Israel’s national government is housed in Israel’s capital of Jerusalem—not Tel Avivi. Israeli Knesset Building. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock.
The Czech Republic Education Ministry is reportedly accepting a change to its textbooks that will show Tel Aviv, and not Jerusalem, as the capital of Israel. In response, Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat is urging Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka to reverse that decision and has offered him a first-person perspective: try visiting Israel’s capital and all the history therein.
“Walk where kings and prophets walked, and where the state of Israel was reborn after two thousand years of longing,” wrote Barkat in a letter to the Czech leader. “I am certain your visit will reaffirm the longstanding friendship between our two countries, and ensure that hateful, ignorant voices will never be able to unravel the bonds between the Czech Republic and Jerusalem—the heart and soul of the Jewish people.” The Times of Israel was among the outlets to report the Czech textbook change.
That report cited a quote from Czech Education Ministry spokeswoman Klara Bila, who told the Prague Daily Monitor that “the data in the atlas will be corrected as of the New Year.” The incident originated because Palestinian Ambassador Khaled Atlattrash went to the Czech government to point out the textbooks showing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, noted The Times of Israel report.
Barkat, whose office released his letter to Sobotka to the media, buy cheap valium thailand wrote that he was “deeply disappointed to hear that the Czech Ministry of Education has yielded to those seeking to use lies and hatred to deny Jerusalem’s status as the capital of the state of Israel.”
Jerusalem was originally designated Israel’s capital three thousand years ago by King David of the Bible. It has been the modern State of Israel’s capital since its restoration as a nation in 1948, with the Israeli government formally declaring it as such in 1950 following the Israeli war for independence. The Bible is full of history and prophecies of an Israel-controlled Jerusalem.
While the Palestinian conflict has been used to manufacture controversy over recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the section of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinians includes ancient Jerusalem where the Israeli Temples and the Davidic dynasty once stood. That area of Jerusalem has been conquered by many nations over the centuries—including Jordan for almost two decades following the Israeli war for independence—but has never been controlled by the Palestinians.
Barkat noted that history between the Czech Republic capital of Prague and Jews goes back centuries, with the modern states assisting and supporting one another since Israel was reborn. “Our capitals represent our countries’ strong and steadfast alliance,” wrote Barkat. “Just as Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic, so too is Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, September 5, 2016)