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Education Ministry Poster
'Internationalizes' Jerusalem
 "An Education Ministry '60th Anniversary of Israel'
poster features a non-existent Christian church over the Western Wall.
The poster, distributed to all schools across the
country, features eight symbols portraying important aspects of the State of
Israel...
...This last, however, is marred by technological
manipulation in two ways. In addition to the golden Dome of the Rock towering
over the Kotel, the minaret of another Moslem mosque is shown above the Wall -
despite the fact that in reality it is much further to the north and out of
sight of Jews at the Wall. Secondly, a
church spire has been placed to the right of the minaret and above the Kotel -
when in fact no such church is located in the vicinity.
The photo thus creates the effect of a Jerusalem belonging
jointly to three religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
An Attempt to Internationalize Jerusalem
Jerusalem City Councilman David Hadari (National
Religious Party) refuses to take it lying down. In an urgent letter to
Education Minister Yuli Tamir and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Hadari wrote,
"This is clearly not a simple mistake, and certainly was not done
innocently. The distortion of reality
and the misuse of photos to transmit a message implying the
internationalization of Jerusalem is an act that abusively tramples the status
of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish Nation in the State of Israel."
Hadari demands that all the schools be instructed to
remove the poster, and that the Education Ministry send another one in its
stead "that will accurately and fairly reflect the true reality."
Temple Institute Speaks Out
The Temple Institute is also up in arms. Director
Yehuda Glick told the NRG website, "It is regrettable that those in charge
of the education of our children... are ashamed of the Jewish roots of
Jerusalem. The Jewish People is the only
nation that prays towards Jerusalem and its holy sites, and is the only one
that longs for its rebuilding; the attempts to distort this will not change
history."
Glick compared the "adjusted" poster to an
imaginary Education Ministry poster depicting the Supreme Court towered over by
the Vatican and a Moslem religious court, or to a photograph of Mt. Herzl
surrounded by the graves of George Habash and Stalin, "in the interests of
making a gesture to the brotherhood of nations."
Education Ministry Responds
The Education Ministry explained in response that
"in order to express in a pictorial manner the fact that Israel's capital
Jerusalem is sacred to the three religions, a Jerusalem church spire was
incorporated into the photograph. This
was an act of graphic design whose purpose was to concretize this matter."
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