Mulling over George Pope to STEVE ASHER 23 Jan 2005

Hi George!

SA> "Jerusalem is the basis of the Jewish state. It was impossible that
SA> Hirzl compiled a book without thinking of Jerusalem. The Jews had
SA> stayed abroad for 2000 years and then returned to that city following
SA> the publication of Hirzl's book and Balfour declaration," Davis has
SA> been quoted as saying.

 GP> You could've worded that as "Davis has been quoted as correctly
 GP> saying." 

Well, as I attributed, it is an Al Jazeera article... I didn't write it.
The Al Jazeera article makes a notable omission ... the meeting Davis
attended was the 11th annual Temple Mount dinner. I just found a better
report on WorldNetDaily / Jerusalem Post, which gives more of the context.

The issue for me isn't so much whether the Temple will be built, or in
what exact circumstances. I accept that it will be built, rebuilding 
being necessary for the "man of sin" to be able to sit in the temple 
of God, showing himself to be God etc, as described in 2 Thessalonians 2:4.

==========================================================================

US politician hopes to speed building of third temple

Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 25, 2005

Orly Benny-Davis has come a long way from her youth in Ramat Gan.
Today a well-known US political activist, Benny-Davis ran for the
senate last year in her home state of South Carolina. On Monday night,
she was in Jerusalem to attend the 11th annual Temple Mount dinner and
to help speed up the construction of the third temple.

Close to 1,000 right-wing religious activists converged on the
Jerusalem International Convention Center to celebrate Tu Bishvat and
listen to speakers on various topics - ranging from what the economy
will be like in the time of the third temple to what type of
government is ideal according to the Torah.

"The temple is part of our history," Benny-Davis, who sponsored the
festivities, told The Jerusalem Post. "When I argue with people who
criticize us that we are occupying another nation, I explain to them
that the land has been ours for thousands of years. Just look at the
Temple Mount."

The Jews, she says, deserve a temple just like the Christians and the
Muslims.

"Look at what the Italians did in Rome with the Vatican and how much
money they make," Benny-Davis, who spent 15 years living in Italy,
said. "The Muslims also have a temple, and we, who came back to our
land 2,000 years later, don't have one, which is needed to initiate
the final return to Israel."

Calling her 2004 bid for the senate "a battle for God," Benny-Davis
said she is in the process of lobbying congressmen to pass a
resolution that would ensure Israel retains sovereignty over all of
the holy sites, including the Temple Mount.

The point of the festive dinner, she said, is to get people excited
about their Jewish heritage. "We need to get the ball rolling and to
get people excited to make things change," she said.

Prior to the festive dinner, the Temple Mount Faithful met in the
foyer to look at the most recent temple artifacts Rabbi Menahem
Makover, of the Temple Mount Institute in the Old City, has
constructed.

Makover said his institute has already completed constructing all of
the artifacts except for the altar, which needs to be physically
constructed on the Mount.

How will the temple be rebuilt while the Muslim mosques are currently
standing?

"No one knows how the temple will be built," he said. "But that is not
the main issue. What we are here to do is to inform people of the
importance of the temple and to show them it is not a theoretical idea
but is real and alive."

Not everyone agrees with Makover that the way to rebuild the temple is
not known.

"Maybe there will be a tsunami-like disaster similar to the one in
Southeast Asia which killed hundreds of thousands of people," said
Baruch Ben-Yosef, a member of the Temple Mount Faithful. "The mosques
will be moved to Mecca where they should be, and we will climb the
Mount to build an altar and conduct sacrifices."

                               -==-

Source: Jerusalem Post Online Edition ...
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/
JPArticle/Printer&cid=1106537800119

Cheers, Steve..

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