My fellow Australians of a certain age will remember the iconic Oils ain’t oils commercials of the 80s and 90s:
And when it comes to the coronation of the new British king, oils ain’t oils; the ceremony involved a special type of oil, which provided the haters yet another opportunity to somehow make this about “Palestine”:
But the very nature of the ceremony flies in the face of the point the haters are trying to make.
Why is oil from the Mount of Olives used? According to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the oil being from the Mount of Olives:
“..reflects The King’s personal family connection with the Holy Land and his great care for its peoples.
“This demonstrates the deep historic link between the Coronation, the Bible and the Holy Land. From ancient kings through to the present day, monarchs have been anointed with oil from this sacred place.”
He is alluding to the fact the ancient Israelites – forbears of the Jewish people – anointed their kings with holy oil. In other words, this very ceremony is a reminder as to how ridiculous the idea of the Mount of Olives being “occupied Palestinian territory” is. It is, in fact, a reminder as to how it is the territory of the Jewish people.
By the way, if you want to speak about the Mount of Olives as “occupied territory”:
In 1948 the Jordanian army occupied East Jerusalem, including the Mount of Olives. The residents of the area and the Jordanian soldiers did not respect the Jewish cemetery and systematically damaged it. Many gravestones had been displaced, countless graves had been sabotaged, and bones removed from the graves were scattered around. The Jordanian army used tombstones to pave tent surfaces, build toilets, and used it as a raw material for paving roads in the area! On May 19, 1967, the city was liberated by the IDF, and the power of the destruction was exposed. Scattered bones were found on the mountain, broken headstones, and exposed graves. The Israeli authorities (Hevra kadishah) gradually restored the cemetery. Even today, especially in the peripheral areas of the compound, you can still find shattered tombstones. They serve as a reminder of what happens when Muslim forces take control of Jewish heritage sites.
