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Iran – The Head of the Octopus

October 15, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

“You will set Your throne in Elam (Persia, today Iran), And will destroy from there the king and the princes, We pray You destroy the evil anti-semite regime of Iran and its military that aims to destroy Israel…You will bring disaster upon them, Your fierce anger,’ ‘And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them.'”
According to Your Word, Lord in Jeremiah 49:35, 38

O God, You are more awesome than Your holy places. The GOD OF ISRAEL is He who gives strength and power to His people.

Iran, the arch enemy of Israel, which many Israelis consider to be the head of the octopus, is today the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and the greatest threat in the Middle East. Iranians are not Arabs but they are Shiite Muslims. The Iranian revolutionary regime’s basic ideology opposes Western values and interests.

Iran aim is to reach the Mediterranean coast and Israel’s borders by creating a passage through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon by providing advanced weapons to its terrorist proxies to attack Israel. Today, it uses this passage to transfer military equipment and terrorists to Israel’s northern border.

Iran’s Nuclear Program

The development of Iran’s nuclear program poses an existential threat to the Jewish state and the rest of the world. It even risks triggering a nuclear arms race with the Arab world, further destabilizing the region and damaging U.S. interests. For years, the PM of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has warned leading world nations in the world that the leading state sponsor of terrorism can never be allowed to obtain the world’s deadliest weapon. The Iranian regime has fooled the world by consistently lying of the true purpose of its nuclear program and hiding key aspects of it. Israeli intelligence has exposed Iran’s true intentions by breaking into Tehran’s Nuclear archives, demonstrably proving that Iran has been engaged in a nuclear arms developing program.

In June 2022, the IAEA Board (International Atomic Energy Agency) censured Iran for failing to provide “technically credible” answers regarding hidden nuclear sites, expanding its nuclear program beyond agreed limits, and limiting international inspectors’ access to suspected undisclosed nuclear sites.

By spending enormous amounts of money to further its nuclear project and funding its terrorist proxies throughout the region, the Iranian regime demonstrates that this is its priority over providing for their own people.

Iran’s Objective

The Ayatollah’s aims is to expand Iran’s influence in the Arab world by spreading hatred to Israel and America.

Iranian leadership encourages its people in public events to burn and stamp on US and Israeli flags and chant the slogans “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.
Picture of Khamenei from X

Furthermore, along with verbal demonstrations of hatred toward America and Israel, Iran has taken action against the two Western nations.

The regime is a threat to U.S. forces stationed in the region, to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other U.S. allies. Since 1979, the Iranian regime has invested resources in attacking Israel and American forces deployed in the Middle East and beyond.

Iran’s Arsenol

Iran has the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East. It is the only country to develop a 2,000-km missile without first having nuclear weapons capability. Most were acquired from foreign sources, notably North Korea.
Picture from War on the Rocks
It is noteworthy that Israel has more ballistic missiles, but they are fewer in number and type.

The fundamental motivation behind Iran’s supreme Muslim Shiite leadership is anti-Antisemitism. Since it took over rulership in the revolution, it has deemed Israel as illegitimate. According to its religious concept, “Palestine” (the land of Israel) belongs to the Muslim Palestinians and not to the ‘Jews.’

In their pure antisemitic libel propaganda, Israel is a Western imperialist state and the Jews advance American imperialism in the Middle East. According to the Ayatollah’s regime, this is a struggle between good (them) and evil (America, the big satan, and Israel the little satan.) and that Muslims have a religious obligation to resist Israel and global Jewry, accusing the Jews of being the first to start anti-Islamic propaganda.

Iran’s “Sacred Duty” and the Proliferation of Anti-Semitism

The Ayatollahs claim that resistance to the Jewish state is the sacred duty of “every Muslim and anyone who believes in Allah.” “Israel is a cancerous tumor on Islam’s body [in the Middle East] that must be removed [from existence.]”

Recently, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared: “The divine promise to eliminate the Zionist entity will be fulfilled and we will see the day when Palestine will rise from the river to the sea.” (that is the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea (which is today the land of Israel.)

