Oh U.N. Where are the People Who Defend Israel?

Nadene Goldfoot
Though we already celebrated Jerusalem Day this year on May 20th (28 Iyar), we are thinking about Jerusalem all the time with the Palestinians wanting to again divide our city and take over East Jerusalem as part of their Palestine.  Israel had liberated Jerusalem in June 1967 in the Six Day War when attacked by the neighboring countries and made the city whole again.

Which reminds me, where are the people in the world who care about the Jews and Israel?  Everyone is ready to pounce on Israel in favor of the Palestinians but never defend the Jews of Israel, and now  anti-Semitism has again become very prevalent in the rest of the world, especially in Europe.  Such things as the flotilla from last year; people calling for peace but ready to disregard Israel's security and rights in favor for the Palestinians who wish to do them in and drive Israel into the sea instead of living next door peacefully.  So again,  it's time to read my 3rd cousin Stanley's letter to the world, as I'm wondering also what's going on.  I know that there are some who defend us such as organizations like CUFI and others, but we need to reach the leadership of countries, and this letter is especially for the UN.  

A Letter to the World from Jerusalem

By Eliezer ben Yisrael (Stanley Goldfoot)

Founder Editor

The Times of Israel

I am not a creature from another planet, as you seem to believe. I am a

Jerusalemite - like yourselves, a man of flesh and blood. I am a citizen of my

city, an integral part of my people. I have a few things to get off my chest. Because I am not a diplomat, I do not have to mince words. I do not have to please you or even persuade you. I owe you nothing. You did not build this city, you did not live in it, you

did not defend it when they came to destroy it. And we will be damned if we

will let you take it away.

There was a Jerusalem before there was a New York . When Berlin, Moscow,

London, and Paris were miasmal forest and swamp, there was a thriving Jewish

community here. It gave something to the world which you nations have rejected

ever since you established yourselves - a humane moral code.

Here the prophets walked, their words flashing like forked lightning. Here a

people who wanted nothing more than to be left alone, fought off waves of

heathen would-be conquerors, bled and died on the battlements, hurled

themselves into the flames of their burning temple rather than surrender,

and when finally overwhelmed by sheer numbers and led away into captivity,

swore that before they forgot Jerusalem , they would see their tongues cleave

to their palates, their right arms wither.

For two pain-filled millennia, while we were your unwelcome guests, we

prayed daily to return to this city. Three times a day we petitioned the

Almighty: "Gather us from the four corners of the world, bring us upright to

our land, return in mercy to Jerusalem , Thy city, and swell in it as Thou

promised." On every Yom Kippur and Passover, we fervently voiced the hope

that next year would find us in Jerusalem.

 

Your inquisitions, pogroms, expulsions, the ghettos into which you jammed

us, your forced baptisms, your quota systems, your genteel anti-Semitism,

and the final unspeakable horror, the holocaust (and worse, your terrifying

disinterest in it) - all these have not broken us. They may have sapped what

little moral strength you still possessed, but they forged us into steel. Do you think that you can break us now after all we have been through? Do you really believe that after Dachau and Auschwitz we are frightened by your threats of blockades and sanctions? We have been to hell and back - a hell of your making. What more could you possibly have in your arsenal that could scare us?

I have watched this city bombarded twice by nations calling themselves civilized. In 1948, while you looked on apathetically, I saw women and children blown to smithereens, after we agreed to your request to internationalize the city. It was a deadly combination that did the job - British officers, Arab gunners, and American-made cannon. And then the savage sacking of the Old City - the wilful slaughter, the wanton destruction of every synagogue and religious school, the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, the sale by a ghoulish government of tombstones for building materials, for poultry runs, army camps, even latrines.

And you never said a word.

You never breathed the slightest protest when the Jordanians shut off the

holiest of our places, the Western Wall, in violation of the pledges they

had made after the war - a war they waged, incidentally, against the decision

of the UN. Not a murmur came from you whenever the legionnaires in their

spiked helmets casually opened fire upon our citizens from behind the walls.

Your hearts bled when Berlin came under siege. You rushed your airlift  "to

save the gallant Berliners". But you did not send one ounce of food when

Jews starved in besieged Jerusalem . You thundered against the wall which

the East Germans ran through the middle of the German capital - but not one

peep out of you about that other wall, the one that tore through the heart of

Jerusalem.

And when that same thing happened 20 years later, and the Arabs unleashed

a savage, unprovoked bombardment of the Holy City again, did any of you do anything?

The only time you came to life was when the city was at last reunited. Then you wrung your hands and spoke loftily of "justice" and need for the "Christian" quality of turning the other cheek.

The truth - and you know it deep inside your gut - is that you would prefer the city

to be destroyed rather than have it governed by Jews. No matter how diplomatically you phrase it, the age old prejudices seep out of every word. If our return to the city has tied your theology in knots, perhaps you had better re-examine your catechisms. After what we have been through, we are not passively going to accommodate ourselves to the twisted idea that we are to suffer eternal homelessness until we accept your savior. For the first time since the year 70, there is now complete religious freedom for all in Jerusalem . For the first time since the Romans put a torch to the temple, everyone has equal rights (You prefer to have some more equal than others.) We loathe the sword - but it was you who forced us to take it up. We crave peace, but we are not going back to the peace of 1948 as you would like us to.

