It’s easy to see the latest brouhaha over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as a defeat for Israel. After all, Israel had to cave to Arab and Muslim pressure and take down the metal detectors it had installed after Arab terrorists had smuggled weapons into the compound and killed two Israeli security guards.
Israel takes action, Arabs protest, Israel caves, Arabs win, right? Wrong.
The Middle East is a nasty jungle where what counts, above all, is power. Israel’s enemies know this. They know that screaming and demonstrating is not real power. It’s the power of a kid throwing a hissy fit. The real power belongs to the party who has ultimate control—to the party, in other words, who has the power to install and take down metal detectors.
This is why Palestinian leaders haven’t stopped calling for protests even after Israel took down the detectors. They’re angry and humiliated that Israel flexed its power so blatantly at a holy place they consider theirs and theirs alone. They’re still lashing out because, well, that’s all they can do. That’s the only power they have.
But protests or no protests, the world saw last week who has ultimate control over security at the Temple Mount, and it is Israel.
Why does Israel have all this power? Because it knew how to get it.
It was the strength and savvy of the Israeli army that enabled Israel to take control of all of Jerusalem after Arab armies tried to destroy Israel in 1967. Forget all the debates and fancy arguments you hear about who has rights to what in Jerusalem. Forget the pipe dreams of neatly dividing the city under a peace process that is comatose on a good day. For now and for the foreseeable future, Israel’s control of Jerusalem isn’t going anywhere.
That is the fact on the ground that I’m sure drives Palestinian leaders nuts. They understand real power. They practice it all the time. If they could, they would do to Israel what Israel did to Jordan in 1967 and take control of all of Jerusalem. But they can’t. They’re too weak.
So, devoid of real power, they’re forced to fall back on the pathetic power of the blustering bully—lies, incitement and rage.
I’m not saying all this has no effect. The lashing out against Israel undermines Israel’s reputation and exacerbates the mutual animosity and divisions on the ground. And yes, the Palestinians are great at playing victim and winning PR battles in international forums. But Palestinian leaders also know that when the demonstrations and the rage stop, it is Israel that is on top.
It is Israel that has the most powerful army in the Middle East.
It is Israel that has the most successful economy in the Middle East.
It is Israel that has the most advanced technology in the Middle East.
It is Israel that has the most democratic society in the Middle East.
It is Israel that controls all of Jerusalem.
The “days of rage” at the Temple Mount are sure to continue, but Israel has shown its resilience, even in the face of terror. No matter how many attacks are inflicted on the Jewish state, the country never cracks. If anything, the evil of terror only strengthens the Israeli resolve never to relinquish power to those who seek to destroy it.
After seeing the vile hatred directed at Israel over something as innocuous as metal detectors designed to protect all visitors (including Muslims!), why would Israelis ever risk giving up even one inch of Jerusalem to its enemies?
What’s extraordinary about all this is that Israel has used its power in Jerusalem for good. Instead of oppressing other religions, as is common in the region, it did the opposite. It turned Jerusalem into an open international city where tourism is thriving and all religions are honored and protected.
This must also drive Israel’s enemies nuts— they’re victims who can’t even claim the moral high ground. They know very well that when an Arab country (Jordan) controlled the Old City of Jerusalem, they didn’t protect Jewish synagogues and holy sites—they destroyed them.
I’m not buying the conventional narrative that Israel lost last week. It didn’t. It tried to protect a holy site with a security measure that is ubiquitous around the world, and Arab Muslims went into a rage. Their rage was not directed at the metal detectors but at the Jews who had the power to put them there.
Arabs know real power when they see it. The more rage they direct at the powerful Israeli security forces guarding the Temple Mount, the more proof they give us that Israel is in charge of the world’s holiest city.
David Suissa is president of TRIBE Media Corp./Jewish Journal and can be reached at davids@jewishjournal.com.
The week Israel won Jerusalem : http://ift.tt/2eUgDOU
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