Iran’s supreme leader leads in Holocaust denial, making such false ridiculous statements as: “there are documents showing close collaboration of the Zionists with Nazi Germany, and exaggerated numbers relating to the Jewish Holocaust that were fabricated to solicit the sympathy of world public opinion, to lay the ground for the occupation of Palestine, and to justify the atrocities of the Zionists.”

For four decades, the Iranian regime has propagated hatred for Zionism and the Jews by promoting the infamous booklet, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and other anti-Semitic tracts.

Iran trains and arms terrorist groups, such as Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, promoting their attacks on Israel.

For the last year, the Head of the Octopus Iran has been using its arms to fight Israel on several fronts. With ground troops in Gaza and Lebanon, Israel’s air force backs those forces by bombing enemy targets to thwart attacks from Yemen and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria. Israel also fights Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the Judea and Samaria.

Escalation

Iran’s last missile attack last week could likely provoke an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.This would open the largest, biggest, and most intense front so far.
(Illustration from The Cryptonomist)

Last Monday, 7th of October, Israel marked the first anniversary of the October 7, 2023 massacre when thousands of Hamas terrorists stormed into southern Israeli cities and villages, destroying civilian homes, murdering, burning, beheading, and raping and kidnapping over two hundred Israelis.

Two people were injured on the Memorial Day of October 7th, 2024, while sirens sounded across central Israel as a result of rockets fired by Hamas from northern Gaza.

An estimated tens of thousands of Iranians participated in a procession through Tehran with a leader enticing the crowd in chanting “Death to America!” “Death to Israel!

Before the October 7th first anniversary, in a video statement on October 5th Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Today, Israel is defending itself on seven fronts against the enemies of civilization…and we are fighting against Iran, which last week fired over 200 ballistic missiles directly at Israel and which stands behind this seven-front war against Israel,” Netanyahu added.

The Iranian ballistic missile barrage came in response to the limited Israeli ground operation in southern Lebanon to eliminate the Hezbollah threat. It was the first land incursion since the war against Hezbollah in 2006.

Following intelligence that Hezbollah is hiding its weapons and missiles inside homes of southern Lebanese villages, the IDF informed the Lebanese residents to evacuate before the IDF dismantled the Hezbollah infrastructure, underground tunnels included.

“We are targeting Hezbollah strongholds that threaten northern Israeli towns, kibbutzim, and communities along our border,” said IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari. He presented evidence that Hezbollah was planning an operation involving thousands of its terrorist fighters copying Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel.

“Hezbollah turned Lebanese villages next to Israeli villages into military bases ready for an attack on Israel,” he said. In addition to ground raids, the Israeli Air Force has also increased its air attacks on Hezbollah headquarters since mid-September, including the capital, Beirut.

Terrorist Leadership and the IDF

Until now, Israel has eliminated the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force following the air raid Damascus on 1 April 2024, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran, Hezbollah leader and key Iran ally Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on 27 September and many top Hezbollah commanders. All the while the IDF continues to target Hamas, Hezbollah, and all other regional foes.

Octopus (Illustration from Stable Diffusion Website)

Between the Straits

August 8, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Thus says the Lord (The God of Israel) Who gives the sun for light by day; the ordinances of the moon and the stars for light by night; Who rouses the sea and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): “If these ordinances ever depart from before Me,” says the Lord, “then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Jeremiah 31:35-36

If the enemies of God’s people, Israel, knew these scriptures from His Word, they would shoot their rockets and missiles at the sun, moon, and stars because only when they can destroy those ordinances could they destroy the people of God, and the seed of Israel would cease from being a nation before Him forever.

However, since they don’t know this formula of Israel’s destruction, they keep firing rockets at Israel.

Since last week, Iran and Hezbollah have been threatening Israel with reprisal attacks and many in Israel and around the world are expecting this to happen very soon. Some predict that it will happen on the 9^th of the Hebrew month of Av, the 13^th of August.

