Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas — known to the Arab world by his nom de guerre, Abu Mazen — quietly, and also not so quietly, did whatever he could this month to provide a springboard for the launch of a third intifada. But it was only this week that the actual extent of his financial dedication to the cause became known.
Investigative journalist Gal Berger of the Hebrew-language Kann News on Israel’s Channel 11 television reported Sunday night that Abbas is providing funds to the tune of millions of shekels — millions of dollars, in fact — to residents of Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem to encourage their participation in disturbances and riots on the Temple Mount.
Even after all security upgrades were removed from around the Temple Mount, Arabs continued with wild rioting for several days more, until Abbas was told bluntly by Jordan’s King Abdullah II that it was time to put an end to the violence. Up until this weekend, most journalists and politicians believed the riots were simply driven by the massive incitement by Arab and Muslim leaders pouring in from all quarters domestically and abroad. But clearly, there was much more to it than that:
Jerusalem Arabs were promised monetary stipends of $1,000 per month for up to three months. They were also given discounts and exemptions from payments to the Jerusalem District Electric Company, which supplies power to the Arab-majority neighborhoods in the area.
Arab college students in the Old City of Jerusalem who participated in anti-Israel clashes were promised free tuition by the Palestinian Authority, according to the report.
All the employees of the Islamic Waqf Authority – which manages the holy sites on the Temple Mount but which falls under the auspices of the Government of Jordan – were also promised cash payments, according to the report, as were Arab merchants in the Old City of Jerusalem.
In addition, the Palestinian Authority apparently shelled out more than $15 million to cover renovations, repairs for damage and other expenses at local homes in the Arab sector following the rioting near the Temple Mount. At least $750,000 went to two hospitals in the area to prepare for the flood of injured expected after clashes with Israeli security personnel. Another $40,000 went to Arab emergency and related medical services in the local area. There were at least 100 injured during clashes with Israeli forces between last Thursday and Friday.
Awards and special citations were promised to the agitators and rioters who were most active, according to the report.
Since the Palestinian Authority is not exactly rolling in cash, one might wonder where all this financial beneficence is coming from …
Funny, so do we.
Syrian Foreign Ministry has sent letters to the United Nations and the UN Security Council, calling on the organizations to address civilian casualties from the airstrikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria, local media reported Sunday.
The ministry sent a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and to the President of the UN Security Council (UNSC) asking the UNSC to fulfill its commitments on maintaining peace and international security, and prevent the coalition from committing crimes against Syrian people.
Earlier in the day the SANA news agency reported that he US-led coalition's aircraft attacked the Syrian settlement of Abukamal in the Deir ez-Zor province, killing at least six people. The news agency said the airstrike hit a hospital, among other sites.
The reported attack the fourth air raid of the coalition in Deir ez-Zor over the month, according to SANA.
On Saturday, SANA reported that the coalition, which ostensibly fights Daesh, hit houses in al-Mayadeen, killing 10, including five children.
The US-led coalition of 68 nations started to carry out airstrikes against Daesh in Syria and Iraq in 2014, with the strikes in Syria not being authorized by the government of President Bashar Assad or the UN Security Council.
On the eve of Tisha B’av, the fast day commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples, archaeological evidence of that destruction has been uncovered, verifying the truth of the Book of Kings and reaffirming that the Temples stood in Jerusalem.
In a discovery the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) called “mesmerizing proof” of the Babylonian destruction of the First Temple, structures over 2,600 years old were exposed under collapsed layers of stone in Jerusalem’s City of David excavation park.
“We have a very very clear destruction level” showing signs of destruction by fire, said Dr. Joe Uziel, Excavation Director of the IAA.
The Second Book of Kings describes the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem in detail. King Nebuchadnezzar and his army besieged the city of Jerusalem for two years before the city walls were breached, and on the seventh day of the month of Av, the destruction began.
On the seventh day of the fifth month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Yerushalayim. He burned the House of Hashem, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Yerushalayim; he burned down the house of every notable person. The entire Chaldean force that was with the chief of the guard tore down the walls of Yerushalayim on every side. II Kings 25:8-1
The First Temple was burned on the ninth of Av (Tisha B’Av), which has ever since been a day of mourning for the Jewish people. This year it will fall in less than a week, on August 1.
The City of David discovery was full of clues revealing the nature of First Temple-era life. Within the collapse, archaeologists found charred wood, grape seeds, pottery, fish scales and bones, and unique and rare artifacts.
“These findings depict the affluence and character of Jerusalem, capital of the Judean Kingdom,” the IAA’s statement said.
Dozens of clay storage jars, used for both grain and liquids like wine, were discovered, several of which had stamped seals depicting a rosette on the handle. The seals are typical of the end of the First Temple Judean period, said IAA excavation directors Ortal Chalaf and Dr. Uziel.
The seals “were used for the administrative system that developed towards the end of the Judean dynasty,” they said in a joint statement.
The excavation also shed light on the true borders of First Temple Jerusalem. The structures were discovered beyond the wall constituting the then-eastern border of the capital, proving that the bustling city had already outgrown its fortifications before the Babylonian destruction.
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