Adverts on Jerusalem's City Buses call for temple building, mosque elimination

Think there's a long wait for the bus? How about for the Apocalypse? These buses will give their riders pause before they board. Posters leaving out Al Aksa mosque are plastered on city buses with East Jerusalem routes, writes Abe Selig in today's Jerusalem Post. It's a messianic ad campaign which could provoke some messy consequences in these CHristian and Muslim neighboroods, but Third Temple activists keep seeking to hasten the appearance of the Messiah.

While tensions continue to simmer around the Temple Mount after riots in and around the capital’s Old City earlier this month, a new campaign calling for the construction of the Third Temple atop the holy site has made its way to the sides of 200 Egged buses in the city, which now sport posters featuring a picture of a rebuilt temple on the Mount, and nothing else.

The posters, which contain the phrase, “May the Bais Hamikdosh be rebuilt speedily and within our days,” were sponsored by the Our Land of Israel group, which is led by Rabbi Shalom Dov Volpo and activist Baruch Marzel, leave out the site’s current structures – namely the the Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

The campaign’s organizers chose to plaster the posters on buses whose routes take them through predominately Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

With regards to the campaign, Volpo said Israel is waiting breathlessly for the coming of the messiah and the rebuilding of the temple.

“The Arabs and President Obama know that the Temple will be built on the Temple Mount,” he said. “Instead of the temporary buildings that are there today.”

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, Marzel said it was no mistake that the Islamic shrines were left out of the picture.

“We’re representing the truth, in front of everyone, and saying out loud what every Jew believes,” Marzel said. “That the Third Temple needs to be built immediately on the Temple Mount and that the mosque should not be there.”

“When we reach the end of the Pessah Seder tomorrow night, he continued, “we’ll say, ‘Next year in a rebuilt Jerusalem.’ What does ‘rebuilt’ mean? It means with the Third temple intact.”

Marzel brushed off the furor the ads might elicit from the capital’s Muslims, saying, “It upsets them that we’re alive, and that we’re living here.

“If such a basic point is going to piss them off, then we mine as well say what we truly believe and what we pray for three times a day. That is to rebuild the holy temple on top of the Temple Mount, and tomorrow – not to wait any longer.”

(Hat tip to Juliette for noticing the campaign for "Next Year in a Rebuilt Jerusalem" campaign.)

How much land was promised? Come again?

The Christian Zionist map of Israel - it all belongs to them!

The map above comes from the blog, "Challenging Christian Zionism" and displays the Christian Zionists' Biblical concept of Eretz Israel. To quote the American secretary of state, this seems "unhelpful" in the extreme.

Alan Epp Weaver, a Mennonite writer, sounds a warning about the enraptured Christians who aim to hasten the apocalypse. (Last weekend Izzy noticed that there now is a drive-through McDonalds on the road to Armageddon. I'm lovin' it!!):

Christian Zionism of the premillennial dispensationalist variety tells a dramatic tale: the rapture of believers, the rise of the Antichrist, and Jesus’ violent, triumphant Second Coming. Within this dramatic narrative the return of the Jews to the Holy Land plays a pivotal role, and the modern State of Israel thus becomes a fact of great theological significance to Christian Zionists.

While Christian Zionism has become a global phenomenon, thanks to the influence of fundamentalist missions, it is in the United States that the political impact of Christian Zionism is felt most acutely. Congregations “adopt” illegal Israeli settlements, sending funds to bolster the defense of these armed colonies. Christian Zionists organize prayer vigils and letter writing campaigns in support of Israeli military offensives (such as the so-called Operation Cast Lead in January) and against any Israeli territorial concessions... Benny Elon, an out-spoken Israeli proponent of “transfer” (a euphemism for the expulsion of Palestinians) is a popular speaker at Christian Zionist gatherings.

[No flawless red heifer has been born inside Israel since 70AD, authorities say, but that does not preclude one who does Aliya from, say, Jerusalem Texas in Brazoria County...or the cloning of such a calf. Yee-ha.]

A rancher in Texas keeps trying to produce the red heifer whose ashes would be required for the purification rituals necessary for the Third Temple that both Jewish and Christian extremists hope to have re-established in place of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Without these ashes, it cannot become functional.

As the government of Israeli solidifies its occupation over Jerusalem and the West Bank, with the blessing of the United States, Christian Zionists actively support even more extreme positions on the Israeli political spectrum.

Temple gifts from afar: a kilo of gold plus wedding ring meltdown

Visitors from Papua New Guinea donated heaps of gold for rebuilding Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, according to the latest report from Kobi Nahshoni:

A delegation of 34 devout Papua New Guineans visited the Western Wall last week and left a kilo of gold and several thousand dollars to the Temple Institute, an organization dedicated to rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem.

The delegation's participants, who define themselves as members of "The Bible Circle", told the institute's workers that they study the bible on a regular basis.

Recently, they read the prophecy of Zechariah, where it says: "And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you," and decided to follow the verse and come to Israel.

The Papuans explained that since their country was rich in gold mines, their donation was "nothing out of the ordinary," but added that in the future they hoped they would be able to send valuable exotic wood for the new Temple's construction.

"They pulled gold bullions out of their bags, and even started to take off their jewelry, apologizing it was too little," head of the institute Yahuda Glick told Ynet. "There was even a married couple who gave me their wedding rings and said they wanted to marry God."


"The scene reminded me of the legends of King Salomon I read when I was young, and pictures of the Queen of Sheba bringing gold and precious gems to the Temple. The vision is literally coming to life before our eyes," Glick said enthusiastically.

What a journey: they came 7856 miles with their golden offering! Just how it gets put to use remains to be seen. Here is one rather controversial, if inclusive, blueprint:


"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning.
May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." (Psalms 137:5-6)

Dig it--or not?

Mounted police at Jaffa gate, helicopters aloft--- lots of fanfare herald this particular archaeological dig. Historical, hysterical, whatever: the controversial salvage operation going on in Jerusalem's Archaeological Garden, while stone throwers are set to pelt a back-hoe despite the glowering glances of 2000 armed cops, is truly a weird scene.

The plan to refurbish this sensitive place in the Old City has predictably affronted Muslims, who accuse Israelis of defiling their holy places or even plotting to destroy them to make way for a third Temple and bring on Armageddon.



But angry archaeologists are weighing in, too. Some 18 professors of archaeology objected last March to Olmert's office plan to fix a new causeway from the SW corner of the Temple Mount up to the domed Muslim shrine. Their petition was ignored. Historians and Islamic clerics both may feel they get shafted when city engineers dig down into the relic-strewn rubble held holy by three monotheistic religions. There's a rich mother lode of knowledge at stake, and the timing couldn't be worse. (Defence Minister Amir Peretz pointed out yesterday, rather belatedly, that fomenting chaos at a sacred Islamic shrine when trying to initiate a Middle East peace process is counterproductive.) There is a lot of vicious posturing on both sides of this issue

Izzy hopes that the outcry from the Arab street to desist won't make Israeli officials all the more stubborn and maybe spark off a new Intifada. (Though some analysts say that Palestinians will grasp at any excuse to resurrect this ugly option.)

The detention of the Islamic Movement's head and six of his cronies by the border police probably has added fuel to this explosive situation. Prime Minister Olmert may think this is a key issue to show the nation that he does have the stones to lead it. Rock on, Ehud, but choose your moment. Don't antagonize the Muslims just now. If Ariel Sharon could stir from his coma and advise, he'd probably caution about potential riots after Friday's prayer tomorrow in the Old City.