Points to Ponder Number 47 16th October, 2016
It is ages since I last wrote mainly because I have been feeling rather like Don Quixote ineffectively confronting windmills, but without his perseverance. However the latest windmill has roused me from my inertia – the incomprehensible UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) resolution proclaiming that there is “No Jewish Link to the Temple Mount”.
This malevolent resolution ignores the testimonies of written historical sources and the evidence of archaeological excavations. It is one which everyone with even a minimal sense of what is right and what is wrong should confront at every opportunity.
To quote the 18th century philosopher Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” And on the same note: “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
Every little bit counts –letters to your local press and political representatives; postings in the social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; discussions in class, work, at your place of worship or at social gatherings with friends.
Our silence may well hasten a resolution of this learned body proclaiming “Galileo was wrong. The Earth and planets do not revolve around the Sun.”
It has already decided that, contrary to the Hebrew Scriptures, King Solomon never built a Temple in Jerusalem and the Babylonians never destroyed it and exiled the Jews to “the rivers of Babylon” in the sixth century BCE.
It has already decided that, contrary to the Cyrus Cylinder and Ezra, the Persian King Cyrus did not give the Jews permission to return to their land and rebuild their Temple.
It has already decided that, contrary to the Dead Sea Scrolls, there was never a Dead Sea sect whose members refused go to the Temple in Jerusalem because sacrifices were not being offered according to their interpretation of the Law.
It has already decided that, contrary to the testimonies of the Gospels in the New Testament, the infant Jesus was not brought to the Temple in Jerusalem by his parents; did not go up to Jerusalem every year at Passover; did not sit among the teachers in the Temple courtyard (Luke 2:21 ff); never went to Jerusalem with his disciples (Mark 10:32 ff); did not drive out the money changers from the Temple Mount and declare “my house shall be a house of prayer” (Luke 19:43); did not walk through the alleys of Jerusalem, the via Dolorosa, carrying the cross on which he would be crucified. In a nut shell, he never existed.
It has already decided that, contrary to first century Roman chronicles, the Roman Emperor Titus did not destroy Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple there-in.
It has already decided that, contrary to second century Roman chronicles, the Roman Emperor Hadrian did not build a pagan temple dedicated to Jupiter in Jerusalem on the site of the razed Jewish Temple; did not change the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina and did not rename the Roman province Judaea Syria Palaestina.
No doubt soon it will pass a resolution confirming the Palestinian claim that Jesus was a Palestinian, despite the fact that there is obviously no mention of the non-existent Palestine in the New Testament.
If you have read this far and before you shrug and delete I would like to leave you with a few words of wisdom from people far wiser than me.
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” Elie Wiesel
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Desmond Tutu
“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” Dante Alighieri
The passing of this resolution is a moral crisis.
