Joel Bainerman, who died just a week or so ago, was a highly regarded investigative journalist based in Israel. CMR
The Vatican Agenda:
How Does The Vatican View The Legitimacy of Israel's Claims To Jerusalem?
How Does The Vatican View The Legitimacy of Israel's Claims To Jerusalem?
By Joel Bainerman
Most Israelis have probably never
thought very much about what the Roman Catholic Church/The Vatican thinks about
"end of days" theology. Jews themselves don't give much thought to what
will happen when "Gog and Magog" takes place. Jews don't go in for
anything the least bit "next world" but instead are firmly planted in
the here and know. That's good.
However it doesn't matter what Jews
think, what matters is what The Vatican believes, and why it believes this.
Judaism, and modern Jewish thought pretty much just dismisses the basic tenets
of Catholicism outright and doesn't even bother addressing the core questions
of what is behind "Catholic theological claims."
Instead of taking what they believe
seriously, we tend to snicker amongst ourselves when we see those pictures of
obscure rituals and ceremonies, and think the whole religion is near pagan-like
with the "eating of Holy Wafers" and "sprinkling of Baptism water"
on people's heads. That may be true, but that doesn't matter. What matters is
what they believe and what they plan to do about making their beliefs become a
reality.
The institution of "The
Vatican" is not understood by Israelis and Jews. The conventional wisdom
you get from the spokespersons in Israeli government ministries and the
conventional Israeli media is "both sides have great intentions to do
good" and that's about it. When it comes to Israel’s bi-lateral affairs,
nothing much gets investigated by the Israeli media. Thus a secret deal could
be done between the Vatican and the State of Israel and nobody in Israel would
ever find out about it.
In fact, that is exactly what
happened.
This essay will provide the
background to that deal, as well as what the Vatican’s intentions are regarding
Israel and The Old City Of Jerusalem. It will reveal which Israeli politicians
made certain commitments to The Vatican regarding the issue of sovereignty in
the Old City of Jerusalem. These negotiations and meetings were all carried out
in secret. During this time period, 1992-l995, the Oslo Accords was what got
all the public's attention. Oslo was like "throwing sand in the eyes"
of the public. The Vatican is where the real action was happening. Oslo seemed
to be just the cover story. A “red herring”, if you will.
What Does The Vatican Want?
It can't be that the Vatican is only
interested in "access to their Holy Sites" in Jerusalem. They already
have that as well as legal jurisdiction under Israeli law for their institutions
and assets in Jerusalem. Also, when these "Holy Sites" were under the
jurisdiction of the Jordanians from l948-l967, no Pope demanded the
"internationalization of Jerusalem".
It is something else, which the
Vatican wants. The Roman Catholic Church, need to have certain versions of
events be played out for them to stand in front of mankind and proclaim: our
Messiah has returned.” Of course, to the Jews, this Messiah will be as false as
the first one was supposed to be. Don’t matter. This is the goal of the Vatican
and this is what all Israelis need to worry about.
The Vatican/Roman Catholic’s version
of events is this:
They know this isn't the end of the
story that the Jewish G-d had in mind, but that doesn't mean they won't try and
engineer their own ending to the story. So what if it is fraudulent. Doesn't
matter, that is their game plan and that is what matters and that is what
Israeli Jews need to be better informed about. It is important for everyone to
know what The Vatican has up its sleeve because it directly relates to our
existence and our future destiny as an independent nation. This a very powerful
force this is scheming to get control of the Old City of Jerusalem so you
better know why and how the Vatican intends to do this. Once you have all
the facts and the chronological record you will be better informed deal with
this issue and of foreign control over Israel's political existence and
destiny.
First, you have to realize that for
centuries The Vatican has attempted to obtain control of Jerusalem, which
started with the Crusades. For them to convince the world that the Messiah they
put on the world's stage is going to be accepted as genuine, they need to
perform this play in the Old City. The story of this production is that this "Messiah"
will merge the three monotheistic religions, usher in peace and harmony in the
world, and solve the Middle East conflict. The location for this
"production" will be in none other than the Old City of Jerusalem.
This so-called "Messiah"
that will be proclaimed, will be a false one and it will insist that by having
a "world government" (i.e., the United Nations) the world peace and
harmony will be ushered in. This will be a lie, and a fraud, but never mind. In
our world, reality isn't important. Public perceptions are.
