Terrestrial Jerusalem

Profile

Country/TerritoryIsrael
Websitehttp://t-j.org.il/
Founded2010
In their own words“To identify and track the full spectrum of developments in Jerusalem that could impact either the political process or permanent status options, destabilize the city or spark violence, or create humanitarian crises.”

Funding

Activities

  • Promotes a one-sided approach to the conflict, placing sole blame for the failure of the peace process on Israel. The complexities of the situation in Jerusalem – including illegal building and crime in Palestinian neighborhoods, damage to the Temple Mount as a result of illegal digging by the Waqf, and incitement to violence against Jews by extremist clerics – are erased.
  • Lobbies intensively against policies and projects undertaken by the Israeli government and Jerusalem municipality designed to benefit the city’s residents, Arab and Jewish. For instance, regarding the Mount Scopus National Park, which was created “to protect against illegal building, which could destroy the last green area in east Jerusalem” and to “fight against criminals who throw trash and private individuals who try to appropriate the land,” Terrestrial Jerusalem alleges that “the clear goal of this park is to take land away from Palestinian residents and make it available for future Israeli development.”
  • Founder Danny Seidemann has claimed that Israel’s actions in Jerusalem are “contributing to the transformation of a resolvable national-political conflict into an intractable mix of jihad, war of mitzvah, and Armageddon – a religious war driven by the Biblical imagery.”
  • In May 2018, Terrestrial Jerusalem was featured extensively in PAX Netherlands’ report, “Fragmented Jerusalem,” that claims “the decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem has already had a highly detrimental effect, sparking both renewed Palestinian violence and a resumption of initiatives to expel Palestinians from their homes on disputed land in Sheikh Jarrah.”
  • In response to the installation of metal detectors at the Temple Mount to increase security following a terrorist attack that killed two Israeli Border Police officers in July 2017, Seidemann tweeted, “No gadget can be effective in blocking the drive for liberty. The new mechanisms may make Palestinian lives miserable -they won’t stop them.”
  • On July 4, 2017, Seidemann spoke at a Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) briefing on “Jerusalem, 50 Years On: Unification or Occupation?” stating that “Israel has a choice…either it can have its united Jerusalem, or it can have international legitimacy. It cannot have both.” Seidemann furthered that “while it used to be a ‘benign’ occupation that existed,” it was now an “’unapologetic’ and ‘metastasizing’ occupation which exercises constant collective punishment” (emphasis added).
  • In July 2017, Seidemann stated in an interview with the World Council of Churches (WCC) that “For most of the time since 1967, the occupation of the West Bank has been military, while it has been of a more colonial nature in east Jerusalem. There is no military rule there, although the Israelis crush anything more radical than a scout meeting. And Palestinians are permanently politically disempowered.”
  • In a June 2017 interview with the BBC, Seidemann stated that the “greatest threat to the Jewish people in this generation to be perpetual occupation and Israelis are in a state of clinical denial.” When asked “What’s the mechanism that brings Israel to an end if you don’tdisengage from occupation,” Seidemann answered “Decay [and] isolation.”
  • In February 2013, Seidemann and Ronit Avni of Just Vision lectured for Peace Now on “the threat that Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem are posing to the two-state solution.”
  • In November 2011, Terrestrial Jerusalem published a report titled “East Jerusalem: Development and Trends,” which claimed that settler related events “are radicalizing the conflict, in a manner that threatens to transform a resolvable political conflict into a zero-sum, intractable religious war.”
  • A presentation titled “East Jerusalem Settlements and the Imminent Demise of the Two State Solution” appears to treat the Geneva Accords as an official representation of the “two-state solution,” as opposed to an unofficial, non-governmental initiative that does not represent the Israeli or the Palestinian negotiating positions.

Staff

  • Founded by Daniel Seidemann, who is also the founder and former director of Ir Amim.
  • Lara Friedman “works closely with Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann and his NGO ‘Terrestrial Jerusalem’.”
    • Lara Friedman is the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP).
    • In July 2018, FMEP President Lara Friedman was quoted demonstrating support for BDS stating that “settlements are illegal, and the products of settlements are, in effect, the proceeds of crime or stolen goods…When defenders of settlements say Israel and settlements are being singled out for unfair treatment, what they mean is that they demand that Israel and settlements be exempted from international law, and that doing anything but holding Israel to a different, lower standard will be attacked as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic” (emphasis added).
    • On June 6, 2017, Lara Friedman spoke about the “Power of Effective Advocacy” at the Churches for Middle East Peace “Advocacy Event” titled “50 Years Too Long.” The event was designed to educate participants “how to advocate for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza and put that learning into practice by visiting government representatives to promote a solution that advances security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians.”
    • She has used “apartheid” rhetoric, and in October 2016 called on the UN Security Council  to “send a message to Israel and to end” its policy in the settlement as “Israeli policy in the settlements is ending the chance for peace.”

Foreign donations based on reports to Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits (amounts in NIS)

2017-2020 figures based on quarterly reports

Donor2020201920182017
Switzerland87,011214,193
Sweden183,174183,174164,172
Denmark95,664190,204171,653
Germany`297,000
United Kingdom63,518
United States2,692,800

All Articles about Terrestrial Jerusalem