Tag Archives: Jerusalem

FTAC: A Note on Jerusalem’s Imperial Hotel Controversy

23 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Israel, Middle East

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“That Which is Distasteful To Thee Do Not Do To Another”

A 2005 expose by the Maariv newspaper of the deals to lease the two hotels, and an additional building, caused uproar among Palestinians both within and outside of the church, and led to the sacking of then-patriarch Irenaios.

Irenaios claimed that the deals had been reached and signed by his finance director, Nikolas Papadimos, without his approval and that Papadimos had misused a power of attorney issued to him to allow him to handle other affairs of the church.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/court-sides-with-right-wing-jewish-group-in-old-city-church-property-dispute/ – 8/1/2017

Talk about shady business deals . . . .

This should be an issue taken up by the Jewish mainstream in Israel and in the Diaspora.

Posted by Samer Dajani to YouTube on August 22, 2019.

I’ve often disagreed here with Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi, and the basis for much has been always about truth telling (x the Cold War 🙂 ) but here is a story about a “purchase” covertly engineered, plainly involving a questionable subaltern of the Greek Orthodox Church, and also involving an absurdly deep undervaluing of a significant critical historic Jerusalem property, plus an unseemly degree of ruthless and apparently vindictive behavior on the part of the buyers.

I’ve shared the video to the “reading page” I keep on Facebook for Back-Channels and wouldn’t have done that if the framing had been, say, “Palestinians v Jews”, but this would appear from either side to be a story about corruption, questionable dealing, and unchecked ruthlessness.

The corruption of great religious institutions seems a fact of life — have a look into the Russian Orthodox Church under Putin (the Vikings as Varangians adopted Christianity via the Greek Orthodox Church) — but for those who would lay claim to “Integrity” and “Righteousness”, a deal like this one laid out in the open presents a challenge to exactly those two assertions.

Related Online

The list is bare-bones, chronological, and not comprehensive, but it represents what one will find with a quick look-see into controversy surround the sale of the lease of the Imperial Hotel.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-we-go-back-800-years-palestinian-battles-settler-ngo-s-takeover-of-j-lem-hotel-1.7495376 – 7/13/2019

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/21/jerusalem-jaffa-gate-new-imperial-hotel-final-showdown – 7/21/2019

https://www.timesofisrael.com/court-sides-with-right-wing-jewish-group-in-old-city-church-property-dispute/ – 8/1/2017

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Patriarchate-files-new-indictment-over-ongoing-land-spat-in-Old-City-597719 – 8/5/2019

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FTAC: A Short Note on “Returning” Jerusalem to Muslims

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, A Little Wisdom, Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Philology, Political Psychology

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Jerusalem is not even Israel’s to “return” to anyone but the Hebrews who created her 5,778 years ago. It cannot be returned to the Canaanites who melded with the Hebrews; it cannot be returned to the Romans who burned and sacked it early in the Common Era; it cannot be returned to the Nazis or the Ottomans who no longer exist but in the fantasies of a few bigoted Germans and Turks; and it cannot be returned to an “Ummah” that did not even think to exist until the 7th Century and that today finds itself bullied, controlled, slaughtered by its own zealots.

In the medieval mode, the evil demands property . . . just because.

Jerusalem-GMap-180912-1014v1-900x

Screen capture – Jerusalem-GMap-180912-1014v1-900x.

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“Jerusalem”

21 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, International Development, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Psychology

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2012.

2016.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54684/jerusalem-and-did-those-feet-in-ancient-time

2011.

Reflect ye on the work of Rome — aqueducts, castles, fortifications, ports, roads | estates, villages, towns, metropolises | centers of agriculture, education, industry | a magnificence unrivaled in expression of the constructive channeling of human energy | eagerly adapted or reluctantly accepted . . . .

Whatever one may think of “Western Civilization”, the fruits of the labor of it have been coveted and enjoyed worldwide, and the twinned ideas of “Jerusalem” and the “Kingdom of Heaven” may be where we live and anywhere on earth.