The end result is
the stripping of Israel's sovereignty as an independent nation giving way to a
"regional bloc of nations" in the Middle East. Israel will be
pressured to accede to these demands by all world bodies and the superpowers on
the claim that "this is the only way to solve the Middle East conflict).
In order to the Jews to go along they will convince them that with the
"Messiah" having appeared for the Jews, it is time to start
rebuilding the Third Temple- what they call "Solomon's Temple". This
version of events is widely available through a simple search on the Internet
as there are many Christian groups and organizations (the majority of which who
are very pro-Israel) who don’t buy into these beliefs and thus are against them.
I didn’t come up with the theory- I am just bringing it to the attention of the
Israeli public.
Make no mistake about it. The Old
City of Jerusalem, as well as most of the eastern half of the city, is what The
Vatican is after.
Why?
Because controlling the entire Old
City of Jerusalem (and not just Church properties) and being able to build
whatever they want on Mount Zion is critical for the program they have planned
to put into play in our capital city. The deal that it has signed with Israel
via Yossi Beilin and Shimon Peres (in secret and without the approval of the
Knesset) gives The Church not only extraterritorial status to their properties
(which is what the bi-lateral agreement the Israeli government signed with the
Vatican on December 30th, 1993, put in law) but of control over the entire city
as "custodians" under UN presence. In this way the Jews will give up
control over the Old City. To the Vatican the Israeli people would have a
problem with. To the UN, they would say, "we had no choice".
A Chronology Of The Attempt By The
Vatican To Displace Israel From The Old City Of Jerusalem
The “Chronology of Events” for the
Vatican’s conquest of the Old City of Jerusalem is as follows- all of which can
be verified via the sources of the information:
October 1991
On October 12th, the head of the
World Jewish Congress, Edgar Bronfman, is appointed head of the International
Jewish Committee of Inter-religious Consultation to conduct officials contacts
with The Vatican and the State of Israel.
March 1992
On March 17th, Jerusalem Mayor Teddy
Kollek says: "The Israeli government should meet the Vatican's demand to
apply special status for Jerusalem."
April 1992
On April 1st, The Vatican announced
that it "favors a Labor victory" in the June 1992 general elections
in Israel.
On April 15th, Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, one of the highest ranking diplomats at The Vatican, visits
Israel for the first time but only meets with Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek.
June 1992
The story of The Catholic Church's
attempt to abscond with the Old City of Jerusalem from the Jews begins in July
1992. According to the information on the Foreign Ministry website, literally
from the moment the new Rabin-led Labor government took over from Yitzhak
Shamir's defeated Likud party, secret talks with the Vatican and the State of
Israel began. What precipitated these secret talks? Who arranged these talks,
and why? Why were they kept secret from the Israeli public? What was the end
result of these agreements? Where do they stand today? The entire subject of
Israel's bi-lateral relations with the Vatican is intentionally kept locked
away in secrecy. It is no wonder that nobody in Israel knows much about
"Israel-Vatican relations" as it is never, ever reported on in the
Israeli press.
The official story of the origins of
Israel's "secret channel contacts" between Beilin's negotiating team
and the Vatican comes about as a result of Shlomo Gur, a personal aide to
Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin, who knew someone who put him in touch
with Father David Jaeger. Father David Jaeger was president of the Catholic
Court in Austin, Texas, and was brought up as an Israeli orthodox Jew who then
converted to Catholicism and became a Father (not something that has happened
to many Israelis who grew up Orthodox). From there, which according to the
information on the Israel Foreign Ministry website was in July 1992 right after
the new Rabin government took over power, nothing is known about the
discussions until the agreement is signed on Dec. 30th, 1993. Nothing in the
Israeli press. The info given on the actual agreement signed was very minimal
and general in tone. This is probably one of the most important political
contacts Israel has in the world's "power structure" yet it isn't
reported on in the press. Thus no Israelis know about it. That is how it
remains hidden.
November, l992
The document which was used as the
underlying ideological basis for the Vatican's secret deal with Yossi Beilin
and Shimon Peres was personally authored by Beilin. "The
Illegitimacy of Israeli Sovereignty Over Jerusalem" outlines the Israeli
government's program for the future of Jerusalem and calls for the division of
the Old City into cantons whose border posts will be under UN control.
