley land lease over “Israel’s repeated violations and actions… which were extremely provocative,” including placing metal detectors “at the mosque compound.”

Note that the Times chose to only call the site by the Islamic name, the “Al Aqsa Mosque compound” and not also refer to it by the Jewish name, the “Temple Mount.” It is the holiest site in the world for Jews, and were forbidden to enter when Jordan illegally controlled the site from 1949 to 1967.

When Israel reunited Jerusalem in 1967, it allowed the Jordanian Waqf to have administrative control of the site, while Israel controlled all security matters. The Times neglected to tell readers that part of the equation, opting to make it appear that Jordan has “official custodianship” on all matters.

Additionally, the placing of metal detectors at the Temple Mount entrances were done in reaction to Arab terrorists killing Israelis at the site in 2017, another fact omitted by the Times.

Further, in an article which highlighted the 1994 Peace Accord, the paper could have mentioned that the treaty said in Article 9.2 that “Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.” Israel gave space for Jordan as it related to MUSLIM holy sites only, but not Jewish ones.

But the narrative of the Times distorted the entire picture.

The Times painted a picture that Jordan is the rightful owner and administrator of the Jordan Valley and the Al Aqsa Compound. It described these as purely Arab and Muslim sites in which they accommodated the Israeli Jews. These are #AlternativeFacts.

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in the world only for Jews, and Israel has maintained full security control over the site for over fifty years. It is Israel that has accommodated the Jordanians, not the other way around, as Israel has given full access to Judaism’s holiest site to Muslims as they revere the location as well. But the Arabs have harassed and killed Israelis on the site, necessitating more aggressive security measures by the Israelis who are responsible for such matters.

The New York Times has no patience to educate its audience about the history of Jews nor the rights of Israelis, as it morphs its newspaper into Al Jazeera’s opinion section describing the Jewish state as illegal invaders of Arab lands.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Oh Abdullah, Jordan is Not So Special

The Waqf and the Temple Mount

When You Understand Israel’s May 1948 Borders, You Understand There is No “Occupation”

Ending Apartheid in Jerusalem

Al Jazeera’s Lies Call for Jihad Against the Jewish State

It is Time to Insert “Jewish” into the Names of the Holy Sites

Visitor Rights on the Temple Mount

Jordan’s Deceit and Hunger for Control of Jerusalem

The UN’s Disinterest in Jewish Rights at Jewish Holy Places

Nicholas Kristof’s “Arab Land”

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