Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King, who is also the founder and director of the Israel Land Fund (ILF), on Monday exposed the lawless state of affairs in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem where terror flags fly freely and calls for attacks on Jews are scrawled on the walls.
In a post on Facebook, King shared a video that he took on Monday while driving his motorbike through Abu Tor and other areas just south of the Old City. He pointed out green Hamas flags and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terror flags flying from nearly every electric line, and graffiti on the walls including images of a bloody knife in an open call for terror attacks.
Right under the Temple Mount from the south "there's no law and no sovereignty," revealed King.
The video, in which King can be heard describing the sights in Hebrew, can be viewed by clicking the image below.
"This is how the capital of Israel looks, at a distance of around 400 meters (just over 1,300 feet - ed.) from the remains of our Holy Temple," wrote King in text accompanying the video.
"This is what the capital of Israel looks like when there is no law enforcement, when there is no implementation of sovereignty. This is how it is when Jerusalem is only a means in a path to a goal and a step in the political advancement, and not a goal of its own."
Noting on his time in the City Council, he continued, "it has already been two years that I am demanding from the Mayor (Nir Barkat) to increase the enforcement of planning and building laws and criminal treatment against those polluting the city and those writing graffiti on the walls facing public spaces."
"But as your eyes can see, there are priorities in the city according to which culture, perks and public relations come before a thorough treatment of the terror dens and an implementation of the sovereignty and enforcement of the law."
King pointed out several recent moves in the municipality indicating those priorities, saying, "this is what happened when the small budget for eradicating the deafening noise of the mosques was erased from the budget book."
"This is how in the last two years synagogues and yeshivas were demolished...but they forbid demolishing mosques," continued King, who has in the past revealed there are at least 57 illegally constructed mosques in the city.
"This is also how it was concerning everything related to abusive writings and support for attacks and terror, and there is no explicit instruction for municipal inspection to impose heavy sanctions and personally sue the owners of property on the walls of which the sentiments are written."
In conclusion, King wrote, "as can be seen in the video that I filmed this morning, on the streets of the city there are Hamas and PLO flags, on the walls are writings from terror organizations and encouragement and support for terror."
A city divided?
The breakdown of law enforcement in Arab neighborhoods was also exposed in January, when hundreds of armed Hamas terrorists fired automatic weapons in the air during a funeral for a terrorist in Shuafat in the northeast.
Police responded to the incident by noting there is a checkpoint in and out of the neighborhood, indicating a policy of containment rather than entry and law enforcement inside the neighborhood. That policy has been questioned given that Arab residents freely breach the security fence separating certain Arab neighborhoods from the rest of the city.
In light of the reality on the ground, a poll in March found that 61% of Israelis feel that the capital city is divided in practice, despite politicians' statements on the united capital.
King has long warned that the government has been covertly dividing the city, noting on the total lack of law enforcement in Arab neighborhoods allowing rampant illegal construction, coupled with a brutal freeze on Jewish construction over the 1949 Armistice lines. As a result Jerusalem leads the country in negative migration of Jews.