Dear Editor:
We wonder why there were not riots in the streets of the United States every time Jewish former Mayor Ed Koch walked through the doors of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City? In a civilized religious society would a church leader ever call for “a day of rage” by all members of its religion in the country, and give prayers “to Kill the Jews,” because a Jewish public official walked on church grounds without even entering the church? This is what just happened now within the legal borders of the State of Israel when one of its Jewish high officials in the government walked in an area, holy to the Jewish religion, within the city of Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel, and the center of its government.
General Sharon, a current, high political official of the State of Israel, has publicly stated on American television, Oct. 6, 2000, that during the time of the Jewish High Holy Days, only after advance notification, and without any advance objection from the Muslim clerics on the Temple Mount, he once again visited the grounds, as he said he has done on other occasions in the past, without entering the Muslim Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock. The Temple Mount inside the city of Jerusalem is an area within the borders of the State of Israel that is the holiest place in the Jewish religion. The Temple Mount is not only the most holy place in the Jewish religion because it is the ancient site of the biblical Jewish Temple in ancient Jerusalem, but most important of all, it is also the Jewish religion’s most sacred, high holy place in the world because it is the place where Abraham, the biblical father of Judaism, offered to sacrifice his son Isaac, and where the Jewish religion’s covenant with God was confirmed.
Unlike the laws protecting all religious sites of all religions in the State of Israel, the Palestinian Arabs have a consistent history of attempting to restrict all non-Muslim religions from complete freedom to worship in churches and synagogues, or at non-Muslim religious shrines in territory within their control. They also have a history of continuing to take every opportunity to restrict, confine, or destroy the religous holy sites of various other religions. This was seen on television during these most recent riots, when Arab Palestinians desecrated, burned and then, stone by stone, attempted to tear down and completely destroy the Jewish holy religious shrine of Joseph’s Tomb in the Palestinian Authority West Bank after they shot to death the innocent, unarmed American rabbi who was peacefully praying at the shrine.
Let the people of our nation always remember that the State of Israel is the only democracy and stable government in the Middle East. It has proven itself, time and time again, to be the only reliable and dependable political and military ally of the United States in an area so vital for the military security and economy of our country.
Julian “Bud”Batlan
State Public Information Officer
Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America