The plan which led to the December,
1993 agreement between The Vatican and the State of Israel was originally
discussed in November 1992 at the exact same time the first meetings in London
took place to discuss an agreement between Israel and the PLO which led to the
Oslo Agreements. The real goal was the Vatican attempt to take over the Old
City of Jerusalem. Oslo, or, "peace between Israel and the
Palestinians" was just a good cover story to hide what was really going on
in another sphere of Israel's foreign affairs.
September, 1993
On the 10th of September, just three
days before the signing of the Oslo Accords Washington, the Italian newspaper La
Stampa reported that then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres concluded a
secret deal with the Vatican to hand over sovereignty of Jerusalem's Old City
to the Vatican. the agreement and it was included in the secret clauses of the
Declaration Of Principles signed on September 13th, 1993 in Washington, DC.
In the same week that Israeli
Foreign Minister and chief Oslo architect Shimon Peres signed the Declaration
of Principles with Yasser Arafat in Washington, the Israel-Vatican commission
held a special meeting in Israel. Under the Vatican agreement the Israelis
would give over control the Old City to the Vatican before the year 2000. The
plan also calls for Jerusalem to become the second Vatican of the world with
all three major religions represented but under the authority of the Vatican.
Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel but the Old City will be
administered by the Vatican.
Arafat agreed to the plan just
before the famous "handshake" in 1993, but when he realized that the
Vatican was also going to let Israel share in the temple mount, he rejected it.
(To get Arafat and the Palestinians "on board", on February 14th,
2000, the PA did sign an agreement with the Vatican which recognized the
Palestinians' claims to East Jerusalem. The outbreak of the "Al Asqa
Intifada" seven months after this agreement was signed may have been part
of the commitment Arafat gave the Vatican as to what he would do for him in
return for the Vatican acknowledging Palestinians claims to East Jerusalem and
the right to statehood. The violence in the Middle East serves the Catholic
Church's interest especially if Jerusalem is the subject to discuss. By Arafat
getting guarantees from the Vatican that no matter what he does the Europeans
will not abandon him, then it makes sense for him to declare war on Israel in
Sept 2000. The "Barak gave him everything at Camp David" is
propaganda. Nothing was offered that the Knesset would have approved. The
intifada could only have happened if Arafat had gotten assurances from major
European powers that he would survive. The agreement on Feb 2000 would have
made more sense if it had occurred three or four years previous. However its
timing when it was makes the Sept 2000 intifada seem logical from Arafat's
perspective.
November 1993
In a report in the Jerusalem weekly
newspaper Kol Ha'ir, it was revealed that: "for the past six
months, The Israeli government has been taking advice on the future of
Jerusalem from a planning commission headed by a close aide of Teddy Kollek,
Raanan Weitz, formerly the settlement director of the Jewish Agency. At a
secret meeting on September 9, 1993, one day before Prime Minister Rabin signed
the recognition agreement with the PLO in Israel, the forum met secretly and
approved in principle a plan for Jerusalem concocted by Weitz, which he calls,
"Metropolitan Jerusalem."
December, 1993
With absolutely no media coverage in
Israel, on December 30th an "historic agreement with the Vatican" is
publicly acknowledged. Called: "The Fundamental Agreement Between The Holy
See and The State of Israel", it declares:
"Mindful of the singular
character and universal significance of the Holy Land. Aware of the unique
nature of the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people,
and of the historic process of reconciliation and growth in mutual
understanding and friendship between Catholics and Jews;
"Having decided on 29 July 1992
to establish a 'Bilateral Permanent Working Commission', in order to study and
define together issues of common interest, and in view of normalizing their
relations"
Already within one month of taking
power there was a special committee to further "Israeli-Vatican
Relations". From where did this initiative come so soon as the new
government took office?
April 1994
Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Shmuel
Meir announces at a Jerusalem press conference that he had received information
that properties promised to the Vatican in Jerusalem would be granted
extraterritorial status. (In early 1996 Meir was killed in a very suspicious
car crash whereby the driver who drove a UN truck into Meir's car was not even
charged.)
May 1994
Marek Halter, a French
intellectual/philosopher and a close friend of Peres, tells the Israeli weekly
magazine HaShishi that he personally delivered a letter from
Peres to the Pope in Sept, 1993 in which Peres promised to internationalize
Jerusalem, granting the UN political control of the Old City of Jerusalem, and
the Vatican hegemony of the holy sites within. The UN would give the PLO a
capital within its new territory and East Jerusalem would become a kind of free
trade zone of world diplomacy.
