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Hodaah 5770 Teves 20


The nascent Sanhedrin helped organize the tour for Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi in the Land of Israel. The Sanhedrin organized and funded the tour in Hebron, the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem including a tour of Jerusalem neighborhoods. The Sanhedrin also organized a meeting of academics at Bar Ilan University and at the Knesset hosted by MK Michael Ben-Ari.

Informal translation from Hebrew of the 20th Teves, 5770 (6 January 2010) statement:

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Special Court for Matters Concerning the Nation and the State
Secretary: Rabbi Amnon Hever Tel: 054-9400909 b.d.hartzion@gmail.com

B"H
20 Tevet, 5770

Visit of Sheikh Palazzi to the Knesset at the Invitation of Member of Knesset Dr. Michael Ben-Ari

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Caption: MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, Mr. Irwin Kotler, previously Minister of Justice of Canada, recipient of the Begin prize this year, Vice Minister MK Ayub Kara, MK Rabbi Nissim Zeev, and Ibrahim Hijazi acting as reresentative of Arab MKs, with Sheikh Palazzi. The Sheikh eulogized Rabbi Meir Kahane, HY"D, and holds a Mezuza given to him at the Gush Katif Memorial Museum.

Summary of the Visit of Sheikh Palazzi in the Knesset

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The meeting was chaired by the host, MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari. He opened the meeting by greeting Sheikh Palazzi, saying that Sheikh Palazzi is well known, and that he wished that there were more people like him. Vice Minister MK Ayub Kara, MK Rabbi Nissim Zeev, and Larry Pfeffer, human rights activist, also greeted Sheikh Palazzi with short blessings.

Mr. Irwin Kotler, previously Minister of Justice of Canada, Professor of International Law in Harvard and Columbia Laws Schools, also greeted Sheikh Palazzi and commented on the courage of Sheikh Palazzi in openly challenging radical Islamism and calling Peace through Muslim recognition of the Jewish State of Israel throughout the Holy Land.

Also present was Ibrahim Hijazi, representing the members of Knesset of the Arab parties, who were all invited to the meeting. Mr. Hijazi said that we would do better to hold discussions with representatives of the Arabs, since the accuracy of the interpretations of the Qur'an notwithstanding, what is important is the narrative of the Arabs.

The Sanhedrin met with Sheikh Palazzi as part of its peace initiative, based on the Torah. In this context, representatives of the Sanhedrin met with influential Imams, other religious leaders and professors.

The Sanhedrin intends to continue in this path of promoting international meetings, in Israel and abroad, to promote understandings of the commonality of the vision of Judaism and the Islam, of peace as envisioned by the Jewish prophets as written in the Tanakh and in the Qur'an, with the Holy Land as the land of the Jewish people, whose responsibility it is to adhere to the commands of God as taught in the Torah and by our Sages, to build the third Temple on its place on the Temple Mount, which of course will in no way harm the El Aksa mosque and will not affect the worship of God as practiced there.

Tuesday, 19 Tevet 5770
Science and Technology committee meeting room
The Knesset, Israel

A short summary of the talk of Sheikh Palazzi

The Palestinian attempt to hide the Jewish history of the Temple Mount is in direct contradiction to the Qur'an and to all classical interpretations of the Qur'an. The Qur'an tell us of a vision of the splendors of Jerusalem and the Temple; the person who had this vision asks Muhammad: But when I pass through Jerusalem on my way to Damascus, I see nothing of this? Muhammad answered by giving a short summary of the history:

King Solomon built the Temple on the Temple Mount, but it was destroyed by Babylon. Later, King Cyrus of Persia permitted the Jews to rebuild the Temple on Temple Mount, but many years later it was destroyed by the Romans. Besides, there are many archaeological proofs of the Jewish history of the Temple Mount during various periods.

Sheikh Palazzi recalled his first visit to Israel and to the Temple Mount in 1996. In preparation for this visit he studied the history and layout of the Temple Mount. He asked the Arab guide: What is the importance of the place we are standing? The guide answered: According to Islam, this is the place King Solomon stood when he prayed after the inauguration of the Temple [as described also in 1 Kings, ch.8].

Sheikh Palazzi asked: Why do Palestinian leaders deny all this? The guide answered: I don't know, I'm only a guide, if they deny this they must have a reason.

Sheikh Palazzi remarked: In all Muslim countries, the Waqf – the organization which controls all Muslim religious assets – is required to be loyal to the host country. Until 1967 the Waqf was required to pledge allegiance to the kings of Jordan. The State of Israel waived this requirement, and did not even request a declaration or a statement of loyalty. This situation of lack of loyalty was exacerbated after the Oslo agreements, when the Waqf came under the Palestinian Authority, and the PA appointed people who are loyal to them only.

With regard to the Seven Noahide Laws, Sheikh Palazzi said that these laws are known and recognized by Islam and it would be beneficial to develop the ties between our peoples, as indeed the Sanhedrin has been doing through the Jerusalem Court for Bnei Noah.

Sheikh Palazzi remarked: learning the will of God together is much more valuable than inter-religious "peace conferences". In such conferences all people talk nicely but nothing comes of this talk. Learning together will increase mutual understanding.

