FROM WND’S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Israeli law forbids non-Muslim worship while Hamas broadcasting from Judaism’s holiest site

By Aaron Klein

Temple Mount

JERUSALEM – Rabbinic leaders and Temple Mount activist groups here today demanded the Israeli government allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site.

Israeli restrictions forbid Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount and only allow Jews to ascend for certain hours on some days while the Mount is open to Muslims yearlong. Muslim prayer services take place throughout the day on the many mosques and Islamic religious schools situated on the holy site.

“We demand the Government of Israel allow the Jewish people to have freedom of religious expression on the Temple Mount. This will serve as a preliminary step in confirming the Jewish people’s inexorable connection with the Temple Mount, location of the Holy Temple, under the sovereignty of the people of Israel,” states a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signed by the leaders of the New Jewish Congress, the Sanhedrin and the Holy Temple and Temple Mount movements.

The Congress is a group of religious Zionist leaders here while the Sanhedrin consists of prominent rabbinic leaders who in 2004 reformed the ancient group of Jewish judges that previously constituted the legislative body of Israel. The reformed Sanhedrin has been a subject of debate within some Jewish communities.

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The rabbinic leaders and activists demanded the Israeli government move toward allowing non-Muslim worship by initially establishing special days for Jewish communal prayer in fixed locations on the Temple Mount.

They demanded Olmert allow prayer on the Mount on important Jewish holidays, including Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, the first day of Hanukkah and on the Israeli national holidays of Jerusalem Day and Israeli Independence Day.

Not all rabbinic figures allow Jewish prayer on the Mount although many schools do as long as entry and prayer is restricted to outer areas of the Mount, which can be measured by a change in the kind of foundation stone.

According to Jewish law, the sanctity of the Temple Mount is structured in concentric circles. In the innermost circles, where the Holy of Holies was said to be located, the restrictions of Jewish access are the greatest. Jewish tradition and literature relates that during Temple times, only the kohen gadal, or high priest, was allowed to enter the most restricted area, and this happened once a year on Yom Kippur. The outer layers are less restricted.

The rabbis’ and activists’ letter to Olmert was prompted by an episode last week – reported exclusively by WND – in which Israeli forces closed the Mount to Jews during an important Jewish fast day mourning the First Temple’s destruction while the Hamas terror organization broadcast from the Mount’s Al Aqsa Mosque, which Muslims say is their third holiest site.

“In light of the broadcast of Hamas from the Temple Mount and the serious implications of this situation, we demand that the Government of Israel allow the Jewish people to have freedom of religious expression on the Temple Mount,” stated the rabbis’ letter to Olmert.

WND broke the story that Hamas Wednesday exclusively broadcast Muslim prayers from the Mount’s Al Aqsa Mosque on the group’s official radio station, Al Aqsa Radio. The services are broadcast alongside anti-Semitic commentary, including incitement against Jews.

The official Hamas radio network announced last week it would continue airing exclusive daily streams of Muslim morning services from the Temple Mount, and, indeed, the broadcasts continued yesterday as scheduled. Hamas radio is heard throughout Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“Our broadcast is a victory for the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is suffering from Judaization efforts imposed by the Zionist government. Broadcasting daily radio is a way to bring Al Aqsa to the Gaza Strip and challenge the siege imposed on us by the Zionist entity,” said Rami Kaoud, a manager at Al Aqsa Radio.

All broadcasts from the Mount must be approved by the Waqf, which guard the Muslim entrances to the Temple Mount along with the Israeli police. Broadcasts in theory must also be approved by the Israeli police, but cameramen and reporters routinely enter the site from Muslim gates to broadcast without prior police approval as long as Waqf agents allow the entry.

While Israel again has not yet acted to halt Hamas broadcasts, for most of last week it barred all non-Muslims from ascending the Mount, even on a Jewish holiday held last Wednesday.

