Haaretz reported:

Israel’s military rabbinate released an educational document ahead of the holiday of Hanukkah last month, featuring a photo of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount without the Dome of the Rock, Haaretz learned on Thursday.

The photo was featured in a packet prepared by the Military Rabbinate issued to Israel Defense Forces bases ahead of Hanukkah, under the section titled “The Festival of Jewish Heroism,” which included an article and a quiz on the Jewish struggle against Hellenistic rule.

The photograph is by Mikhail Levit, and I took it from Elder of Ziyon, who found the source. It is from a series of photographs of the Kotel by Levit (available on Jerusalem Shots). None of the other photographs erase the Dome of the Rock.

The IDF explained that the picture lacked the Dome of the Rock because it was “meant to illustrate Jerusalem during the period of the Second Temple. ‘As was explained to the reporter, the Dome of the Rock did not exist at that time, so there was no need for it to appear in the picture,’ the IDF said.” As Jim said, this explanation is “ridiculous.” The picture still has the Al Aqsa mosque in it, as well as the modern Kotel plaza with worshipers on the men’s and women’s sides – something that did not exist during the Second Temple period. No one could mistake this for a picture of Jerusalem in Second Temple times.

So the question is – why did the military rabbinate create a pamphlet for Hanukkah that used a photo that photoshopped away the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount? Was this genuinely an attempt to create an image from the Second Temple period? If so, why not photoshop in an image of the Temple and by the way eliminate the Al Aqsa mosque as well? Also – if this is depicting the Second Temple of Maccabean times, the Kotel shouldn’t be there at all, since it was only when Herod had the Second Temple rebuilt that the platform was expanded in size and the retaining walls were built to support it. Or why not just use a painting of the Second Temple and remove any doubt about what was being depicted.

Could the rabbinate’s use of this image be a hint towards the hope that the Dome of the Rock should be removed and replaced by the Third Temple? In that case, we might expect to see some kind of image of the rebuilt Temple.

It would be useful to see the entire pamphlet – perhaps that would answer these questions.

The plaza was already pretty full of people. There were flags flying on the low wall that separates the prayer area from the plaza – I think they were of the army unit which was having the ceremony – יחידת שפיפון (according to Wikipedia it’s part of the paratroopers). My friend didn’t want to stay for the ceremony, although I was curious enough to want to stay, having never attended one before – she didn’t like the connection ceremonies like this make between the army and the Kotel. When I was visiting Israel in January 2003, I came across the preparations for a ceremony like this at the Kotel, but again didn’t see it (photo of that ceremony can be found below).

We then left the Old City to catch a cab back to our neighborhood. Just outside the Old City at the Dung Gate, we got a cab, and the driver insisted on taking a route through Silwan rather than driving on the road that hugs the Old City walls. We went down the very steep, unmaintained streets of Silwan and then up again into Abu Tor, and reentered the western part of the city. Below is a photo of Silwan, also from January 2003.

JEWS IN GRAVE DANGER IN ALL MOSLEM LANDS

Nine Hundred Thousand in Africa and Asia Face Wrath of Their Foes

by Mallory Browne
Special to the New York Times

LAKE SUCCESS, N. Y., May 15 – For nearly four months, the United Nations has had before it an appeal for “immediate and urgent” consideration of the case of the Jewish populations in Arab and Moslem countries stretching from Morocco to India.

Even four months ago, it was the Zionist view that Jews residing in the Near and Middle East were in “extreme and imminent danger.” Now that the end of the mandate has precipitated civil war or even worse developments in Palestine, it is feared that the repercussions of this in Moslem countries will put the Jewish populations in many of these states in mortal peril.

Reports from the Middle East make it clear that there is serious tension in all Arab countries. The Jewish populations there are gravely worried at the prospect that an Arab-Jewish war may break out suddenly at any moment.