June 1994
On June 15th, the Israeli government
signs an agreement with The Vatican allowing the Catholic Church to participate
in negotiations to determine the future of Jerusalem.
July, 1994
On July 9th, 1994, the Vatican's
Foreign Minister, Jean-Louis Tauran, announces in Amman, Jordan:
"Before territorial problems are resolved, we have to find international
guarantees to safeguard the uniqueness of the city and assurances that never
again one party should claim Jerusalem as its
possession."
November l994
Israel signs a peace treaty with
Jordan which, according to reports in Haaretz, Maariv, and Yediot
Achronot, included secret clauses concerning water and Jerusalem. The
agreement had been negotiated in London eight months before between Rabin, King
Hussein, and Lord Victor Mishcon. As part of the agreement, Jordan would
receive control over the Islamic Holy sites within a Vatican-controlled Old
City of Jerusalem.
March 1995
A cable from the Israeli Embassy in
Rome to The Foreign Ministry was in Jerusalem is leaked to radio station Arutz
Sheva, confirming the handover of Jerusalem to the Vatican. Two days
later the cable made front page of Haaretz. In the widely distributed minutes
of a meeting with President Clinton in 1997, Peres ended the cable with the
words, "as I had previously promised the Holy See."
April 1995
Member of Knesset Avraham Shapira
announced in the Knesset that he had information that all Vatican property in
Jerusalem was to become tax exempt and that large tracts of real estate on
Mount Zion were given to the Pope in perpetuity.
February l996
A delegation from the Vatican met in
Jerusalem with Palestinian Authority Religious Affairs Minister, Hassan Tahbob.
Father Serge Sebastian, Secretary General of the Vatican, announced that the
Holy See recognizes Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem. After Shimon
Peres had replaced Yitzhak Rabin as Israel's prime minister, Internal Security
Minister Moshe Shachal refused to allow a Palestinian Authority meeting at the
Vatican's Notre Dame Hospice in Jerusalem. According to Shachal, the
Palestinians were planning to "use the Vatican to circumvent the Oslo
Accords."
November, 1997
On November 10th, the State of
Israel and the Vatican sign the "Legal Personality Agreement" whereby
the State of Israel agrees to "assure full effect law to the legal
personality of the Catholic Church itself." (What that means in plain
english is anyone's guess.)
February 2000
Hedging its bets by having
bi-lateral agreements with both sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict, on February
14th, Pope John Paul 11 meets Arafat in Rome to sign an accord to normalize
relations between Roman Catholic churches in Jerusalem and PA. Palestinian
Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei told The Jerusalem Post that the
agreement is "recognition by the Catholic Church of the Palestinian claims
to the eastern half of Jerusalem." According to Arafat's
spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, "Arafat had been lobbying for the idea
of sharing undivided Jerusalem, and for creating a Vatican-style sovereignty in
the Old City." (Somehow we are supposed to believe that Arafat initiated
this, and not the Vatican). The agreement calls for Jerusalem to be "an
international city based on international resolutions and an international
guarantee." The pact was signed despite the Vatican having signed an
agreement with Israel six years earlier on December 30th, 1993 which gave legal
jurisdiction under Israeli law over the Church's own institutions and assets in
the Holy Land.
March 2000
The Pope visits the Holy Land and
repeats the Holy See's insistence that" international oversight- 'a
special statute, internationally guaranteed'- would best safeguard the city's
holy sites and all its religions. The city of Jerusalem is the main obstacle to
peace in the region."
On March 27th, the Palestinian
Authority says that The Vatican no longer insists on international status for
the Old City of Jerusalem, and that The Vatican accepts the political division
of the Old City between Israel and the Palestinians. (One has to wonder if this
agreement had anything to do with Arafat’s decision to wage war on Israel six
months later?)
October 2000
In a speech to the United Nations on
October 30th, Archbishop Renato Martino declared: "The "unique
character" of Jerusalem as a city sacred to three great religions makes it
essential that religious leaders, not politicians, control the holy
sites." In his meeting on October 26th with Lebanese Ambassador to the
Vatican, Fouad Aoun, Pope John Paul 11 said that the city of Jerusalem should
be given "specially guaranteed international status."