Last Wednesday marked the start of Muslim holiday of Ein ul-Adhaa, which commemorates the Islamic belief of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael for Allah. According to Jewish and Christian tradition, Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac, not Ishmael.

Also last Wednesday, Jews commemorated the Jewish fast day of the Tenth of Tevet, mourning the First Temple’s destruction and the siege placed on Jerusalem leading up to Temple’s destruction during the reign of the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar.

Jewish organizations and Temple Mount activist groups here were planning visits to the Temple Mount in observance of last Wednesday’s Jewish day of mourning. Rabbi Chaim Richman, director of the international department at Israel’s Temple Institute, a Mount activist group which planned to lead a tour of the site this week, said Israeli police informed his group earlier this week that they had decided the Mount would be closed the rest of the week to non-Muslims for fear of offending Muslims on the Islamic holiday.

Due to Israeli restrictions, the Temple Mount is open only to non-Muslims Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered “sensitive” by the Waqf, the Mount’s Islamic custodians.

The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area.

Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.

The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003, but only on select days for certain hours.

The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.

The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God’s “presence” dwelt. The Al Aqsa Mosque now sits on the site.

The Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays.

The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.

The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven.

The letter to Olmert called the Temple Mount “the holiest place in the world for the Jewish people, yet Jews are denied the right to pray in groups, and even as individuals … they are granted no opportunity for any religious expression whatsoever on the Temple Mount.”

“However, let it be known that the Jewish people will never accept the total refusal of Jewish communal prayer on the Mountain,” the letter states.

from the December 18, 2007 Koinonia House eNews issue

It has been over two years since European voters rejected the EU Constitutional Treaty. In the wake of their defeat EU leaders tried to revive the constitution, but were unsuccessful. The people had spoken – or so it seemed. Today, the EU constitution is once again set to become the law of the land. However it is now being called the EU “reform treaty” and this time around its fate may not rest in the hands of the people.

The EU reform treaty, also called the Treaty of Lisbon, was signed last week on Thursday, December 13th. If all goes as planned the treaty will be ratified by member states next year and will enter into force on January 1, 2009. Yesterday, Hungary became the first EU nation to ratify the new treaty. Hungary’s parliamentary approved of the measure just days after it was signed.

The Treaty of Lisbon is essentially a repackaging of the EU constitutional treaty – critics say the bulk of the document remains unchanged. However because it is not technically a constitution, government leaders may be able to ratify the treaty without submitting it to national referendums. By taking away the people’s opportunity to vote on the treaty, it has a better chance of survival. According to Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, the reform treaty is “90 percent the same” as the former constitutional treaty and that “the substance of what was agreed in 2004 has been retained. What is gone is the term ‘constitution’.”

For many Europeans the EU constitution represents a loss of sovereignty and national identity. Which is one of the primary reasons why voters rejected the constitution in the first place. However the bureaucrats in Brussels think they know best, and they aren’t afraid to admit it:

Valery Giscard D’Estaing, Chairman of the Convention which drew up the EU Constitution told reporters: “The difference between the original Constitution and the present Lisbon Treaty is one of approach, rather than content… The proposals in the original constitutional treaty are practically unchanged. They have simply been dispersed through the old treaties in the form of amendments. Why this subtle change? Above all, to head off any threat of referenda by avoiding any form of constitutional vocabulary.” He also said that “Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly…All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised in some way.”

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, has stated publicly: “Referendums make the process of approval of European treaties much more complicated and less predictable…I was in favor of a referendum as a prime minister, but it does make our lives with 27 member states in the EU much more difficult. If a referendum had to be held on the creation of the European Community or the introduction of the euro, do you think these would have passed?”

Like the constitutional treaty, the so-called reform treaty establishes a new permanent EU president and a new foreign policy chief. It also abolishes national vetoes in more than 50 areas, strengthens the powers of the European Parliament and European Commission, and gives the EU formal legal “personality” for the first time, enabling it to sign international treaties.

