– Twenty-First Century Crusades?

Prediction 11: The Vatican expressing special interest in the Temple Mount and other holy sites in Jerusalem.

Vatican muscling in on Jerusalem
By Stan Goodenough

The Roman Catholic Church says the Jewish state cannot be trusted to exercise control over the city of Jerusalem – ancient and eternal capital of the people of Israel.
 

In a statement whose arrogance and contempt he seemingly could not see, the Vatican’s legal advisor in Israel, David Jaeger, told an international conference in Haifa Tuesday that Jerusalem was too important a city to leave in the hands of either “Palestinians” or Jews.

Jaeger’s view was that the status of Jerusalem required the approval of the international community as a whole.

Ironically the Vatican, which claims to be spiritual home to one billion of the world’s Christians, rejects the biblical stipulation granting everlasting possession of ancient Canaan, inclusive of Jerusalem, to the Jewish people.

Since 1947 it has sought to have Jerusalem internationalized, confident that with Rome’s massive global constituency the pope will be able to exercise substantial control over the city.

Jaeger is historically on solid ground when he says the Palestinian Arabs should have no say over Jerusalem. The city has never been an Arab capital and the “Palestinians” have no historic or national rights to it (or to any other part of Israel’s biblical homeland).

The Jews, by contrast, have venerated the city as their holiest site for over 3000 years. Israel is the only nation that has ever had Jerusalem as its capital. During centuries of exile, Jews everywhere prayed daily to return to Jerusalem in order to be able to once again worship their God in this place.

Jerusalem is described in the New Testament as the “City of the great King,” referring to Jesus of Nazareth who also bears the title King of the Jews. The book of Revelation, foretelling Jesus’ return to Jerusalem, calls Him the Lion of the Tribe of Judah – i.e. He remains Jewish.

In recent history, it has only been while under Jewish administration that Jerusalem has flourished and that protected access to all of its holy places (including Christian and Muslim sites) has been guaranteed.

Between 1949 and 1967, when the Arab kingdom of Jordan occupied the eastern part of the city, the rights of Jews and Christians to visit their holy places was restricted, sometimes denied. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City was left to rot, its synagogues sacked and burned.

Despite this, the Vatican believes it should have a say that could deny the right of the Jewish people to keep their beloved capital in their hands.