Posted on 05/02/2014 6:08:33 AM PDT by marshmallow
An Israeli lawmaker claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken with Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef about the possibility of ceding the Tomb of David— located in an old church building that is also revered by Christians as the site of the Last Supper—to the Vatican.
The report—which has not been confirmed by the Israeli government—comes after earlier rumors that the government was engaged in secret negotiations with the Vatican about future control of the site.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicculture.org ...
Very interesting.
Israel should be doing exactly the opposite, nationalizing all non-Jewish religious sites. Once they do that, they can be very liberal about leasing them to whatever religion—as long as that religion exhibits “good behavior”.
If they get obnoxious to Israel, they can “lose their lease”, and the religious site can be leased to a different sect.
Importantly, this hits close to home with religions, and is a very tangible threat to them. In Saudi Arabia, the Wahhabi sect runs all the religious sites. But when they start agitating to overthrow the regime, the Saud threaten to take away the Wahhabi’s control over mosques and give it to the Sufi sect, which would be more than happy to take it.
This scares the Wahhabis half to death, so they behave themselves.
And the Israelis should do the same thing. If Israel took away the Wahhabi lease of the al-Asqa mosque and gave it to the Sufis, the Wahhabis would about poop themselves. And for their part, the Sufis would probably be exceptionally good and well behaved tenants.
How long before the Vatican gives it to the Muslims?
So the government of Israel should seize the religious property of non-Jews? Should they make the non-Jews wear identifying arm bands too?
Never.
Should Christian here do the same thing?
Rather, have a good working relationship with the Vatican to preserve the holy Christian sites.
I think he is pleading for help to manage the site.
Don’t trust Francis
Is not Pope Francis planning to to go to the Holy Land sometime soon?
Such holy sites present a problem. That is, they are not owned as such, but they are controlled by foreign religions, and even foreign nations, who *assume* they are property, almost like embassies.
So this is not like eminent domain. Instead is is a claim that sites in Israel are in Israel, not the territory of someone else.
Imagine if the UN declared Yellowstone park to be a World Heritage Site, and then started setting up UN toll booths for Americans who wanted to visit it, demanding money and passports?
This is somewhat the current status quo in Israel with holy sites. That foreign religion and even countries are claiming to *own* part of Israel, usually to threaten Israel if they interfere with that religions or nations control of that site.
This isn’t a Christian activity, it is a government activity, and it happens in the US a lot, already.
Typically, when a religious or secular group decides that US, state and local law do not apply to it, that it is sovereign in its place, the US government intervenes.
The Branch Davidians, the FLDS (Warren Jeffs), the Nuwaubian Nation, the Sovereign Citizen Movement, etc., all have been stepped on for doing what religions and nations do in Israel, by claiming that they own part of its lands.
The Vatican needs to keep its mitts off of Israel. But then, the holiest site of the Jewish religion has been in moslem hands for over a thousand years (and kept that way by Moshe Dayan after the Six Day War).
Have you ever read the Book of Joshua?
It won’t give it to the Muslims, but they will allow them to pray there. And allow Catholics to pray with them there.
Your analogy is flawed. The Churches which have possession of the holy sites predate modern Israel by up to 1900 years in some cases. If the U.N. owned Yellowstone 1500 years before the United States was established they would have a valid claim to it.
“Have you ever read the Book of Joshua?”
Yep. And it doesn’t apply to what we’re talking about. Once the Son of God went up and the Temple came down, Judaism was no longer a deciding factor in anything.
No one owns any religious property in Israel except Israel...
Wouldn't be long...The Palestinian Catholics hate Jews...They are a cross-breed muzlim/Catholic mix of some sort...
The Catholic religion has been trying to get a foothold in Israel for Centuries...And sadly it will succeed since it is Jerusalem where the anti-Christ will set up his church...
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