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FTAC: “Oh, Jerusalem” and Islam’s New Divide

07 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Gaza Suzerain, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Palestinia, Political Psychology, Politics

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The prompt was the familiar — too familiar — and now cliche threat: the whole Muslims world will now unify against the “Little” and “Great” Satan that would be Israel and the United States were it not that Moscow, Damascus, and Tehran have consistently and with enthusiasm proven themselves cruel and evil to the Believers fervent or moderate:

Unless directed by Moscow — the PLO was once its projects; Hezbollah and Hamas remain its clients; Assad and Khamenei remain its fellows in dictatorship — the “Jerusalem Move” may well divide Islam.

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/islam-supports-israels-right-of-existence/

The “Palestinian Cause” isn’t what it was when cobbled together by the Soviet Union and pressed into the minds of the unknowing or leaders venal enough to inspire jealousy and leverage it into greater power for themselves — and what sadistic and tyrannical selves they proved to be.

The Palestinian popular charges of corruption leveled at Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas leadership as well — and their reputations for growing wealthy off funding intended for Palestinian development — may also turn support away from old Soviet Moscow’s pernicious designs. (Note: the Soviet Union will have been dissolved 26 years this coming December 25).

Referenced

Dahri, Noor.  “Islam Supports Israel’s Right of Existence.”  Times of Israel, October 16, 2016.

For Noor Dahri and other devout Muslims knowledgeable in the interpretation of the Qur’an, the “Jerusalem Decision” may call for choosing between Moscow’s tired incitements and manipulations of the Muslim community and a renewed message in scripture.

Related on BackChannels

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2015/10/12/ftac-tip-to-the-kgbs-amplification-of-middle-eastern-anti-semitism/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/03/08/bds-cult-modules/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/09/23/ftac-these-too-are-palestinians/ 

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/10/03/palestinian-kgb/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/11/28/a-short-page-referencing-works-by-or-associated-with-ion-mihai-pacepa/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/12/27/excerpt-1920s-the-spread-of-hate-russia-germany-laqueur/

 

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2017/07/29/ftac-antidote-to-what-poisoned-the-palestinians/

On Palestinian Corruption

Eldar, Shlomi.  “Palestinian journalists frustrated with inability to cover PA corruption.”  Al-Monitor, January 12, 2017:

No journalists in Gaza — no matter how senior — would even think of criticizing the leaders of Hamas, and in the Palestinian Authority (PA), criticism of any kind against President Mahmoud Abbas, or exposure of corruption in the PA, could result in the journalist’s arrest.

“We all known there’s terrible corruption in the PA,” a senior veteran journalist from Ramallah, the seat of the PA in the West Bank, told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “We know hundreds of stories about senior PA officials and about Abbas’ sons, but we can’t publish them or even talk openly about them.”

 

Laub, Karin and Mohammed Daraghmeh.  “In tough times, most Palestinians view government as corrupt.”  AP, May 24, 2016:

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A gated community of villas with well-tended flower gardens near the West Bank town of Ramallah may help explain why Palestinians almost universally believe there is corruption in the government of President Mahmoud Abbas.

The secluded “Diplomatic Compound,” built for senior Palestinian Authority officials on subsidized land, is one of the symbols of what many Palestinians think is wrong with their leaders — that they are cut off from the people and award themselves special privileges.

Menenberg, Aaron.  “Terrorists & Kleptocrats: How Corruption is Eating the Palestinians Alive.”  The Tower, June 2014.

The Tower.  “New Survey: 96% of Palestinians Believe Palestinian Authority is Corrupt.”  May 24, 2016.

Toameh, Khaled Abu.  “Palestinians: ‘The Mafia of Destruction’.”  Gatestone Institute, September 21, 2016.

