The Judean People’s Front is on the front-lines against the hated Romans and BDS, fighting lies and misinformation with facts and humor (allegedly). I’m not a Roman mum. I’m Kosher mum. I’m a Red Sea Pedestrian and proud of it!
We here at the JPF have been struggling for the past few weeks. It is hard enough to see Jews murdered in the streets just because they are Jewish, but it is almost worse to see them die because of a lie, a lie that has been proven to be false every year for the past 100 years no less.
So how is it that Palestinians continue to believe Israel is planning to attack al-Aqsa? Has *The Boy Who Cried Wolf* never been translated into Arabic? Are the Palestinians really just the most gullible people on the face of the Earth? Even if they are being fed propaganda on a daily basis, they would have to eventually see that year after year, no attacks take place, Muslims still enter to worship in massive numbers (4 million last year alone!), the mosques still stand and no Temple is being built.
Enter the Torching of Joseph’s Tomb
This is not the first time a Jewish holy site has been destroyed by Arabs. Hell, it isn’t even the first time Joseph’s Tomb has been attacked and set on fire by the Palestinians! It was one of the first major attacks perpetrated in the Second Intifada, taking place almost immediately after the PA was given control over the site. By attacking it again now, the Palestinians are trying to ensure the current wave of terror and violence escalates into a full-fledged Intifada.
Jewish holy sites under Arab control historically do not last long. Jordan razed innumerable and irreplaceable Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem after it conquered and occupied the eastern part of the city in 1948 (without any major world reaction or condemnation, we might add). What’s more, all Jews were ethnically cleansed from the Old City and the rest of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
This was not an aberration, but merely how the Arabs have traditionally waged war. They fight to win with no regard for what tactics they use and when they do win, Jews are killed or expelled and their holy sites are destroyed.
This is in direct contrast to the way Israel fights: careful about its tactics to avoid civilian casualties, expulsions are rare (not seen since 1949) and Arabs who remain in Israel are given full citizenship rights and their holy sites are protected.
The Arabs cannot understand how it is possible that the Jews would not act the same way they would in that situation. If there was a Synagogue built over the Kaba’a, there is no way it would remain standing and open only to Jewish worshipers after it was reconquered by Muslims. It just would never happen.
The Palestinians are convinced that since they would destroy al-Aqsa and rebuild the Temple if they were in the Jews’ position, therefore, the Jews must be planning to do the same. It doesn’t matter if they haven’t done it yet and have publicly acted against it for decades. There has to be a secret plot to destroy al-Aqsa, since there is no other way for them to explain why the Jews are acting differently (read: better) than they would in that situation.
Even Israeli Arabs who, while suffering from mild unofficial discrimination, have much better lives in Israel than any of their counterparts, have come out in the tens of thousands to protest “Israel’s al-Aqsa policy.” Israeli Arabs should know better than anyone that Israel will not “attack al-Aqsa,” but the pull of the Palestinian propaganda machine, along with the inability to recognize that Jews will act differently than they would, convinces them to disbelieve what they see with their own eyes.
When concrete evidence and first person experiences hold no sway, there is very little else that can be done to change perceptions. Therefore Israel must remain strong, stay the course, defend itself and wait until this current wave of terror runs out of steam.
We just pray not too many Jews are murdered and not too many Palestinians get themselves killed over a lie in the meantime.
