Governments should respect the Israelis’ VOICE on their historic capital Jerusalem. Yes, Muslims controlled Jerusalem for a long time, after overcoming the Catholic crusaders. At any time in that long period, did Islam seek to make Jerusalem their capital? No, they did not. In fact, Jerusalem remained a neglected unknown backwater. In 1948 the Muslims attacked the fledgling state of Israel and overtook the Eastern part of Jerusalem, murdering half the Jews that lived there, and taking all they possessed. They then prevented any Jew from entering. In 1967, not content with half of Jerusalem, the Muslims again attacked Israel but this time lost the battle. As a result, Israel found itself in control of the whole of the city. Unlike the Muslims, Israel established Jerusalem as an open city, lived in by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.
The fact that the Muslims never made Jerusalem their capital in all the years they had it, exposes all the dog-in-the-manger talk of it being the third most holy shrine for Islam. Now Israel is in charge and has every right to call it its capital. But we think we know better?
Although heavily outnumbered, Israel has fended off five Islamic armies, defeating them again and again. Even the stones cry out as excavations show layer upon layer of mainly Jewish buildings buried beneath the old city. The record cries out as well. The Jewish capital Jerusalem is mentioned around 800 times in the Bible but not ONCE in the Quran. Does that tell us anything?
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
Jesus’ lament over the city. Matthew 23:37
