The title of this post should be absurd on its face. Jerusalem of no historical significance to Jews? Who is kidding whom? Is this a lie to beat all lies? And what about the rising prominence of Jerusalem amongst Muslim radicals?
Gold's new book is The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City, discusses Muslim claims and shows in painstaking detail the archaeological and other evidence to establish once and for all the Jewish roots in the land of Israel. Gold says:
A friend of mine in Britain, who works in the Gulf states, told me that most of his Arab contacts these days tell him that there never was an ancient Kingdom of Israel or Kingdom of Judah.
I felt I must at least begin the effort to negate these trends. So in the beginning of the "Fight for Jerusalem," I dealt with these issues but I also put into the book striking color photos from the Israel Antiquities Authority with some of the greatest archaeological finds of recent years that bolster the veracity of the Biblical narrative and contradict the trend Arafat sought to initiate. How can you deny there was a Kingdom of Judah when you see in my book royal seals of the Davidic dynasty--like the seal of Hezekiah, King of Judah?
Gold also discusses the striking claim by one Muslim leader that Jerusalem will become the capital of a future global caliphate. Read the whole interview here.