In this Jerusalem Post report, several correspondents quote Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev:
Denying the Jewish connection to the Western Wall is to deny reality. If you deny the Jewish connection to the Western Wall you are in fact denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the land of Israel itself. When they deny the Jewish connection, they are unfortunately raising very serious questions as to their true commitment to reconciliation.
Gershon Baskin, the joint CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, who had sent a letter to the Palestinian leadership in the wake of the Post article, calling the findings of al-Mutawakel Taha “a serious mistake” and “a stain on the Palestinian Authority, makes the following remark:
Any observer, even a non-professional archeologist, can discern that the stones used to construct the Western Wall (the Kotel) are from the era of Solomon’s Temple and the Temple rebuilt by King Herod which was hundreds of years before Islam appeared on the world stage.
It makes one despair that even some Israelis don’t seem to know that the Western Wall is Herodian and not Solomonic. See yesterday’s post.
HT: Joe Lauer
Hi Leen,
As you know there is a section of wall on the Eastern side of the Temple Mount that contrasts the stones used by King Herod’s builders with those used by the previous builders, the Hasmoneans. Attention to the “seam” at this time may help enlighten people as to the Jewishness of the Temple Mount. Thank you for keeping us informed about this important issue.
Hi Arthur,
Thanks for that. There are even older stones to be seen on both sides of the Golden Gate that belong to the Iron Age, or First Temple period. They were probably placed there by King Hezekiah, the originator of the first Temple platform which was a square of 500 cubits. See: http://www.ritmeyer.com/2008/07/18/the-temple-mount-new-discoveries-from-the-time-of-king-hezekiah/
and http://www.ritmeyer.com/2008/07/19/the-temple-mount-new-discoveries-from-the-time-of-king-hezekiah-cont/