Monday, February 22, 2021

Israel Settles Yemenite Jewish Claims

 

A family of Jewish immigrants from Yemen arrives at Lod Airport November 17, 1949
(photo credit: HANS PINN)

Government Recognizes Suffering of Yemenite Families, Compensation Given 

The government approved to officially recognize the suffering of Yemenite, Balkan and Mizrahi Jewish families who came to Israel in the 1950s and to offer them financial compensation. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called this case “among the most painful in the history of the State of Israel” and said that it is time that families “who had their babies taken from them” would get both recognition and compensation. He added that it would be included in history classes offered to the country’s children in the future. 

Finance Minister Israel Katz expressed his hope that this move would “begin to heal, even in a small measure, the pain of history” and called to honor the rich cultural legacy of Yemenite Jews. 

NIS 162 million would be ear-marked for compensation with NIS 150,000 given to families who were not told when or how their child died or buried and his grave was never found or found a long time after. NIS 200,000 compensation would be ear-marked for families who do not know to this day what happened to their child. 

Families would be able to file requests starting from June. 

In response, Union Sefaradi Mundial, a Jerusalem-based NGO devoted to the legacy of Sephardi Jews, said that "compensation by itself is not enough, the government must accept responsibility. The State of Israel has to these events of children who went missing."

USM head Prof. Shimon Shetreet lost his own sister Sara when she was 10 months old.

"My own parents and the parents of other children would be turning in their graves had they known that after all these years, the State of Israel is still refusing to take responsibility," he said. 

The compensation, USM said, are being offered as an act of generosity rather than admittance of guilt.

The claim of the Yemenite Jewish community and others that their babies were taken and given to adoption to other families, usually European Jewish ones deemed able to offer the children more chances in life, was hotly debated and dismissed as a "myth" for decades.

Rabbi Uzi Meshulam was arrested when police raided his home in 1994 after he and his followers, armed with guns, demanded the state investigate this issue.

Meshulam was arrested, spent time in prison and dismissed for many years as a radical with outlandish claims. He died in 2013.  

Many Israelis who took part in the absorption efforts of Yemenite and other Jewish communities deny to this day that such a plan was in place. 
[Jerusalem Post] 

Thursday, February 11, 2021

A Vision of MidEast Peace

 

Single Temple to House 3 Abrahamic Faiths to Be Built In UAE

A single temple serving all three Abrahamic religions will be erected in the capital of the United Arab Emirates by 2022.

Although Islam is both the official and the dominant religion in the United Arab Emirates, freedom of religion is embraced by the law. There are many places of worship throughout much of the country for different faiths to worship.

“In 2022, it is planned to open a temple of three world religions in Abu Dhabi – Islam, Christianity, Judaism. It will be called ‘Abrahamic Family House,'” Mohamed Ahmed bin Sultan Al Jaber, UAE ambassador to Russia, said during an event at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow.

According to Al Jaber, The religious temple will be a place for worship, dialogue, and education, to bring unity between the faiths,

Islam is both the official and the dominant religion in the UAE, with about 76 percent of the country’s population practicing the Koran’s teachings. However, the country’s law promotes religious freedom and has representative places of worship throughout the country, including Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths.

[Jerusalem Online]

Sunday, February 07, 2021

Can The Temple Mount Bring Peace?

 


Israel and the Temple Mount's Five Muslim Rivals

- Daniel Pipes, PhD 

Everyone knows about the Jewish-Muslim tussle over claims to rule Jerusalem, with its Palestinian lie that Jerusalem has no role in Judaism, and also the pro-Israel rebuttal that the Koran does not mention Jerusalem.

But there's another heated, if less public, battle over Jerusalem (Arabic: Al-Quds): not about the right to rule the city, but authority over the Temple Mount (Arabic: Al-Haram ash-Sharif), the holy esplanade containing two antique and holy edifices, the Dome of the Rock (built in 691) and Al-Aqsa Mosque (705). Five Muslim parties are mainly engaged in this intricate, consequential struggle: the Palestinian Authority, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Turkey, and the Kingdom of Morocco. Each has distinctive strengths and goals.

Palestinian Authority: Controlling the Temple Mount is absolutely central to the PA's mission. It may lack the economic and military resources of a state, but it wields two unique powers: day-to-day management (thanks to Israeli deference) and wide international support for its claim to rule eastern Jerusalem. The PA zealously sustains these powers by intimidating Israel with its calls for Muslim outrage and leftist anti-Zionism. As the effective ruler atop the Temple Mount, it is the status quo power resisting any change.

Jordan: Amman enjoys many formal privileges but has minuscule sway on the ground. The 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty states that "Israel respects the present special role" of Jordan in "Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem" and it grants "high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines." One scholar mistakenly translates this into a supposed custodianship, "with its attendant duties of maintaining, protecting, and regulating access to the shrines." Indeed, Israel colludes with relatively friendly Jordanian kings to hide their impotence because that pretend "special role" is, in the words of Nadav Shragai, "the central anchor that bolsters their monarchical rule, granting it legitimacy in the face of Islamic extremist elements in Jordan. A weakened presence on the mount, Jordan fears, will necessarily also undermine stability in the kingdom to the point of presenting an existential threat."

Saudi Arabia: Saudis lack influence but acutely aspire to some power to enhance their international standing. John Jenkins, a former UK ambassador to Riyadh, explains why: "Iran has always challenged them on the legitimacy of their custodianship of Mecca and Medina. If they were to add a third shrine to their list, it could enhance their claims to be the absolute [religious] leaders of the Islamic world." The Israelis could hand Riyadh such power, simultaneously sweetening a peace treaty and lessening Palestinian control.

Turkey: The Ottoman Empire ruled Jerusalem for four centuries, 1516-1917, after which Turkish authorities abruptly lost interest in it. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently renewed claims to its holy places, culminating in an October 2020 statement that "this city that we had to leave in tears during the First World War ... is our city, a city from us." Ankara has backed those words with tens of millions of dollars to promote Jerusalem's Turkish heritage, win support for Turkey's claims over the Temple Mount, and challenge Israeli rule. Allied with Hamas, the Turks do not cooperate with the Jewish state, which in turn wants to limit its role.

Morocco: Chairing the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's Al-Quds Committeeand hosting its headquarters since the committee's founding in 1975 gives Moroccan kings a certain influence over the Temple Mount – despite a distance of 4,000 kilometers. The committee also has a subsidiary, Bayt Mal Al Quds Agency, which funds Islamic interests in Jerusalem by donating prayer rugs, building houses, helping with renovations, etc. Symbolically, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita prayed at Al-Aqsa in March 2018 to send "a strong message of support for the Palestinian cause." Generally, Moroccan kings ally on Temple Mount issues with Saudi kings to diminish Jordanian kings. Winning Israeli goodwill presumably had a role in Rabat's December 2020 decision to normalize relations with the Jewish state.

Israel: Israel faces two hostile actors on the Temple Mount (the PA, Turkey/Hamas) and three actors quasi-willing to work with it (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco). Until now, Israeli leaders have lacked the imagination to exploit this rivalry, with its great potential psychological impact to help achieve Israel Victory. One idea: encourage Emirati rulers to join the other three kings to undermine PA legitimacy. Another: revive Ehud Olmert's initiative to sponsor a committee overseeing Jerusalem's Islamic sanctities.

The ball is in Israel's court.

[Israel Hayom] 

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