January 2001
Israel TV journalists secretly film
under the Shrine Of Omar, the 7th century Islamic building which may have been
deliberately constructed over the Holy of Holies, them most sacred prayer room
of the ancient Jewish Temple. The video revealed a new and massive tunnel aimed
directly at the most sacred core of Solomon's and later, Herod's Temples.
During the Crusades the early 12th century chivalric order, The Knights
Templer, dug under the ruins for nine years and found a network of tunnels
where the Jewish priests hid their treasures form the marauding Romans in 70
CE. It was also assumed that the original records of the Jerusalem Church which
prove that the Vatican was not practicing Christianity as its founders had
intended, was buried in this spot. A pope with exclusive rights of divine
interpretation was not part of G-d's plan. If these scrolls were made public
they would jeopardize Rome's legitimacy. Thus it is imperative to The Vatican
that the Jews be removed from the Temple Mount so that they don't find these
important scrolls. The PA is serving as the Vatican's "building
contractors" in this arrangement in the hope that the Vatican will side
with the Palestinians in the conflict with Israel.
July 2002
Israeli, US and German delegations
at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Berlin have to
fight a surprise proposal to internationalize Jerusalem’s Old City by the
Italian delegation to the meeting. The head of the Italian delegation told
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the US-based Simon Weisenthal Center,
that the main concern of the Italian government was that “in the future when
there are peace discussions, the Palestinian entity will be given control of
the Christian Holy sites.”
Why the secular government of Italy
should be worried about this was not explained in the new item. (The Jerusalem
Post, July 8th, 2002)
So What Is The Vatican Planning And
What Can Israeli Jews Do About It?
For centuries the Vatican has been
pushing its "replacement" doctrine which states that the Catholic has
replaced Israel as "the New
Israel".
The Roman Catholic Church wants
Israel to lose sovereign control over the Old City of Jerusalem so that
"the promises to the literal descendents of Abraham will be applied to the
'New Jerusalem.'" If Israel controls Jerusalem it is evidence that Rome's
claims are not legitimate and that the literal interpretation of Scriptures is
correct. There is no place for the restoration of the nation of Israel in its
theology. How can the Vatican claim to be "the New Jerusalem" and
"rightful heir to the Kingdom of God" if the Jews control Jerusalem?
How is the Catholic Church going to convince the world that their version of theology
is correct?
The Vatican is going to have
everyone believe this "mysterious individual who will "unite the
faiths" and appear in Jerusalem which will be under the control of an
authority headed by The Vatican. " That deal to have the Vatican come into
Israel and take over these properties and to "control and dominate the Old
City of Jerusalem" already exists and has been fully documented and
reported in the world's media.
The end goal of The Vatican is to
seize control of the Old City of Jerusalem out of the clutches of the state of
Israel. To that end they have a secret agreement with Israel which obliges
Israel to respect the "extraterritorial" claim to their physical
presence in the city. In short, "we have accepted the Vatican's rights to
have little Vatican sovereign embassies throughout our eternal capital of
Jerusalem. That same Vatican has committed itself, in public and in a written
agreement, to ensure that the Palestinians have sovereignty in the Old City of
Jerusalem.
The public record shows a secret
deal has already been conducted behind the backs of the Israeli public whereby
the Vatican was promised to take over the Old City. There is ample proof in the
public record to prove that a secret deal was done with the Vatican by two
Israeli government representatives, Yossi Beilin and Shimon Peres. As it was
concocted covertly it can’t serve the Israeli public- but someone else. Thus
these agreements need to be made void and nullified.
It doesn't matter if religious Jews
or Israelis think that "Catholic theology" is "strange
looking" or extremely "ritualistic." What matters is that
all Israelis understand that The Vatican has a secret agenda and it includes
stealing the Old City of Jerusalem away from the Jews. That is what you need to
know and understand. Unfortunately, this agenda is being carried out in secret
and behind your back and that is why you are ignorant of its true aims. The
purpose of this essay is to warn you of these exact intentions of The Vatican
so that you will be an "informed consumer" when it comes to Israel's
relations with the Roman Catholic Church. Even the overt clauses of the Vatican
agreement, the exchange of ambassadors and the opening of the Vatican archives
to Israeli researchers, have not been fulfilled by The Vatican. From an Israeli
perspective, the "Fundamental Agreement Between The Holy See and The State
of Israel" has been a complete failure and should be immediately
rescinded.
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