Earlier this week, the Israel-based Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported that Iran is the primary force behind the initiative, both directly and through proxies such as Hezbollah. In February, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described the Global March as an expression of Iran’s policy to strengthen “resistance operations” against Israel.The Iranian regime is also apparently forcing its Jewish community to send representatives to this march. The Society of Iranian Jews issued a statement that was published on the Global March to Jerusalem website.
“We the Iranian Jewry would also like to show the disassociation of the anti-humanitarian works committed by the occupying Israeli regime and their usurping army with the commandments of divine laws of Prophet Moses (P.B.U.H). We would like to show our support with all those who desire the lawful rights of the valiant nation of Palestine,” the group said.The Global March to Jerusalem does not acknowledge any Jewish claims either to Jerusalem or to the land of Israel.
The GMJ website refers to all of Israel as occupied land. “Massive marches will be organized in Palestine (the 1948 seizures, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) towards Jerusalem or to the nearest point to it,” it says.
The logo on the homepage features all of Mandatory Palestine, and is set against a banner showing Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock and Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Muslim and Christian holy places are set against the backdrop of the Mount of Olives, but the sprawling 3,000-year-old Jewish cemetery with its 150,000 tombstones is absent, replaced by a barren hillside.On this point, see also the official letter sent out by the GMJ. The rights of Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem are mentioned, but not of Jews, and there is no reference to Jewish holy pages. The only possible reference to Judaism in connection to Jerusalem is the vague statement, "It is the centre of spirituality and ideological significance for all of the monotheistic religions," but otherwise there is not even a hint to legitimate Jewish rights to the city. Another thing to note is that the letter makes no distinction between east and west Jerusalem.
Among the "world leaders" who have signed this statement are Dr. Cornel West, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Prof. Judith Butler, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb. It's worthwhile to remember these names, because by their participation in this march, they have lost all moral or intellectual credibility that they might have otherwise gained through their worthy endeavors prior to their support for this march.
There are local organizing committees for the GMJ, including one for North America. Their website lists additional endorsers, some of whom include:
- Ann Wright, United States Army colonel, ret.
- Cindy Sheehan, anti-war activist; mother of US soldier killed in Iraq; author
- Medea Benjamin, Co-founder Code Pink and Global Exchange
- Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT
- Richard Falk, Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University
- Marcy Winograd, Los Angeles teacher, peace activist and former candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives
The usual suspects.
ReplyDeleteLet us try through awareness and prayer to stop the neo-nazis’ march through Jerusalem, March 30, 2012: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, George Galloway, and others will resurrect memories of the holocaust again, in an attempt to expunge the Jewish people from this earth and in the Jewish quarters in Jerusalem. Israel is proud of Jerusalem’s Christian, Jewish, and Islamic sections of the city. Unfortunately, the representatives from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and other nations have demanded diminishing the number of Jewish people throughout the world, and symbolically, have chosen Jerusalem to echo their gestapo tactics.
ReplyDeleteRather than promote race hatred, ethnic cleansing, intolerance, and injustice, let us pray and give praise to the lord who gives life in what is now a national wonder: an oasis of brotherhood and sisterhood- formerly, a barren desert. With courage, morale, and dignity, the oases builders demonstrated no chore was too trivial; no job insignificant: proof of a people united as they unanimously rolled up their sleeves.
The Israelis have toiled as a vanguard: doctors, farmers, plumbers, bakers, teachers, construction workers, and others have worked hand in hand, partaking of wonderment and creativity within Israeli communities. Israel’s leadership work in the fields, as a grass roots dynamic: under the blue skies. The construction of Israel is the mirage that became a miracle. The miracle came into being because Israel is and will always be a shining beacon of love, peace, joy, and justice.