WHO’S PREVENTING CONSTRUCTION IN YERUSHALAYIM?

As far as the government of Israel is concerned, it would be far better if there were no Jews in East Jerusalem, thereby sparing them the political headache of dealing with the indisputable fact that the Arabs control the eastern part of the capital of Eretz Yisroel. It is safe to say that half of Yerushalayim is effectively devoid of any Jewish sovereignty. The Municipality of Yerushalayim does not relate to its eastern sector as an integral part of the city, and it gets its cue from the highest echelons.

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

In one of his sichos after the liberation of Yerushalayim, the Rebbe spoke with great pain about the situation developing in the city. If an Arab wants to rent an apartment in the center of Yerushalayim – he can, says the Rebbe. So why is it that if a Jew wants to rent an apartment in East Jerusalem he is not permitted to do so?

Not only has this absurd situation failed to improve over the years, it has gotten worse. The Jewish residents of East Jerusalem feel as if they are servants in someone else’s home. If they want to build a bathroom in their house, they require the expressed written consent of the President of the United States, whereas their Arab neighbors build and build without permits and without documentation.

Eretz Yisroel’s ruling institutions regard the Jewish presence in eastern Yerushalayim as a foreign entity. As far as the government of Israel is concerned, it would be far better if there were no Jews in East Jerusalem, thereby sparing them the political headache of dealing with the indisputable fact that the Arabs control the eastern part of the capital of Eretz Yisroel. It is safe to say that half of Yerushalayim is effectively devoid of any Jewish sovereignty. The Municipality of Yerushalayim does not relate to its eastern sector as an integral part of the city, and it gets its cue from the highest echelons, i.e., the Netanyahu government and the state’s ruling institutions.

However, the problem has gone far beyond East Jerusalem for some time. If we had already become accustomed to seeing only Arabs build in East Jerusalem, we now have a situation where Jews can’t build anywhere in Yerushalayim. There are people in the halls of Israeli government who treat Yerushalayim like a lone outpost near Yitzhar, where building anywhere without the official permission of Mr. Barack Obama is strictly prohibited.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the minister of housing and construction, Mr. Uri Ariel (Bayit Yehudi), was forced to admit that Jews are not allowed to build in Yerushalayim. Even Mr. Ariel, a man with outstanding right-wing credentials, cannot break the rules and authorize building projects in Yerushalayim. Furthermore, when we speak of a construction freeze in Yerushalayim, this doesn’t include the city’s eastern neighborhoods, except for Ramot. No new Jewish construction is beginning anywhere in Yerushalayim. The projects that commenced before the start of the current parliamentary term have managed to survive the freeze. However, no additional permits are being issued to Jews to build in the capital city of Eretz HaKodesh.

During the last three decades, not a single new neighborhood has been erected in Yerushalayim. Yet, while there is a tremendous demand for new housing units in the Holy City, the state of Israel is worried about construction projects along the Green Line – in those areas liberated during the Six Day War. Two years ago, when building permits were issued for Yerushalayim’s Gilo neighborhood, the state-run media created an uproar over “unnecessarily aggravating” the Arabs, as if Gilo is not part of Yerushalayim. There was a similar case just last year when the Israel Ministry of the Interior authorized a new building project in Ramat Shlomo. The ruling authorities in Eretz Yisroel even look upon the large neighborhood of Ramot as foreign land, i.e., a region under international dispute requiring the special permission of the Government of the United States in order to build there. This is the way in which successive Israeli governments have related to some of the most “Yerushalmi” neighborhoods of Yerushalayim.

The Israeli left and the media love to mock the Holy City of Yerushalayim. They frequently remind people that Yerushalayim has turned into a poor chareidi city. They don’t ask themselves what’s really going on in the Holy City, whether young couples can still fulfill their dream of living in Yerushalayim. From a housing standpoint, Yerushalayim has the highest real estate prices in the country – together with crowded Tel Aviv. The difference is that Tel Aviv has no room to develop, while there are some marvelous locations around Yerushalayim for building new neighborhoods. Nevertheless, the minister of housing, representing the “Jewish Home” Party, has frozen all construction projects in Yerushalayim and has forbidden Jews to build there.

TERRORISM VS. PUNCTURED TIRES

Last week, the news headlines in Eretz Yisroel created an uproar over the “Jewish terrorists” who puncture the tires of cars in Yerushalayim’s Beit Hanina neighborhood. Placing the incident itself aside for the moment, it’s virtually impossible not to be shocked by the Israeli media’s total lack of decency. Only recently, the media conducted a cynical debate over whether rock throwing is a form of terrorism, in the wake of the serious injuries sustained by two-year old Ariel resident Adele Bitton, may G-d send her a complete and speedy recovery.