The 9^th of Av is the culmination of the 3 weeks called “Between the Straits.”

“From the straits I called to Yah”Psalm 118:5
The three weeks between the 17^th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av is known as “the Dire Between the Straits” (see Lamentations 1:3 “All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits”.)

The period of the Dire Straits starts on the 17^th of Tammuz (the month before Av), marking the breach and fall of Jerusalem’s walls and the destruction of her first and second temples on the Temple Mount on the same day, the 9^thof Av and most of the Jews going into exile – the first time to the Babylonian captivity for 70 years, and the second to a far greater Diaspora throughout the world for about 2000 years.

The Jews have experienced many calamities over the centuries, and it is amazing to learn that many of those calamities have occurred on the same day of the year, the 9th of Av.

The Destruction of the two Temples, especially the Second Temple, changed the path of Jewish History and the nation of Israel, dispersing the Jewish people among the nations.

Against all odds, the Jews have survived persecution, expulsions, relocation, pogroms, and calamities. Nonetheless, Jewish learning, wisdom, and tradition have not only survived but have flourished in many countries, enriching the world in many ways.

The 9^th of Av, Tisha b’Av, commemorates a list of catastrophes so severe that Jews believe God set it aside for their suffering.

Jews Praying at Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, by Johann Martin Bernatz (Ottoman Archives, 1868)

Some of the catastrophes and calamities that happened to the Jews on the 9^thof Av were:

The First Temple was destroyed on the 9^th of Av (423 BCE).
In 70 CE, The Romans torched The Second Temple and destroyed it and much of Jerusalem on the same day as the First Temple.
When the Jews remaining in the Land rebelled against Roman rule, they believed that their leader, Simon bar Kochba, would fulfill their messianic longings. But their hopes were cruelly dashed in 133 CE as the Jewish rebels were brutally butchered in the final battle at Betar. The date of this massacre was the 9^th of Av!
One year after their conquest of Betar, the Romans plowed over the Jew’s holiest site, the Temple Mount.
In 1290 CE on the 9^th of Av, the Jews were expelled from England.
In 1492, the Golden Age for the Jews of Spain, freedom and prosperity ended when the Queen of Spain and her husband banished Jews from their land. The edict of expulsion was signed on March 31, 1492, and the Jews were given exactly four months to leave the country. The Hebrew date on which no Jew was allowed any longer to remain in Spain was the 9^th of Av.
World War II and the Holocaust were actually the outcome of World War I which began in 1914. The Hebrew date when Germany declared war on Russia setting the First World War into motion was the 9^th of Av.
The evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza in 2005 occurred on the 9^th of Av. Two years later, In June 2007 the terrorist organization of Hamas took over the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority. Since then, many thousands of rockets and mortar shells have been fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip onto southern Israeli towns and villages, terrorizing and destabilizing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens. Now, since October 7th, 2023 when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, committing atrocities against Israeli men women, children, and soldiers, for the past ten months, Israel has been engaged in a terrible war against Hamas in Gaza, claiming many Israeli soldiers’ lives. Hamas’ creed is to destroy Israel as a Jewish nation and take over the land as their homeland of Palestine.

However, as the Lord God of Israel has promised in many prophecies to return His beloved Jewish people from the diaspora to the land of Israel, the Land of Promise, the Jewish state is a reality that is here to stay. The enemies’ plans to annihilate Israel and take over the land promised to the Jews, will never come to pass.

In fulfillment of God’s promises, Israel is back in the Land physically. Now God plans to bring them back to Him spiritually, through faith in Messiah Yeshua.

One day, Israel will look upon the pierced Yeshua (Zech. 12:10,) and will invite Him to return, proclaiming, “Baruch Haba Beshem Adonai, as Yeshua said: Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord, (Matt. 23:39).

On that day, the day they see Him again, they will see Him as He is, their Messiah and Savior. They will mourn for Him as for a first-born Son (Zech. 12:10). And then, All Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:26.) On that day, God will turn their mourning into great joy again.