The document itself is enormous, almost 500 pages, that is supposed to streamline the government. Critics complain that the document is too long and too complex. It is written in highly technical legal jargon that has proved difficult even for experts to understand, much less the general public. According to Giuliano Amato, former Italian Prime Minister and Vice-Chairman of the Convention which drew up the EU Constitution, the treaty is confusing by design. He is quoted as saying: “They decided that the document should be unreadable. If it is unreadable, it is not constitutional, that was the sort of perception. Where they got this perception from is a mystery to me.”

Recently the European Commission also suggested merging EU embassies throughout the world. The new reform treaty already creates a European diplomatic service and a new post of EU foreign minister. According to EU leaders, merging the embassies is a natural next step in creating a stronger, more-centralized Europe.

The strategic geopolitical horizon of past half-century has been dominated by two superpowers: the United States and the USSR. But it is becoming clear that the two dominant powers of the next half-century apparently will be China in the east and the “new Europe” in the west. Europe’s economy has grown steadily in recent years and can boast of a GDP larger than the United States’. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made headlines in September when he said that the Euro could eventually take the place of the dollar as the world’s primary reserve currency. Also, earlier this year Europe eclipsed the US in stock market value for the first time since the first World War.

In March the EU celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The historic agreement that established the European Economic Community, the foundation of what would eventually become the European Union. Over the last fifty years the European Union has emerged as a growing world power. The EU now encompasses more than 460 million people, stretching from the Arctic to the Mediterranean and east all the way to the Black Sea.

FAITH UNDER FIRE

‘Nowhere in the world is such a high price paid for being a Christian’

“Just like on other days of the year, at Christmas time there will be Christians who perish in the death camps of North Korea, ranked No. 1 on the Open Doors World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the greatest persecution,” said a spokesman for the group.

Reports of the execution of Christians in North Korea circulate routinely, sometimes for an offense no worse than having a Bible.

“The state is working hard to wipe out Christianity,” said Open Doors USA spokesman Jerry Dykstra.

“Nowhere in the world is such a high price paid as in this country with its tyrannical regime,” he said.

Dykstra released a statement on the “celebration” in North Korea of Christmas, as an observance of the birth of Christ one of Christianity’s most significant dates.

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“No bright lights, no Christmas dinner and not even a Christmas Eve service for the followers of Jesus Christ,” will be on tap for the holiday.

“This Christmas – just like any other day in the year – there are no festive lights in the streets of Pyongyang. The city is largely shrouded in darkness. North Korea is the only country in the world where the Cold War is not yet over, and one of the few countries in which it is not permitted to celebrate Christmas at all,” he said.

But even under such repression, “Christians find ways to celebrate Christmas,” he said.

Confirmation comes from “Brother Simon,” who coordinates the work of Open Doors from a secret location.

“But, of course, Christians do reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ,” he said. “Only they can’t just go along to church to sing or listen to a sermon. They can’t even visit one another to read the Bible together. Being a Christian in North Korea is very lonely.”

He said most often Christians gather in groups of only two, trying to keep underneath the social radar that alerts authorities to groups that meet. Only sporadically, and in secret locations, do numbers higher than that assemble.

“For example (on an ordinary Sunday), a Christian goes and sits on a bench in the park. Another Christian comes and sits next to him. Sometimes it is dangerous even to speak to one another, but they know they are both Christians, and at such a time, this is enough. If there is no one around, they may be able to share a Bible verse which they have learned by heart and briefly say something about it. They also share prayer topics with each other. Then they leave one another and go and look for Christians in some other part of their town. This continues throughout Sunday. A cell group usually consists of fewer than 20 Christians who encourage and strengthen one another in this way. Besides this, there are one-to-one meetings in people’s homes,” Simon said.

It’s similar with Christmas.