The rocks thrown on Jewish cars are of no interest to the media, despite the fact that the residents of Yehuda and Shomron suffer from real terrorism every day which places them in constant danger. However, as soon as a few tires are punctured in an Arab village, the media is up in arms about terrorism. Have they suddenly forgotten what real terrorism is and who exactly is the enemy here?

Every time the media makes a big deal over incidents of tire puncturing, it’s not due to a sense of genuine concern over a new form of terrorism. It’s more likely that this is just a welcome opportunity for them to attack the nationalist communities and blame them for the terrorism, even accusing them of initiating it. The bizarre decision to classify puncturing tires as terrorism is merely a part of the blatantly disproportionate condemnation of those faithful to Eretz Yisroel.

Even in this story, the media related to the Arab residents of Yerushalayim as part of the city’s natural landscape, whereas the local Jewish population is considered like a band of illegal aliens. Thus, when they throw rocks (even boulders!) on Jewish cars, it’s accepted in an air of deep forgiveness. After all, the Jews are driving through territory that doesn’t belong to them. However, when someone punctures the tires on Arab vehicles, every state-run media outlet in the country screams that they run the land here, and therefore, woe to anyone who disrupts their normal peaceful lives.

WORDS OF PROPHECY

In a sicha on the 13th of Tishrei 5737, the night of Erev Sukkos, the Rebbe spoke before the many guests who had come for “the season of our rejoicing.” The Rebbe noted the fact that there are representatives in Beis Chayeinu – 770 from many countries throughout the world, and therefore, he would take the opportunity to speak about the situation in Eretz HaKodesh:

“To this day, it is written in official documents that the ‘baal ha’bayis’ over the Old City of Yerushalayim and over the location of the land prepared for sacrifices… [as the Rambam states that the Sh’china is not nullified, and this is the law in relation to actual halacha] – is known to be a Gentile, and we know who he is, and this is agreed upon to this day, yet no one wants to deal with it, keeping the matter quiet instead.

“Similarly, we find in regard to the Cave of the Patriarchs and the surrounding area [in Chevron]. It is written in ‘documents’ that they belong to a Gentile! And when we ask officially who is the ‘baal ha’bayis’ there – they say that the ‘baal ha’bayis’ is so-and-so, which is the exact opposite of (not only Ahavas Yisroel, but also) the love of justice and honesty, etc.

“In simple terms, just as they took several matters pertaining to defense and security, and paid for them in the ways of pleasantness and the ways of peace – they can do the same thing with regard to the place of the Beis HaMikdash and the Cave of the Patriarchs. Nevertheless, it remains this way to this day, and they act as if they don’t know anything about it, despite the fact that everyone does know about it, and they even print things about it from time to time.

“…And primarily in our case, they don’t even ‘hop between two ideas’ – and since immediately after they conquered Yerushalayim and Chevron, they already knew that there is an official document from the days of the Turks, which that Gentile ordered them to write, [stating] that a certain matter pertains to this person, and another matter pertains to that person, which was not in accordance with justice and honesty, because he didn’t purchase it with four hundred shekels of silver, etc.! Despite the fact that they knew this – they didn’t do anything on this matter.”

Later in the sicha, the Rebbe connected the security situation to the deteriorating state of Yiddishkait in Eretz Yisroel. He spoke in terms strikingly similar to what is being said regarding today’s national crises, as those who remain silent on the issue of dividing Yerushalayim and forbidding Jews to build there are the same ones who are in charge of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (a.k.a. the Ministry of Religions) and undermine the protective wall of traditional Judaism:

“And those who ardently work to prevent writing the word ‘k’halacha’ (according to Jewish law) in the Law [of Return], since it affects their place on the seats [of government], etc. – also know this, and yet they haven’t done a thing.

“Furthermore, regarding the one who was in authority as the minister of religions (he is now already in the World of Truth), what was the first thing he should have corrected? Since it belongs r”l to three religions (l’havdil), the least he should have done was to register it in the name of three ‘baalei battim.’

“Nevertheless, even this they didn’t do because they are afraid of the Gentile, and from a Gentile whom they defeated. The Gentile himself screams that they defeated him, and he asks for kindness and mercy – as that’s what the situation was then. Yet, they feared the Gentile and did nothing!

“He was fervently involved over how we must make a Sanhedrin, and we have to think about building the Beis HaMikdash, but to assure the concept of ‘halachic conversion’ at a time when he knew that there is an entire institution, an entire place where people have converted against halacha, to the point that it wasn’t a conversion at all, he didn’t do anything, and this has brought the ‘root producing hemlock and wormwood’ to this very day.”