Dear Friends of Jerusalem,

As the Obama administration ratchets up the pressure on Israel and Jerusalem, we need your help to stop it! Please sign the One Jerusalem petition! This week, the Jewish people and the Nation of Israel are commemorating the nine days that lead to Tisha B'av, the day of the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem some two thousand years ago, which falls out this Thursday.

This day is unique on the Jewish Calendar. It is a day of sorrow and mourning. It is a day where we remember the many tragedies that befell the Jewish people since the Temple's destruction.  This idea of commemorating one's defeats is unique to the Jewish people.  But there is a good reason for it. The reason we mourn and remember all the tragedies that have befallen us is so that we remember our mistakes and do all that we can to prevent them from happening again.

Last week, President Obama's government summoned Michael Oren, Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. to the State Department to issue a strong warning for Jews to stop building in Jerusalem.  Prime Minister Netanyahu flatly rejected this warning. He said, "There is no prohibition against Arab residents buying apartments in the west of the city and there is no prohibition barring the city's Jewish residents from buying or building in the east of the city. That is the policy of an open city that is not divided."

He continued, "We cannot accept the notion that Jews will not have the right to buy apartments specifically in Jerusalem. I can only imagine what would happen if they were forbidden from purchasing apartments in New York or London: there would be an international outcry. This has always been Israel's policy and this is the policy of the current government."

Netanyahu also stated that Jerusalem is the "Unified capital of the Jewish people, and sovereignty over it is indisputable."

Later in the week, a State Department spokesman in response to a question about whether the U.S. would "exert some financial pressures" on Israel to stop settlements, responded," It's premature to talk about that."

For nine years, One Jerusalem has boldly defended the unity and indivisibility of Jerusalem. Now, President Obama is placing unprecedented pressure on the Israeli government to make concessions to the terrorist entities of Fatah and Hamas.  We cannot let this happen. We need to stand with Israel by continuing to make the case that the greatest threat in the Middle East and the Western World is Iran and that no division of Jerusalem or concessions by Israel's government will change that fact.

We need your help. Please sign today!

Respectfully Yours,

Allen Roth
President, One Jerusalem