Israel's Unjust Deportation of David Ben-Ariel

Israel's Unjust Deportation of David Ben-Ariel

As reported on the front page of the Jerusalem Post (Jan. 8, 1996), the GSS (Israeli Secret Police) sought my deportation for alleged involvement in a plot to "damage the mosques." This travesty of justice occurred during the witch-hunt that followed Prime Minister Rabin's assassination.

The Leftists were exploiting the death of Rabin to squash their legal opposition. Such Stalinist tactics were condemned by former Russian refuseniks and Prisoners of Zion. Thankfully, the regime of Shimon Peres was toppled with the election of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

As a Christian-American member of the Temple Mount Faithful movement, I had been privileged to participate in their legal demonstrations during my 10-month stay in Jerusalem awaiting dual citizenship. Israeli television often showed me with my Jewish friends carrying Israeli flags throughout the Old City. I have also been published in the Jerusalem Post, the Traveller and other publications about the burning issue of the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount suffers under a militant Muslim occupation that illegally forbids Christians and jews from praying or reading the Bible there.

This despite the fact that both biblical Temples stood there, and it is the location where Jesus and His disciples taught and prayed. Israel has a law against such violent religious discrimination, but they're afraid or unwilling to enforce it. Such shameful appeasement rewards the Muslim aggressors and punishes the innocent!

The Temple Mount Faithful demands an end to this injustice. Meanwhile, the Muslim terrorists continue to destroy rich archaeological evidence upon the Temple Mount that proves Jerusalem is Jewish! The world condemned the Muslim Taliban for blowing up a Buddhist idol, yet has remained deathly silent while Judaism's holiest site is desecrated!

In my book, Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, I've called for the Israeli government to exercise its biblical responsibility to build the Temple. I wrote that book in the United States before any of this trouble. It clearly explains that I'm not calling for any individual to remove the mosques, but rather expecting the government to fulfill their historic obligations (if an "act of God" doesn't solve the problem first).

I mentioned this to the police during my six and a half hours of night-time interrogation by six different men. Later I was imprisoned in Jerusalem's rotting Russian Compound (built by the Turks) for several weeks until my heartbreaking deportation (for highlighting the plight of the Temple Mount).

As my attorney in Israel, Naftali Warzberger, has written: my future is linked with the Jews and Israel. That is why I'm confident justice will prevail.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D. Ohio) persistently presented this case of religious discrimination and political persecution before our State Department that turned a blind eye to the facts. (It's now evident why, since the former Consul General in Jerusalem, Edward G. Abington, Jr., is presently a paid lackey of the terrorist PLO! Talk about a conflict of interests that should be investigated!).

Senator Mike DeWine (R. Ohio) has inquired on my behalf to return to Zion and was informed that the Israeli Ministry of the Interior has made the decision not to grant the visa and does not offer any information behind their decision. They later wrote Senator DeWine that I wouldn't be eligible for a visa until 2005! Now that it's here, I've recently requested Senator DeWine's assistance in obtaining such a visa.

Gershon Salomon, chairman of the Jerusalem-based Temple Mount Faithful, assures me that a change is coming in Israel that will welcome me back and appreciate my efforts on behalf of Israel.

David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer in Ohio and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out Beyond Babylon.