I usually try to avoid any kind of “it’s our land / no it’s OUR land” stuff. Israel’s position as the front line in the global war against political Islam is more than enough to justify Western backing, plus they’re an invaluable high-tech democracy, plus the international law arguments are devastating. So I think “Jews were there first” can sometimes be a distraction. But just for the record, Jews were there first:
Scientists have discovered the earliest known Hebrew writing – an inscription dating from the 10th century B.C., during the period of King David’s reign. The breakthrough could mean that portions of the Bible were written centuries earlier than previously thought… many scholars have held that the Hebrew Bible originated in the 6th century B.C., because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch back no further. But the newly deciphered Hebrew text is about four centuries older… “It indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the 10th century BCE and that at least some of the biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research,” said Gershon Galil, a professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, who deciphered the ancient text.
Imagine what else we might know about that period, but for the typical and ongoing destruction of ancient Temple Mount artifacts by Muslim authorities. Their authority, of course, was granted by Israel after the Israelis recaptured the ancient Jewish capital from Jordan, thereby ending the Jordanians’ decades of wanton vandalism. Systematically desecrating ancient Jewish cemeteries and using the tombstones of Jews as latrines – classy.
References:
* The "Mandate for Palestine" is the Best Reply to "Occupation" [Eli Hertz]
* Ancient handle with Hebrew text found [MSNBC]
* Wonderful: Iraqis Permanently Scratch Out Ancient Hebrew Inscription Biblical Prophet’s Tomb [MR]
* Photos Of Israeli Police Trying And Failing To Stop Temple Mount Destruction [MR]
* Jordan’s Schizophrenia [MR]
Related Mere Rhetoric Categories:
* Jewish Politics
* Israel
* Political Islam
