RUTHFULLY YOURS

President Donald Trump’s historic decision on December 6, 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city has elicited a torrent of negative and positive responses. The essential point in Trump’s statement is: “Today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. This is nothing more, or less than a recognition of reality.”

Lost in the debate are a number of questions: what constitutes a capital city; when did Jerusalem become Israel’s capital; what is the Jewish relationship to Jerusalem; how did Jerusalem assume such a significant position in Islam?

The National Geographic Society defines a capital as “a city where a region’s government is located. This is where government buildings are and where government leaders work.” According to this definition, Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. The Knesset, Israel’s legislative branch of government, Supreme Court, and the official residences of the Prime Minister and the President are in Jerusalem.

Israel’s Eternal Capital

When King David established Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city circa 1000 BCE, Jerusalem became the center of the Jewish nation’s sovereignty. Throughout Jewish history, the city has remained Israel’s capital. The centrality of Jerusalem for Jews is mirrored in their daily prayers, holidays, rituals and fervent appeals to G-d for her restoration.

On Sunday, in the late evening hours, a mysterious explosion rocked an army base belonging to Bashar Assad’s 47th Brigade near the city of Hama. Other targets near Aleppo were also reportedly hit. The blast at Hama was so powerful that it generated massive seismic activity, registering 2.6 on the Richter magnitude scale according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Center.

But this was no earthquake. It was a precision military strike aimed at destroying a large cache of missiles recently airlifted by Tehran from Mehrabad airbase to Hama’s military airport, through Iraqi airspace. Iran effectively controls Baghdad making the task of illegally transporting contraband through Iraqi airspace a rather simple affair.

According to reports, the strike hit pay dirt, igniting a stockpile of some 200 rockets and missiles, including anti-aircraft missiles, and generating a series of enormous secondary explosions. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 40 pro-regime mercenaries were killed in the blasts and some 60 were wounded. The SOHR noted that the death toll could climb. The semi-official Iranian news agency INSA reported that at least 18 Iranians were killed including a commander, a claim swiftly denied by the Islamic Republic, which for obvious reasons doesn’t like to advertise its losses or show images of its elite troops coming home in body bags. Satellite images of the site taken shortly after the blasts revealed widespread destruction with at least 13 buildings either severely damaged or leveled entirely.

Iran and Syria initially blamed Israel for the attack but swiftly backtracked claiming that the attack was carried out by the United States and Britain. Some conspiracy theorists have even suggested that the Russians were responsible. These claims are dubious at best and in all likelihood, the attack was executed by the Israeli Air Force, a claim corroborated by three unnamed U.S. officials according to NBC. The Iranian/Syrian vacillation concerning assignment of blame remains a mystery.