Please continue to pray for the salvation of Israel and the Jewish people – that God touch hearts of mourning on the 9^th of Av; that they recognize their rebellion against their God and repent and accept His Salvation, Yeshua.

Pray that until that day, Israel, with God’s help, stands against the enemy that wants to annihilate her and thwart God’s good plans for Israel.

Pray for victory over all God and Israel’s enemies, and that the Lord, the God of Israel, get all the glory, for His Name’s Sake. Amen

Image above: Tisha Be’av at the Western Wall 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem – The Jerusalem Post)

Reform in the Israeli Judicial System

January 28, 2023 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Should Supreme Court Judges be elected instead of appointed?

Should Judicial Pronouncements be subject to Knesset approval?

The Supreme Court’s main purpose is to interpret the law and defend the Constitution. It must assure that laws follow the Constitution.

The Supreme Court in the U.S.

In the most democratic republic, the US, the court’s main purpose is to interpret laws passed by the legislature, to defend them, and adhere to the Constitution which is the foundational governing document of the country, adopted and amended by “We the People.” Supreme Court Justices may hold their position as long as they choose unless the Senate impeaches them. Anything else is a usurpation (the act of taking control of something without having the right to do so, especially of a position of power.)

The US Supreme Court functioned as an antidemocratic institution when it declined to enforce federal laws because the unelected judges disagreed with Congress about whether they are constitutionally appropriate.

While President Lincoln was in office, the court decided that Congress had no power to restrict the spread of slavery. President Lincoln gave reasons why Congress, and not the Supreme Court, should have the final word on what the Constitution requires. He stated:

“The candid citizen must confess that if government policy upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the Supreme Court,” the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal.”

Lincoln was in essence saying that a self-governing people (elected by the majority of the citizens) should have the power to determine what their fundamental law meant.

Lincoln’s argument wasn’t that the Constitution shouldn’t be enforced, but that democratically, Congress was the best institution to enforce it. If people or state governments disagree about a law’s constitutionality, they can campaign to repeal that law. Even the number of Supreme Court Justices is left to Congress. Currently, there are nine justices in the US Supreme Court.

However, if the Supreme Court decides not to enforce a federal law, the majority of justices actually declare that their view is superior to everyone else’s. Even if the president, more than 500 members of Congress, and the four other justices interpret the Constitution as permitting a law, if five justices disagree, then the law is not enforced.

The Supreme Court In Israel

In Israel in the last three decades, the left lost the elections except for the last government that was formed with a minority of voters since the right-wing parties, headed by the largest party, Likud, was shy of one Knesset Member in order to form a coalition.

About 25 years ago, the Supreme Court headed by leftist judge Aaron Barak gradually took control over government policies and Knesset legislation by doing exactly what President Lincoln was against. Israel is the only country in the world where the Supreme Court makes laws without a conscious decision by the government legislative authority.

There is now an absurd situation where the government is restricted from expressing its position, which represents the majority of its citizens since it is bound by the non-elected few legal advisers. The notion that a group of judges protects democracy better than legislators has no basis, nor should there be a difference between the rule of law and the rule of judges, which is now the case in Israel.

Through the years, the attorney general, government legal advisors, and the Supreme Court have managed to block successive Likud governments from advancing their policies across a great number of issues. They gave themselves the authority, binding decisions to overturn any government decision and law, which is unreasonable in their opinion.

The new Justice Minister Yariv Levin has proposed a series of changes aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary, including allowing lawmakers to pass laws that the High Court of Justice has struck down.

The suggested reforms in the judicial system will first of all further politicize the process for electing judges, giving the government control of appointments, the government’s involvement in the election of the High Court’s Chief Justice; thus allowing the government to create a new position of State Prosecutor.

Now, with Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s judicial and legal reform plan representing the first real threat to their grip on power, the judicial system and its supporters in the media and the far left are threatening to overthrow the government.