Feeling Runs High

Already in some Moslem states such as Syria and Lebanon there is a tendency to regard all Jews as Zionist agents and “fifth columnists.” There have been violent incidents with feeling running high. There are indications that the stage is being set for a tragedy of incalculable proportions.

Near 900,000 Jews live in these Moslem and Arab countries stretching from the Atlantic along the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. Zionist leaders today are convinced that their position is perilous in the extreme.

When the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations meets in Geneva next July, this matter will come before it.

On Jan. 19, 1948, the World Jewish Congress submitted a memorandum on the whole problem to the Economic and Social Council, asking for urgent action during the spring session of the Council.

This plea arose to some extent from statements made by Arab spokesmen during the General Assembly session last autumn, to the effect that if the partition resolution was put into effect, they would not be able to guarantee the safety of the Jews in any Arab land.

The memorandum of the World Jewish Congress went into considerable detail on this danger. It cited the text of a law drafted by the Political Committee of the Arab League which was intended to govern the legal status of Jewish residents in all Arab League countries.

It provides that beginning on an unspecified date all Jews except citizens of non-Arab states, would be considered “members of the Jewish minority state of Palestine.” Their bank accounts would be frozen and used to finance resistance to “Zionist ambitions in Palestine.” Jews believed to be active Zionists would be interned and their assets confiscated.

The memorandum gave many details of instances of persecution of Jewish individuals and whole communities. It listed the following tabulation of the Jewish residents in Arab countries.

French Morocco	190,000
Iraq	130,000
Algeria	120,000
Iran	90,000
Egypt	80,000
Tunisia	80,000
Turkey	75,000
Yemen	40,000
Libya	30,000
Spanish Morocco and Tangier	30,000
Syra	11,000
Lebanon	7,000
Aden (including refugees from Yemen)	8,000
Afghanistan (including refugees in India)	5,000
Other countries (Hadramuth, Sudan, Bahrein)	3,000
Total	899,000

Later information submitted to the Economic and Social Council was to the effect that:

In Syria, a policy of economic discrimination is in effect against Jews. “Virtually all” Jewish civil servants in the employ of the Syrian Government have been discharged. Freedom of movement has been “practically abolished.” Special frontier posts have been established to control movements of Jews.

In Iraq no Jew is permitted to leave the country unless he deposits £5,000 ($20,000) with the Government to guarantee his return. No foreign Jew is allowed to enter Iraq even in transit.

In Lebanon Jews have been forced to contribute financially to the fight against the United Nations partition resolution on Palestine. Acts of violence against Jews are openly admitted by the press, which accuses Jews of “poisoning wells,” etc.

Danger Emphasized

Giving many other details of persecution, this report declares that “the very survival of the Jewish communities in certain Arab and Moslem countries is in serious danger unless preventative action is taken without delay.”

Today, with a Jewish State an established fact, Jewish spokesmen at Lake Success do not conceal their anxiety that this danger to the survival of the Jewish population of the Arab countries is even more imminent, and that the only effective solution would be to facilitate their quick transfer, in so far as is possible and practicable, to the new Jewish State.

Conditions vary in the Moslem countries. They are worst in Yemen and Afghanistan, whence many Jews have fled in terror to India. Conditions in most of the countries have deteriorated in recent months, this being particularly true of Lebanon, Iran and Egypt. In the countries farther west along the Mediterranean coast, conditions are not so bad. It is feared, however, that if a full-scale war breaks out, the repercussions will be grave for Jews all the way from Casablanca to Karachi.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s links with U.S. Republican presidential candidates, and with the Christian right, are getting closer….

When Netanyahu and his aides are asked, they insist that they make every effort to avoid meddling in domestic American politics. The speech in Congress, they say, bore witness to widespread support for Israel and for Netanyahu among both parties. Netanyahu, they insist, makes a point of meeting with virtually any member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, who comes to Israel, and in every speech before an American audience, he emphasizes that Israel must remain a non-partisan issue in the U.S.