We are home. It has a lovely sound for a nation you have willed to wander

over the face of the globe. We are not leaving. We are redeeming the pledge

made by our forefathers: Jerusalem is being rebuilt. "Next year" and the

year after, and after, and after, until the end of time - "in Jerusalem "

I want to add that being we have advanced the cause for a humane moral code in the world, why on earth would you think our religion has changed in any way other than to emphasize the moral code upon ourselves?  Our people have kept to this high regard of morality in peace and in war more than any other groups combined.  It's always our directive to our behavior.  We have this very high authority to answer to, same as our Kosher hotdogs do.  When I see a flotilla and peaceniks coming to our aid, I'll know the messiah is about to arrive.  Nadene

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Day

Pray At Temple Site and Risk Arrest

Nadene Goldfoot
My 3rd cousin, Stanley Goldfoot (1914-2006),  was a major leader and spokesman  for The Faithful of the Temple Mount or Ne'emanei Har Habayit  in Jerusalem.  They were planning the 3rd Temple.  Jews weren't allowed to get into Jerusalem until after they liberated it in  the war of June 1967 when they were attacked by all the neighboring states.  King David (1,000-960 BCE) made Jerusalem his capital and his son, King Solomon (961-920 BCE) built the 1st Temple which was on Mt. Moriah. It was a shrine for the ark, the sacred vessels and offerings with a court for worshippers.  Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians in 597 BCE and the Temple was  then destroyed in 586 BCE in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.  It was rebuilt by Zechariah in 520 BCE.  The 2nd destruction of Jerusalem occurred in 70 CE with the attack of the Romans.  The Romans then built on the site and during the Moslem period a mosque has stood there, the Mosque of Omar.

I have the two page spread  of Sunday, March 6, 1983 in the Jerusalem Post by Haim Shapiro on the group.  In it Haim relates that many Christian fundamentalists in America especially see Israel as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and are the real Zionists in the US.  They feel we are coming closer to a critical period in history and they want to help the Jews to fulfill prophecies and hasten the 2nd coming of the Messiah.  They are ones that feel that Jews must hold all the Land of Israel besides the Orthodox Jews.

According to halachic restrictions, today many rabbis forbid Jews to set foot on the Temple Mount now though others permit it and regard it as an obligation.  We're not ready for the 3rd Temple yet but are planning for it.  Jerusalem is the very center of Jewish life and it does mean "The Temple."   You can believe that on the day Jerusalem was liberated that head rabbis went to the Temple Mount.  Visiting it has nothing to do with Islam.  It's that today in our state Jews are "unclean" but must first purify themselves in a mikve and remove their shoes in order to visit the site. For that reason they had  stationed a guard at the gate to warn Jews against going in.

Moshe Dayan set the policies, saying that Jews hold the keys to the Moghrabi Gate, and the Moslems hold the keys to the other gates.  Though the site is still held by the Moslems,  it is open to those who wish to visit it.  After a few terrible incidents committed by Michael Rohan and Alan Goodman, the wakf closed the Temple Mount to non-Moslem visitors after 11 am, before only closed during prayer hours.

Which brings us to the present and Jerusalem Day.  Michael Ben Ari, Knesset Member and friends celebrated by going to the Temple Mount and asked to pray on the site.  Ben Ari was really into his praying and threw himself down full length on the ground in prayer.  The nearby Arabs understood that they also had a right to pray on the Mount, but not the Arab security force on the site.  They tried to arrest Ben Ari and two others who were uncooperative.  Ben Ari said he had diplomatic immunity and claimed his right to pray.  They and others had previously explained that going to the Mount was to bring loyalty to "the holiest site in Jerusalem"  It was once the center of Jewish life in the city.

Jerusalem Day will include seeing thousands of people march around  Jerusalem past the Muslim Quarter  in the traditional flag march marking reunification of the ancient capital.

What Stanley Goldfoot went through to liberate Jerusalem was remarkable.  He was the Chief of Intelligence for the Stern Group and played his part.  I met him and visited his home in Jerusalem on Dor V'Dor Street (generation to generation).  He had arrived in "Palestine" at age 18 on a ship that had hoisted the swastika flag, coming from South Africa.  He was an investment adviser, publisher and former Lehi member (Stern Group).  He realized that rebuilding the Temple could be a long-term aim and they didn't know where or when it could happen.  In the meantime, he and his group often tried to pray at the Temple Mount as well.

Resource: Jerusalem Post 1983
Arutz Sheva:   news2@israelnationalnews.com
Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Pentateuch and Haftorah Chronological Table
Jerusalem of Gold - Yerushalayim shel Zahav -Ofra Haza- with English Lyrics on Y tube and CD's