Levin has proposed a law that would empower the country’s 120-seat Knesset to override Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority of 61 votes. Levin also proposes giving the government control of appointments, and the government’s involvement in the election of the High Court’s Chief Justice, making it more difficult for the Supreme Court to abolish bills and allowing the Knesset to overturn such rulings; bar the Supreme Court from intervening on Basic Laws and with a majority of 61 Knesset members, allow the Knesset to re-legislate laws the court does manage to annul. Legal advisors to public ministries will be appointed by the ministers, and absolve ministers of the requirement to abide by their legal advisors’ guidance, weakening the position of the legal advisor to the government.

Levin plans to restore power that was grabbed by overly intervening judges back to elected officials.

Another critical limitation on the court that is necessary by the reformation is removing the court’s ability to use the clause of “reasonableness” which is not actually a law but decisions that are “reasonable” in the judge’s opinion, which they have used for years to abolish important government and local authorities decisions. Because “reasonableness” is based on opinions and not actual laws, the new government opposes it and proposes to change it.

“We go to the polls, vote, elect, and time after time, people we didn’t elect choose for us… that is not democracy,” Levin said last week when outlining the major components of his reforms during a press conference in the Knesset. These reforms will strengthen the legal system, and restore the public’s trust in it. They will restore order: It will allow the legislatures to legislate, the government to govern, legal advisers to advise, and judges to judge.”

The leftists fear that the government will have ultimate power that it will use not only against LGBTQ rights and illegal immigrants but also in elections and free speech and anything it wants. These fears are unfounded since the government is bound by the existing Basic Laws.

The 9th of Av and the Weeks “Between the Straits”

July 29, 2022 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

“From the straits I called to the Lord.” Psalm 118:5

The Month of Av in the Hebrew calendar starts this coming Saturday. The three-week period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av is known as the Dire Straits (or “distress” see Lamentations 1:3—“All who have overtaken her have done so in the midst of her distress”.)

Roman Triumphal arch panel copy from Beth Hatefutsoth, showing spoils of Jerusalem temple. Image by Wikimedia Commons.

The period of the Dire Straits starts on the 17th of Tammuz – the month before Av. Jerusalem’s walls were breached and Jerusalem fell; Jerusalem’s two Temples on the Temple Mount were destroyed on that same day, the 9th of Av, and the two Jewish exiles – first to Babylon for 70 years, and second throughout the world for about 2000 years – occurred on the 9th of Av.

The Jews have experienced many calamities over the centuries, and it is amazing to learn that most of those calamities occurred on the same day of the year, the 9th of Av.

The destruction of the Jerusalem Temples, especially that of the Second Temple, changed the path of Jewish history and the Jewish nation as the Jews were dispersed in the Diaspora among the nations (few Jews remained in the land) and survived against all odds. They went through persecution, expulsions and relocation, suffering, and calamities. Nonetheless, the Jews as a people were preserved by Jewish tradition and a longing to return to Jerusalem.

The 9th of Av, Tisha b’Av, commemorates a list of catastrophes so severe that Jews believe God appointed this date for Jewish suffering.

Some of the catastrophes and calamities that happened to the Jews on the 9th of Av were:

586 BCE: The First Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av in the year 586 BCE when most of the Jews from Judah and Benjamin were exiled to Babylon and Persia (Jeremiah 52).

69 CE: Five centuries later in 69 CE, the Romans attacked, torched, and destroyed the Second Temple on the 9th of Av, the same day as the first temple’s destruction. Most of the Jews were exiled to the Roman Empire. Many were sold into slavery and many were tortured and killed.

133 CE: When the Jews rebelled against Roman rule, they believed that their leader, Simon bar Kochba, would bring them victory and fulfill their messianic longings. However, in 133 CE, the Jewish rebels were brutally butchered in a final battle at Betar. The date of the massacre was the 9th of Av!
A year after their conquest of Betar, the Romans plowed over the Temple Mount and built on the ruins of Jerusalem a pagan city that they renamed Aelia Capitolina.