“Christmas is mainly celebrated in the heart of the Christian,” said Simon. “Only if the whole family has turned to Christ is it possible to have something like a real gathering. For fear of retribution it is necessary to keep your faith hidden from the neighbors. It is sometimes possible to hold a meeting in remote areas with a group of 10 to 20 people. Very occasionally, it is possible for Christians to go unobtrusively into the mountains and to hold a ’service’ at a secret location. Then there might be as many as 60 or 70 North Koreans gathered together.”

But he noted that like any other day of the year, there will be those martyred for their faith on Christmas Day.

This repression, however, is proving unsuccessful at halting the church’s growth, he confirmed. “The church is growing,” he said, based on information from his networks of sources, and largely is due to refugees who have fled North Korea, but come to Christ in the relatively free society of China, and return to their homeland as missionaries.

WND previously reported on the escape of a North Korean man from the bondage of that nation’s dictatorship, who reported many North Koreans believe dictator Kim Jong-il actually is a god.

The Christian, now living in South Korea, was identified only as Mr. Kim. He told Voice of the Martyrs that Kim Jong-il, and his late father Kim Il Sung, both are portrayed as gods.

“All North Koreans really believe that Kim Il Sung is a god. He [hid] the bad things he had done, to preserve his godlike status to the people. I think 70 to 80 percent of what is said about Kim Il Sung is similar to the Bible,” he told the ministry, for which he also recorded himself singing .

While comprehensive information about Kim Jong-il’s present rule in North Korea is hard to obtain because of the absolute dictatorship that exists, anecdotal evidence abounds about his cruelty and excesses.

For example, Camp 22, the nation’s largest concentration camp can hold up to 50,000 men, women and children accused of political “crimes,” while reports of atrocities such as the rampant murder of babies born to inmates are supported by witnesses.

Meanwhile, his expensive tastes have become known internationally. Reuters reported, “No one enjoys luxury goods more than paramount leader Kim Jong-il, who boasts the country’s finest wine cellar with space for 10,000 bottles. … His annual purchases of Hennessy cognac reportedly total to $700,000, while the average North Korean earns the rough estimate equivalent of $900 per year.”

Mr. Kim said while growing up he had no real knowledge of religion, and had not even heard about Christianity. He had seen filmed representations of Christmas parties but had no idea they were related to Jesus.

“We were taught that religion is the opium of the people, and that pastors were spies of South Korea, trying to bring imperialism to North Korea. I was taught that religion was bad and school text books reinforced this idea, explaining that people from other countries built the hospitals, schools and did all kinds of good deeds for North Korea in order to spy,” he said.

Then, like others, he went to visit relatives in China as a college student during 1998, and was shocked.

“The conditions overall were better in China, but one thing I really noticed was that people were energetic and had dreams. In North Korea, even college students were depressed and under a lot of pressure. When I returned to North Korea, I couldn’t forget the faces of those in China,” he said.

He went back to China, “escaped” is how he described it, just a few months later.

“I had heard if you go to churches the members would help. That’s why I went to a church,” he said. There he first got financial and other help. “I also went to a church in Shanghai, where I met a man who was president of a company who offered me a job… I found out later that this man was also an elder in a church,” he said.

At that company, he was exposed to worship services morning and night.

“I spent one and a half years studying the Bible, underlining passages and taking notes,” he said. “I really focused on studying the Bible, and this was the time that I became a Christian.”

As WND has reported, not all Christians are so fortunate.

Son Jong Hoon and his brother, Son Jong Nam, who has been condemned to execution in North Korea for being a Christian (Voice of the Martyrs photo)

An international campaign was launched by the Voice of the Martyrs to generate worldwide pressure on North Korean officials who have ordered a man executed for being a Christian.

Son Jong Hoon told a news conference in Washington, D.C., that his life’s goal now is to save his brother, Son Jong Nam, a former North Korean Army officer turned underground evangelist.

“I pray to God for my brother’s safety,” he said, describing the horrors of the basement jail cell where Son Jong Nam has been held, beaten and tortured since his most recent arrest.