Background to the Supreme Court Case

“...the planning was performed without prior knowledge of the finding of graves at the site; that the area has not been classified as a cemetery for decades; that the plans wereprepared properly without anyone expressing opposition....”
Supreme Court ruling HCJ 52/06 Al-Aksa Association vs. SWC Museum Corp. et. al., October 29, 2008.

Background to the Supreme Court Case

When the idea to build a Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem was first conceived, we had no particular land in mind. We were shown various properties before we saw the current sitein the center of west Jerusalem. The site was jointly owned by the Israel Land Authority (the government) and the Jerusalem municipality.

The site had been, for half a century, a large car park (a portion of it with three levels of underground parking), serving the diverse community of Jerusalem. The City ofJerusalem had also laid electrical cables as well as sewerage lines below ground. Each day, hundreds of Jews, Christians, and Moslems parked their cars there. At the Supreme Courthearing, Sheikh Raed Salah (for more information on Sheikh Raed Salah, go to:http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1219218627343&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) representing the Al-Aksa Institute, affirmed that it was common knowledge that the site had always been part of a Moslem cemetery. And yet, in 50 years, no Moslem group had everprotested any of the above.

Additionally, when the project was in its initial design stage, the model was on display in Jerusalem’s City Hall and newspaper ads announcing the new project were taken out inHebrew, Arabic, and English. Yet again - no protest.

When construction began and bones were discovered on the site, antiquities experts opined that these bones were between 100 and 300 years old and not a single marker identifyingany individual family or religion existed.

It is important to note that, throughout the Moslem world, a cemetery not in use for 37 years is considered ‘mundras’ – an abandoned cemetery that has lost its sanctity. In fact,the Mufti of Jerusalem, in 1946, had planned to build a Moslem University of 15 buildings on the entire Mamilla cemetery, adjacent to the parking lot, which was considered‘mundras’ (abandoned). As a matter of record, today, ‘mundras’ lands are regularly built upon throughout the Arab world, in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and thePalestinian territories.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center did not initiate the proceedings before the Supreme Court; Sheikh Raed Salah did, on behalf of the Al-Aksa Institute. When the Supreme Court orderedmediation between the parties to be conducted by former Chief Justice Shamgar, the Center was very sensitive to the issue and offered numerous compromises, which were all rejectedout-of-hand by Sheikh Salah, who insisted that they wanted the Court to rule on the matter. Now, after over two years of deliberation, the Court has issued a 119-page verdictunanimously ruling in favor of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Therefore, considering all the above facts, it would be most unfair and indeed hypocritical to hold the Simon Wiesenthal Center to a higher standard than Moslems throughout theworld hold for themselves. And so, construction on the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem project will begin immediately.

“Jerusalem is 3,000 years old and every stone and parcel of land has a history that is revered by people of many faiths,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the SimonWiesenthal Center, “We are deeply committed to do everything in our power to respect that sacred past, but at the same time, we must allow Jerusalem to have a future and we arehonored to be given an opportunity to be a part of that future.”