Gazan Professor: Jewish Temples Never Graced The Temple Mount
Rejecting archeological evidence, the historic record, and accepted fact, Maher al-Sousi, a lecturer at the Islamic University of Gaza, claimed that the Jewish temples were never located on the Temple Mount and that Jews have no right to the holiest site in Judaism.
Following that, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview that the Temple Mount is “a holy place for Muslims only, and no one but the Muslims have any religious or historical right there.”
Such views are mainstream in Palestinian society. This reporter previously conducted an exclusive video interview with Waqf official and chief Palestinian cleric Taysir Tamimi, who used the occasion to claim the Jewish Temples “never existed” and the Western Wall was really a hitching post for Muhammad’s horse.
Excavations near the Mount routinely uncover archaeological evidence further tying Jews to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. For example, discoveries at the City of David, an archeological site just outside the Mount, have unearthed the core of ancient Jerusalem, including Hezekiah’s Tunnel, evidence of the Gihon Spring, Jewish Temple artifacts, Temple purifying pools, and more.
Not only are these Muslim scholars’ claims about the lack of evidence tying Jews to the Temple Mount false, the Islamic scholar glossed over the Palestinians’ own complicity in disposing of Jewish temple artifacts.
As I previously reported: “In 1997, the Waqf conducted a large dig on the Temple Mount during construction of a massive mosque at an area referred to as Solomon’s Stables. The Waqf at the time disposed of truckloads of dirt containing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods.
“After the media reported the disposals, Israeli authorities froze the construction permit given to the Waqf and the dirt was transferred to Israeli archaeologists for analysis. The Israeli authorities found scores of Jewish Temple relics in the nearly disposed dirt, including coins with Hebrew writing referencing the Temple, part of a Hasmonean lamp, several other Second Temple lamps, Temple-period pottery with Jewish markings, a marble pillar shaft, and other Temple-period artifacts.
“The Waqf was widely accused of attempting to hide evidence of the existence of the Jewish Temples.”
And in 2007, this reporter personally reported from the site of an unusual dig on the Temple Mount in which the Waqf utilized heavy machinery to dig in one of the most sensitive archaeological compounds in the world and were once again caught red-handed destroying Temple-era antiquities.
Trump Jr.’s Meeting Raises Questions Of
Hilary Clinton’s Relationship With Russia
A leaked e-mail from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign previously published by Wikileaks may take on new significance because it relates to key issues brought up in media reports about Donald Trump Jr. and a meeting with a Russian lawyer.
The e-mail in question was purportedly sent by Jesse Lehrich, a Clinton campaign foreign policy spokesman and member of the campaign’s rapid response communications team.
In the correspondence, which has not yet received news media attention but remains searchable in the WikiLeaks archive, Lehrich writes that the campaign “killed a Bloomberg story” attempting to link Clinton’s opposition to the anti-Russia legislation known as the Magnitsky Act to a speech that Bill Clinton delivered in Moscow for $500,000.
The May 21, 2015 message, titled, “May 21st Nightly Press Traffic Summary,” was purportedly sent by Lehrich to the campaign’s “HRCRapid” Google group, and was captured by the leaking of campaign chairman John Podesta’s Gmail account emails.
Based on Peter Schweizer’s bestselling book Clinton Cash, The New York Times in April 2015 reported on Clinton’s $500,000 speech in Moscow and its possible ties to a deal in which the Russians gradually assumed control of the Uranium One mining company.
The newspaper reported that “the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States.” The newspaper further reported: “Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.”
The Magnitsky Act, strongly opposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is intended to sanction Russian officials accused of involvement in the 2009 death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption whistleblower who died in prison, allegedly after being beaten.
As Foreign Policy magazine noted, the Obama administration – with Clinton as secretary of state – initially balked in 2010 when Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced the Magnitsky bill, fearing the legislation could harm the much-touted “reset” attempt between the U.S. and Moscow.
Clinton helped lead the charge against the bill, the magazine reported.
In 2012, the bill was passed when powerful lawmakers demanded the Magnitsky Act be grouped with the administration’s legislative push to repeal the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, a move that would ease U.S.-Russia trade relations because the law denied Moscow the ability to trade normally with the U.S.
Despite the questions raised about Clinton’s initial opposition to the Magnitsky Act, her actions to ease trade restrictions on Russia, and her husband’s ties to entities close to the Uranium One deal, former Clinton Campaign Press Secretary Brian Fallon took to CNN on Tuesday to accuse President Trump of enacting foreign policy toward Russia that may be “part of a quid pro quo based on help that was provided during the campaign.” No evidence has emerged of any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The Magnitsky legislation, meanwhile, has been in the news cycle over the past few days in regard to the story about Trump Jr. and his meeting with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya at which Veselnittskaya reportedly argued against the Magnitsky Act. The meeting was reportedly presented to Trump Jr. as being about information regarding Hillary Clinton.