|
By J. Zel Lurie
 DELRAY BEACH, Florida—Dr. Irving Moskowitz is what my father would have called a shainer yid. He prays every morning with a minyan near his home in Miami Beach. He lives modestly and uses his wealth to promote his Israeli friends, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, and the El Ad organization which is attempting to Judaize the Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.
A quarter century ago he invested in large plots in East Jerusalem. Among them a sizeable piece of land at the entrance to Ras el Amud, which El Ad says was once part of the Mt. of Olives cemetery. On it he built a fortress for about a dozen religious families. It resembles an 18th century cabin in hostile Indian country. Beyond it stretched Ras el Amud with thousands of Moslem families.
Like all El-Ad owned homes in Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods the Moskowitz tenants are guarded by a private security firm on a 24/7 basis. The firm is paid tens of millions of shekels a year by the Israel treasury. Their guards salaries are double that of an Israeli cop.
When Moskowitz began building in Ras el Amud his wealth became public knowledge to the astonishment of his fellow minyan goers. He had practiced medicine in California and had invested wisely. He bought and sold hospitals but his best investment was a bingo parlor in an Hispanic square mile town which lies within the borders of Los Angeles. The bingo parlor expanded into a large and lucrative casino but the press labeled him the bingo king.
Another large plot bought by Moskowitz lies on the border between Abu Dis and East Jerusalem. On a recent visit I noted that the barrier had been diverted to include the empty Moskowitz plot in Jerusalem.
A third bingo king investment was a hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah quarter on the old road to Mt. Scopus. Here he wanted to build a hundred housing units. For more than twenty years the Jerusalem Municipality has found reason to reject the application. He rented the hotel to the Border Police.
Last week, with the cooperation of the Likud Mayor of Jerusalem, Benjamin Netanyahu revived the 20-year-old application by his old pal and money bags, Irving Moskowitz, and approved it.
The State Department quietly objectred, as they had objected to the construction of all of the Jewish enclaves in East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu was not looking for quiet. He wanted a fight. He figured that fighting Obama over a Jew wanting to build in East Jerusalem would gather a lot more support that refusing to abide by the 2003 roadmap on freezing settlements.
He bombasted -- that’s a new word I just coined to fit Netanyahu’s style. “Our sovereignty over East Jerusalem cannot be challenged..”
Go to top of right column
| |
His statement continued:” This means-inter alia--that residents of Jerusalem can purchase apartments in all parts of the city.”
This happens to be a lie. An Arab resident of East Jerusalem is prevented by law from purchasing an apartment in West Jerusalem.
“Is it conceivable, ” Netanyahu continued, “That Jews would be forbidden to live in parts of Washington or New York.” This was answered by Nahum Barnea, senior columnist of Israel’s largest newspaper, Yediot Ahronot. He wrote that an American Jew lives at peace with his neighbors. A Jew in one of Moskowitz’s houses lives “under the shadow of the IDF’s bayonets.”
Barnea's story continued:
The Prime Minister’s office leaked a story that the new Israel Ambassador to Washington. Michael Oren had been “summoned” to the State Department to hear America’s objections. Actually Ambassador Oren was making his first courtesy call on Deputy Secretary of State Jacques Lew, who is Jewish.
It seems to me that Netanyahu knows that he can’t hold his coalition together much longer while wrestling with the United States. Good relations with Uncle Sam is the top priority of an Israeli prime minister. Apparently he has decided to go down fighting for the settlements and Irving Moskowitz.
The Army does not support him in what a military analyst called his “bickering” with Washington over settlements. The army is occupied with meeting the threat of a nuclear Iran. Without Army support his days are numbered.
The army told the New York Times on July 16 that two Israeli Saar class missile boats and one Dolphin class submarine passed through the Suez Canal. Israel has six Dolphin class submarines, wrote the Times, three of which are believed to be capable of carrying nuclear bombs.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Egyptian foreign Minister, said that his government explicitly allowed passage of the Israeli navy vessels.
Wrote the Times on July 16 under the byline of Sheera Frenkel: “This is a clear signal that Israel was able to put its missile force within range of Iran on short notice.”
Israel is working closely with the United States in the formation of what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week called a ‘defensive umbrella” for the Middle East against Iran. Has Netanyahu decided not to be a part of it?
|