1290 CE: on the 9th of Av, the Jews were expelled from England.

1492 CE: the Golden Age of Spain came to an end for the Jews. The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition forced mass conversion to Catholicism upon the Jews. Furthermore, Queen Isabella and her husband Ferdinand banished the Jews from Spain and Jewish property was confiscated. The edict of expulsion was signed on March 31, 1492, and the Jews were given exactly four months to leave the country. The Hebrew date when no Jew could no longer remain in Spain was the 9th of Av.

WWII and the Holocaust were actually the outcomes of WWI that were set into motion also on the 9th of Av. As we know, 6 million Jews were tortured and murdered in the Holocaust as part of the Nazi’s “Final Solution” to get rid of all the Jews. After the war, Gentiles in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary continued to persecute and murder Jews.

1949 CE: Israel won the war of independence. Yet, the Old City of Jerusalem remained in Jordanian hands, and Jews were forbidden to go up to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall except for one day, the 9th of Av.

2000 CE: Arab terrorist attacks and violence erupted in Jerusalem while Jews observed the 9th of Av.

2005 CE: The forced evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza in 2005 occurred on the 9th of Av.

According to God’s plans, the 9th of Av was meant to be a day of joy and celebration. When God led Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land in the year 1313 BCE, the 9th of Av was the day they were to enter the Holy land at Kadesh Barnea (the shortest distance from Egypt to the land of Israel.) Twelve men were sent to spy out the land. However, 10 spies (besides Joshua and Caleb) through lack of faith and full of fear brought back a negative report and said it was better to return to Egypt rather than be killed by the giants in the land. Because of their unbelief, the day of joy turned into a day of mourning.

God was highly displeased by Israel’s rebellion and lack of faith and made the people wander in the Sinai desert for 40 years until that whole generation died; only their children would have the privilege of entering and possessing the Promised Land. (Num. 13-14)

God has faithfully brought back His beloved Israel to the Land He promised their forefathers, and today the nation of Israel is again in the land of Israel. One day, the people of Israel will look upon the one they have pierced, Yeshua, (Zech. 12:10,) and they will proclaim, “Baruch haba beshem Adonai” (blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord) Matt. 23:39.) Yeshua said that on that day they would see Him again, but this time they will see Him as their Messiah and Savior. They will mourn for Him as for a firstborn Son (Zech. 12:10). And then, All Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:26.) On that day, God will turn the mourning into great joy again.

Please Pray With Us

This is a dangerous time for Israel and the Jewish people world-wide. We are seeing evidence of rising antisemitism in many countries, including the United States. Please pray for our people, wherever they may be, for safety and especially for salvation.

The Danger of the Islamic Month of Ramadan

April 7, 2022 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 123:44

In Islam, fasting is one of the major acts of worshiping Allah. Muslims believe that its spiritual dimensions purify the soul, instill self-reflection and inspire virtuous living.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. During this month, Muslims worldwide fast and abstain from sexual relations from dawn to dusk (then they can eat as much as they want until dawn the next day.) The fast excludes the elderly, the weak, the mentally ill, and those who have chronic illnesses.

The Muslims believe that a fasting person is rewarded manifold for all good deeds, and whoever fasts and prays during Ramadan with pure intentions will have their past sins forgiven.

During the month of Islam’s holiday of Ramadan, Muslims feel more zealous for their religion and the Jihad (Muslim holy war) which motivates them to launch more attacks against the infidels and all those who are viewed as enemies of the Islamic world.

Muslim worshippers gather for Friday prayers, next to the Dome of the Rock Mosque on the Temple Mount one day before the beginning of the Ramadan, last Friday, April 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

During Ramadan, Muslims believe that fasting and prayer bring them closer to Allah. Often Muslim families wake up together before sunrise for an early breakfast. They also invite one another to break their fast (every evening) together thereby strengthening friendships and ties among neighbors, families, and friends. Many people also bring meals to mosques to share with the community, especially the poor, the needy, the traveler, and those without family. Together, they attend nightly Ramadan prayers at the mosque.

This year, even before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Palestinian Authority did its utmost to incite religious hatred and violence, spewing the libel that Israel is organizing an “escalation of hostilities” at the Temple Mount.

