The Waqf and Uganda

In many ways, the old city of Jerusalem is a microcosm of the whole Land of Israel and the struggle to retain its Jewish identity and heritage.

No sooner was Jerusalem liberated in 1967, the Israeli government ceded control of the Temple Mount to the Muslim custodians or Waqf. As a result the Waqf have enjoyed a free hand in the demolition of Solomon’s Stables and bulldozing other underground sections of the Temple compound, erasing most evidence of Jewish presence in this process and causing damage to the 2,000 year old Southern wall of the Temple Mount.

No sooner was Israel created in 1948, almost all power became vested in the liberal secularists. As a result, ministers and civil servants – backed by a predominantly left wing press and media - have enjoyed a free hand in the erasure of large sections of our Jewish heritage, mainly by ceding them to the Arabs. The Rabin government was ready to cede Rachel’s tomb to the Arabs and only by a miracle was the decision reversed. We were not so fortunate however with Joseph’s tomb in Shechem. Despite being accorded rights of Jewish access under the Oslo agreement, the holy site was abandoned under Arab fire and an IDF soldier left bleeding to death in the tomb.

As the Muslim Waqf chips away at the fabric of Yerushalayim, the Israeli government hacks off sections of biblical Israel. By the end of that process, for all intents and purposes, they may just as well have accepted Uganda after all.