Our dear friend and colleague Barry Shaw shares his views on the misconceptions and goings on with the Temple Mount and the Iceland, Rekjavik craziness.
Barry Shaw – The Temple Mount and Iceland
Anyone reading the foreign press about the rioting taking place on the Temple Mount would imagine that Jews were running amok in Jerusalem. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The violence derives from the provocative actions of paid volunteers of Islamist extremist groups such as Murabitun and Murabatat who, for weeks, have been intimidating non-Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount. The majority of the visitors have been foreign tourists who have had to be rescued by Israeli security forces.
These radical groups have been defying the established arrangements which allows for non-Muslims to visit this holy place, which they have been doing silently and respectfully. It has been the Muslim groups who have defied the law and order with dangerous provocations leading up to them storing rocks and firebombs in the mosques and attempting to barricade themselves inside while hurling these missiles at passersby and police that had to come to re-establish order and quiet.
It was not the Jews that ordered a “Day of Rage’ but Muslim youths who seem determined to light a global fire in Jerusalem. Israel’s Prime Minister has appealed to both Mahmoud Abbas and to Jordan’s King Abdullah to use their influences to restore calm. The same mutual respect that exists within Israeli society that honors the faith of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others must reign in Jerusalem. Anyone, Jew or Muslim, that provokes hate and violence must be punished to the full extent of Israeli law. Barry Shaw, Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy, Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, Israel.
Icelandic capital of Rekjavik
You may have heard the the Icelandic capital of Rekjavik decided to boycott Israel, all of Israel.
This is the letter I have sent to the Rekjavik English newspaper.
I dare them to print it!
If you’re going to boycott Israel – do it properly. Barry Shaw.
I am sorry to hear that your Rekjavik people have decided to boycott Israel. I’ll be sorry to miss you but, before you boycott us, please let me offer you some good advice that will make your boycott more successful.
Throw away your computer. It’s so full of Israeli software and technology it will make your head spin. It certainly won’t work without it.
Throw away your smartphone. Yes, that too operates thanks to the outstanding ingenuity of our Start-Up Nation.
Not only will you feel your life has taken a backward turn, I’m sure the public services of your town will deteriorate but, hey, that’s a small price to pay for sticking with your principles.
And if you start feeling ill with the limitations imposed on you by your boycott, please be sure to check your medications. The best of those derive from Israel’s R&D in the pharmaceutical industry. Heaven forbid you will need hospital care or surgery, your medical staff and surgeons will probably tell you that they use the best that Israeli medical science has given to your country.
You see, Israel has not just helped you into modernity, we also help those less fortunate than you. Like helping Africans grow crops where no crops grew before, or rush to crisis points like Haiti, Tibet, and Turkey when natural disasters strike. In all these places, we were the first to set up field hospitals with doctors and nurses that saved lives. What did your country do, by the way?
In many places in Europe, the first people that migrants see as they step ashore are volunteers of IsrAid, Israel’s humanitarian organization, there to hand them warm clothes, food, and medical help. What is your country doing to help them?
Basically, my message is that you have judged us wrongly. If you’re going to boycott Israel, why not look at other countries and see if their record is as good as ours.
This, of course, leads me to my final question. How come you are not boycotting them? Why is it only the Jewish state you have a problem with? I know the answer. Do you?
Barry Shaw was the co-founder of the Netanya Terror Victims Organization when a series of Palestinian terror attacks hit his small town on Netanya, population 160,000
Barry Shaw, Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy, Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, Israel.
Barry Shaw – The Temple Mount and Iceland