While the PA-incited terror rages, the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to the visits of Jews to the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site – as “invasions of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” and warned of Israel’s alleged “malicious intentions.” They exaggerate by saying that there is a continuation of invasions by Israeli officials during the “blessed month of Ramadan, which will cause an explosion in the occupied Palestinian territories.*

The reality is that “Al-Aqsa Mosque” is only a small part of the Temple mount, and while Jews are permitted to enter the Temple Mount for limited hours of the day, and are only allowed to walk around the periphery, they are strictly prohibited from praying and entering the mosque itself.

In order to continue their incitement of an imaginary Israeli plan to “break into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque”, the PA conveniently ignores this reality and refers to the entire Temple Mount as the “Al-Aqsa Mosque.” They claim that Jewish visits there are totally unacceptable at any time, and warn against “the occupation’s* attempts to implement a plan to break into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan,” and against the “consequences this will have for the security and stability of the region and the world.”

While Jews visit the Temple Mount almost every day, Palestinians still claim that the continued Jewish visits to the Mount are a “new crime” and threaten that their response “will not be a regular light response.”

The PA incitement regarding the Temple Mount falsely claimed that “settlers are escalating their violations” and warned against non-existent attempts by “settler organizations under the auspices of the occupation (Israeli) police” to cause “an explosion”

“[PA] Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Fadi Al-Hadmi said: ‘The occupation authorities and the settlers* are escalating their violations in occupied East Jerusalem on the eve of the blessed [Muslim fasting] month of Ramadan.’ (the opposite is actually true.)

Just before Ramadan started, The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: ‘At a time when official Israel is attempting to hold the Palestinian side responsible for the escalation that it is creating and for its consequences under the slogan “the [Muslim fasting] month of Ramadan,” it is implementing a racist occupation policy, is continuing in its aggression against the Palestinian people every day, and is seeking to be aided by anarchy and violence to carry out its colonialist plans.’”

The Palestinians are actually turning the tables. They promote the lies that Israel has “cunning intentions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the month of Ramadan” and that the “occupation authorities”* are permitting “extremist settlers” to invade the Al-Aqsa Mosque (the entire Temple Mount). Furthermore, the PA contends that Israeli news warnings of Palestinian disturbances during the month of Ramadan are simply a prelude to Israel’s cunning intentions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque; the PA warns of the consequences of these attacks.”

As Palestinians carry out terror attacks and violence in E. Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, the Israeli police must use force to stop these attacks by any means. In turn, the PA accuses Israel of perpetrating the crimes that they warned about in the first place.

*PA terminology:
“Occupied Palestine Territories” – the entire Land of Israel.
A “settler” – every Israeli Jewish citizen living in “Occupied Palestine.”
“Settler organizations” – Israeli authorities and government
“Settler’s terror” – “racist occupation policy” that is aided by anarchy and violence.

Palestinians wave a PLO flag at a tense protest at Damascus Gate during Ramadan 2021 | File photo: Oren Ben Hakoon

Right after Ramadan started on Saturday, violence started at Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem late on Sunday after the evening Ramadan prayers. The Israel Police which had been preparing for months for such confrontations, determined to stop them.

Many young Palestinian men rioted near Israeli police officers. A crowbar was thrown at police officers who responded by drawing guns (without shooting) against the Palestinians who gathered around them. Some of the Palestinians threw stones and bottles. One police officer was hit on the head while another officer broke his arm. The Israeli police do everything to keep order without causing harm or death.

During the rioting, Israeli officers attempt to arrest only those responsible for the incitement. However, sometimes, things go out of control and there is no choice but to use harsh measures.

While the Israeli police do everything possible to maintain the peace on this Ramadan holiday, the Palestinians choose to disrupt. This coming Friday will be dangerous, as tens of thousands of Muslims gather on the Temple Mount for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan.

The Israeli police are anticipating possible violence and preparing for such. Even one incident in this volatile situation can get out of hand and cause a disaster. Please pray.