Yet, Netanyahu is very close to Newt Gingrich, and the two of them share connections with a right-wing Jewish millionaire, Sheldon Adelson, who has made his money as a casino mogul and has supported right-wing Israeli causes for a long time (he’s also now a major contributor to Birthright). Adelson has supported both Gingrigch’s and Netanyahu’s election campaigns. Adelson owns the right-wing Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, which is distributed for free. When I read about this in the article, I thought about the legislative assault upon Israeli NGOs – laws have been proposed in the Knesset to limit the amount that an Israeli NGO can receive from a foreign government to 20,000 NIS a year. This attack is aimed at NGOs that receive money from the EU or various European countries, usually for coexistence work between Jews and Arabs in Israel or for human rights advocacy. If money is cut off from these NGOs, shouldn’t Israeli law also ban other foreigners trying to influence the Israeli political process – like Sheldon Adelson giving money to Netanyahu for his political campaign in Israel?

Netanyahu doesn’t exactly maintain balanced relations with America’s two political camps. He is deeply rooted in the conservative camp, and shows disdain for the “naivete” of the Democratic party’s liberal wing, from which Barack Obama emerged. As with Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu, his natural allies are evangelicals and members of the Tea Party movement.

Netanyahu and his associates are close to the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) organization, which is comprised mainly of evangelicals who believe that Israel’s existence is a necessary precondition for the return of the Messiah, and the coming of redemption. In their eyes, Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who threatens to destroy Israel, is nothing less than an agent of Satan on earth.

Each year, Netanyahu delivers a satellite address to thousands of participants at CUFI’s conference in Washington. “Our enemies think that we are you and that you are us,” exclaimed Netanyahu at July’s CUFI conference. “You know something? They are absolutely right.

With “friends” of Israel like Sheldon Adelson, Newt Gingrich, John Hagee, and CUFI, nothing can go wrong, right?

Last week, a new border crossing was opened in East Jerusalem’s Shoafat neighborhood, to little fanfare. Two days later, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat asserted that Israel should relinquish Palestinian neighborhoods of the capital that are beyond the separation barrier, despite the fact that their residents carry Israeli identity cards.

The Separation Wall at Abu Dis, Jerusalem

Some people view these events as two pieces of the same puzzle. A third piece is the resumption of work on separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.

The Separation Wall at Abu Dis, Jerusalem

YITZHAR, Israel — A young man calling himself Yehudi Tzadik – “righteous Jew” – picked up a rock and rolled it around in his hand, as if considering pitching it at a police car parked nearby.

Within sight was a mosque in Jerusalem that was torched and defamed Wednesday with graffiti that included, “Death to Arabs.” Tzadik claimed he knew some of the group that was responsible for the attack, though he added that he wasn’t there when it happened.

“The state of Israel has lost its moral code. It has forgotten what is at the heart of the Jewish nation. … We are reminding them,” said Tzadik, who gave his real name only as David.

A spate of attacks last week by Jewish right-wing extremists has called into question Israel’s definition of the word “terrorist,” and has prompted security officials to acknowledge the separate rules of engagement they’ve created for Jews and Palestinians.

People like David attacked an IDF base and an IDF commander last week. The commander was injured, and the base was vandalized, but no one has yet been killed by these “hilltop youth.” I fear that eventually, in the not too distant future, these “youth” will be taking up arms against the IDF, in addition to their campaign of intimidation and violence against Palestinians. In that case, the government will have to decide whether to treat these rebels like terrorists, as they would treat Palestinians who behaved in the same way. A government has to have a monopoly on the means of force – that’s what the Israeli government did after the declaration of the state in May 1948. The Etzel and Lehi militias had to disband and join the IDF. If a government doesn’t have the fortitude to enforce its monopoly, either because of military weakness or an ideologically-based inability to oppose the creation of militias that oppose its military, then it is opening the way to civil war.

See Jeffrey Goldberg’s comments on the extremist settlers.