FTAC Addendum

I think there’s more to the story as Moscow and Tehran crowd Israel with military presence beyond Hezbollah alone.   In essence, te Cold War’s tension is back in place, and this time — and at this time — it appears the United States has chosen to assert western power with a move certain to be opposed but with uncertain cohesion in the Russo-Arab and Russo-Iranian spheres of control and influence. What Washington may have just done with Jerusalem stands counter to Moscow’s assertions of power in Syria and Ukraine. We have more or less planted a flag forward and now will see some return from the Russo-Iranian axis.

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FTAC – Oh Jerusalem -‘Cold History’ – Fast Reference – Touch Points

31 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, Israel, Palestinia, Philology, Philosophy

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Clinically speaking, the Hebrews appear to have produced legends in fact enshrined in scripture.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/The_Temple.html

More faithfully and sentimentally, whence comes the urge to delegitimize Hebrew / Jewish history and spirituality?

Of course, time being time and measurable and describable thousands of years in reverse, there is what might be called the “cold story” of the region — the story told in the earth.

With just a few minutes of looking, I’ll list what curiosity has dredged off the web:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jerusalemhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jerusalem

http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/amarnaletters.htm

http://biblehub.com/topical/a/adonizedec.htm

https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=KJV&quicksearch=Jerusalem&begin=1&end=46&limit=25

http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16498/jewish/Chapter-1.htm (if the finger must be pointed, point it at King Cyrus of Persia, which today, of course, would make a rather ironic point about the evil of undoing a decision made by he who composed the famous cylinder).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_in_Judaism

BackChannels appreciates the general import of the observation that when Cleopatra was young, Egypt had already an ancient history.  So it goes for Jerusalem and both the poetic and scholarly histories of its existence far back into the Bronze Age at least.

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Attacks – Ottawa, Jerusalem

22 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Canada, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Politics

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The “different kind of war”, the “war for detectives and poets”, the “Islamic Small Wars” — singular or plural — have not been impeded at their low-intensity simmer.

The impetus for this post came with a phone call, a heads-up on the Ottawa incident —

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/parliament-hill-attack-1-gunman-dead-after-soldier-shot-at-national-war-memorial-1.2808710 – 10/22/2014

The violence is not confined to Parliament. Police say that there could be multiple shooters and that there are three shooting incidents in the capital.

Ottawa police, whose buildings were also locked down, provided details on Twitter about multiple shootings: “Incidents occurred at National War Memorial, near the Rideau Centre and Parliament Hill.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/22/world/americas/canada-ottawa-shooting/index.html – 10/22/2014.

So far, according to the CNN piece, no links with Islamic violence have been made in the Ottawa shootings.

Related on Reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/22/us-canada-attacks-shooting-idUSKCN0IB1PY20141022 – 10/22/2014.

Related on Fox

The shooting at the government complex came after witnesses said they saw two men jump out of a Toyota Corolla and run toward the memorial, where one opened fire on the soldier, who later died at Civic Hospital. Officials did not identify the guard pending notification of his family, but The Ottawa Sun said he was a member of Hamilton’s Argylls of Canada – 91st Canadian Highlanders who were on tour guarding the memorial.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/10/22/soldier-shot-at-war-memorial-near-canadian-parliament/ – 10/22/2014.

Now cited in comments:

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office says two scheduled events today in Toronto with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai have been cancelled.
The last-minute announcement comes amid an ongoing emergency in Ottawa, where several shootings have occurred on or near Parliament Hill.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/22/malalas_honorary_citizenship_ceremony_cancelled_pmo.html – 10/22/2014.

The latest follows an apparently attempted murder by car in Quebec:

(Reuters) – A Canadian man who was killed by police on Monday after trying to run over two soldiers in Quebec “had become radicalized,” the government said after the first such incident in Canada since the country joined the fight against Islamic State militants.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/21/us-canada-military-idUSKCN0I927020141021 – 10/20/2014

From Jerusalem:

A baby girl was killed and eight people were injured Wednesday, after a terrorist hit them with his car outside the Givat Hatachmoshet (Ammunition Hill) Light Rail stop.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/186461#.VEfv0iLF98E – “Baby Murdered in Jerusalem Terror Attack” – 10/22/2014.

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