ICPHH Leadership Meeting held on May 18th with Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon. L-R Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Ambassador Danny Danon, Menachem Lubinsky and Avraham Lubinsky. The Ambassador promised to fight UNESCO’s recent resolution labeling Har Hazeitim a Moslem holy site and intimating that the cemetery was full of “fake” graves.
A leadership delegation of the International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeisim (ICPHH) met Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN on May 18th. “We know that Har Hazeisim is indelibly tied to the 3000-year history of the Jewish people and no absurd UNESCO resolution will rob us of our past,” was the essence of what Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN told a The ICPHH delegation included Avrohom Lubinsky, Chairman, his brother Menachem who serves as co-chairman and Rabbi Pesach Lerner, a member of the ICPHH Executive Committee. Danon was referring to a recent UNESCO resolution passed at the end of April which denied Jewish claims to the Kosel Hamaravi and the Har Habayis and instead designated them as Muslim holy sites. The motion passed with 33 votes in favor, six against, and 17 abstained.
In an encouraging development on May 24th, Khalil Jayousi, a 21-year-old resident of A-Tur, was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison for organizing and leading violent riots on Har Hazeitim during which pipe-bombs and firebombs were thrown at Israeli civilians and security forces in the summer of 2014, following the murder of Jerusalem-Arab teenager Muhammad Abu-Khdeir by Israeli extremists and Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. Fireworks, rocks, and explosives were hurled at a Jewish home and security forces who were guarding it. In one case, fireworks were also used to attack Jewish drivers in their cars.
M Mayor Barkat has submitted a NIS 1.5 million request to bolster security on Har Hazeitim. The City Council Finance Committee is expected to pass the request. In his submission, the Mayor said that the finds would be used to build gates and walls as well as new entrance points. Said Barkat: “Har Hazeitim is a holy and important place for Am Yisrael and we must preserve its holiness and guarantee the safety of visitors. We will not allow any actions that violates that holiness.”
With improving security, a private group has acquired and making available 165 graves in the Chelkat Hanevi’im, a much coveted location that is within a stone’s throw of the burial site of the Nevi’im and directly across from the Har Habayis.
The UK Committee of The Preservation of Har Hazeisim will officially be launched at a reception in the House of Commons on July 14th and will be hosted by Matthew Offord MP for Hendon an Honorary Patron and close friend of the Jewish Community.