With respect to the political situation, Sheikh Palazzi noted that the US government is not particularly pro-Israel at this point in time; in England, laws which were enacted to fight Nazi infiltration to Britain are being used paradoxically - against Israelis! Nevertheless, Sheikh Palazzi sees that this tide is turning, as it has turned in Italy. The Italian public is now pro-Israel, and the government follows the public. The public sees that for many years the government has taken great sums of money and given them to the UN, and afterward to the Palestinian authority, with the purpose of helping the Palestinian Arabs in the refugee camps. Nothing of value has ever come out of these millions, the majority of which was stolen by the politicos of the PLO and now the Hamas, and did not bring more work opportunities or more prosperity to the poor people. On the contrary: job opportunities were given by the Israelis, until they were exiled from Gush Katif!

The friendly attitude of the Italian public to Israel was expressed after Iranian President Ahminajad called for the wiping out of Israel. Sheikh Palazzi called for a protest demonstration in front of the Iranian Embassy in Rome. To everyone's surprise, tens of thousands came to protest. 60% of the members of the Italian parliament came in person or sent personal representatives. [If we remove from the population the parliament members of the extreme Left and Right, who comprise about 10% of the Parliament, it shows that about 70% of the non-doctrinaire members of parliament attended the demonstration.] Many Muslims belonging to other Muslim organizations attended. The federation of Muslims from Morocco comprise abut 50% of Muslims in Italy. The head of this federation is a woman, herself a member of the Italian Parliament. She said that Morocco has a tradition of friendship with the Jews. During World War 2, Hitler demanded that Morocco permit the Nazis to take the Moroccan Jews. The King of morocco refused, saving hundreds of thousands of Jews from death.

A second large group of Muslims in Italy are exiled Iranians. They said: we are against Ahmadinejad; we identify with the relationship of Persian King Cyrus to the Jews, who permitted the Jews to build their Temple! We hope that the present regime will fall, and the new regime will be friendly to Israel, as in the past, and the Jews will build the Temple.

The following morning, one of the largest Italian newspapers carried a major header, saying that after yesterday's demonstration, we awoke today to find to our surprise that Italy is a Zionist State!! This was also the feeling of the organizers!

The demonstration had a great impact on the political atmosphere. The major parties changed their attitude towards Israel, and now a positive attitude toward Israel is a cornerstone of Italian government policy. The importance of this lies among other things in that even in places with a large potentially anti-Israel population, the clear government attitude acts to prevent this from happening.

A symbol of this mutual friendly relationship is in the "Jerusalem Square" in Rome, and the "Rome Square" in Jerusalem.

Sheikh Palazzi added, that in Italy, any public preacher and teacher is licensed, and the license is conditional with a code of behavior forbidding incitement to actions which are illegal under Italian law. Every Imam and Muslim school-teacher knows he can lose his license if he oversteps the legal limits – so they do not do so.

After describing the situation in Italy, Sheikh Palazzi returned to discuss world politics vis-á-vis Israel, saying:

President Obama spoke in Cairo, speaking softly to Iran and Egypt, speaking harshly to Israel. At this juncture, Israel must be courageous! It is for this that I am speaking here: to strengthen the government of Israel. The government must understand, that despite all the talk, the US will not do anything against Israel, since the US in in a bad situation, involved without success in Afghanistan, in a difficult situation with Iran, and it has become clear that the situation in Iraq is very problematic: the US toppled Saddam Hussein, who was a buffer against the spread of the influence of Iran. Now Iraq is being taken over by Iran; the US sees that the result of the war is not to the advantage of the US!

In summary: Sheikh Palazzi blessed the Government of Israel to have courage to continue to develop all the land controlled by Israel, for the benefit of the Jews, not to freeze development anywhere in the vain hope that peace can be achieved with the Palestinians Arabs. Specifically Sheikh Palazzi said that Israel should continue with the development of Maaleh Edumim, which lies about 10 Km to the east of Jerusalem. The US will protest, and Israel will develop!

In response to questions, Sheikh Palazzi stated that all Arab claims to the Holy Land are contrary to Islam. The Qur'an clearly says that the Holy Land is designated by God for the Children of Israel.

Sheikh Palazzi also explained, that the Islamic terrorism is a result of Wahhabi deviations from Islam. The Wahhabi interpretations are foreign to Islam, in explicit contradiction to the teachings of Islam of over 1000 years! It is the ruling family in Saudi Arabia who disseminates this travesty of Islam, these strange ideas of conquering the world. This is not the teaching of Islam, it is an attempt of the Saudis to control the whole world.

It is up to the Muslims world-wide to combat Wahhabi deviationism. It is incumbent on Muslims and Jews to show the whole world that Jews and Muslims can live together in peace and brotherhood, each with its own culture and religion, each in the lands ordained for them by God.

Sheikh Palazzi promised that he would gladly give all advice and support to the government of the state of Israel in preparation for a comprehensive course of studies of Islam for Arabs, throughout the first twelve school years, which will teach true Islam, with Islam's traditional respect for Judaism and Christianity, and acknowledging the right of the Jews to their own independent sovereign state in all of the Holy Land, from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates.

Written up by Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander


Click here to see the Hebrew version

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