I don’t know why this is so hard to grasp. If you’ve been covering Israel / Gaza for over two years and you still don’t know what the Western Wall is…That’s weird. It tells me you have no interest in covering this beyond an extremely superficial level.
It’s only strange if you give weight to the specific religious claims to Jerusalem rather than the humanity of the people living there. The archeological significance of that wall doesn’t change the politics of Zionism or Palestinian liberation, nor should it.
It would be like complaining that someone doesn’t know the significance of the Black Stone in the Kaaba while discussing the geopolitical influence of Saudi Arabia at the UN. Is it a significant part of the mythology of Islam and the region broadly? Sure. Is it relevant to the actions taken by the Saudi government today? Uhhh, not really, no.
Sure. But you should at minimum know about it. You don’t have to talk about it every day. But if you professed to be an expert in Saudi geopolitics and you didn’t know what the Kaaba is then I really don’t see any reason to listen to you any longer. It’s getting ridiculous at this point
It’s only strange if you give weight to the specific religious claims to Jerusalem rather than the humanity of the people living there. The archeological significance of that wall doesn’t change the politics of Zionism or Palestinian liberation, nor should it.
It would be like complaining that someone doesn’t know the significance of the Black Stone in the Kaaba while discussing the geopolitical influence of Saudi Arabia at the UN. Is it a significant part of the mythology of Islam and the region broadly? Sure. Is it relevant to the actions taken by the Saudi government today? Uhhh, not really, no.
Sure. But you should at minimum know about it. You don’t have to talk about it every day. But if you professed to be an expert in Saudi geopolitics and you didn’t know what the Kaaba is then I really don’t see any reason to listen to you any longer. It’s getting ridiculous at this point