Every year on Jerusalem Day, as Israeli flags flutter proudly across the skyline and Jews celebrate the reunification of their eternal capital, the same falsehoods about Jerusalem inevitably reappear.
We are told that Jews have no historic connection to the city. That Jerusalem was never the capital of a Jewish state. That the Temple is a Zionist invention. That Israel is an “occupier” with no legitimate claim to the city.
But slogans are not facts, and propaganda is not history. And repetition does not transform fiction into truth.
So this Jerusalem Day, amid the noise and distortion, it is worth returning to something increasingly rare in discussions about Israel: facts.
And the facts about Jerusalem are overwhelming.
Jerusalem has stood at the center of Jewish life and identity for more than 3,000 years. Circa 1000 BCE, King David made the city the capital of the Jewish people. His son King Solomon built the First Temple there more than 1,500 years before the advent of Islam. The Second Temple stood for centuries until its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE.
Our connection is not abstract, it is historical. Jerusalem is mentioned more than 660 times in the Bible, while it is not mentioned even once in the Quran. Archaeological discoveries throughout the Land of Israel further underline the Jewish connection to the city. The Tel Dan Stele, an ancient inscription discovered in northern Israel in 1993, contains the earliest known extra-biblical reference to the “House of David,” providing powerful historical evidence for the Davidic dynasty described in scripture.
And the Siloam Inscription, discovered in Jerusalem in 1880, commemorates the completion of King Hezekiah’s water tunnel in the 8th century BCE and was written in ancient Hebrew, providing direct evidence of organized Jewish life and governance in the city during the First Temple era.
Indeed, no other people in history ever made Jerusalem its national capital except the Jews. Not the Romans. Not the Byzantines. Not the Ottomans. Not the British. And certainly not the Palestinians.
The Jewish bond with Jerusalem was never merely symbolic. It was continuous, tangible, and enduring.
For nearly two millennia of exile, Jews prayed facing Jerusalem three times a day. At every Passover Seder they proclaimed, “Next year in Jerusalem.” At weddings, a glass was shattered to mourn the city’s destruction.
And despite expulsions, massacres, and foreign rule, Jews maintained a continuous presence in the city. Even after the Roman expulsion and Crusader massacres, small Jewish communities persisted. In 1488, for instance, famed Italian Rabbi Obadiah of Bartenura, whose authoritative commentary on the Mishna is studied until today, found active Jewish life in Jerusalem upon his arrival.
Indeed, by the mid-19th century, decades before the rise of modern political Zionism and long before the establishment of the State of Israel, Jews had already become the largest population group in Jerusalem.
The numbers tell the story clearly.
Jerusalem’s Jewish population numbered approximately 7,120 in 1844. By 1876, the Jewish population had risen to roughly 12,000. By the turn of the 20th century, Jews formed a clear majority.
These are not political talking points. They are historical realities.
Nor was Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel some sudden 20th-century phenomenon. Historical records indicate that by the early 19th century, more than 10,000 Jews already lived in the land. By 1890, the Jewish population had risen to approximately 43,000, and by 1914 it had reached roughly 94,000.
In other words, the Jewish return to Zion was already underway long before Theodor Herzl, long before the British Mandate, and long before the modern conflict.
The evidence is impossible to ignore
Despite this mountain of evidence, attempts to erase Jewish history in Jerusalem continue unabated.
Palestinian leaders routinely deny that the Jewish Temples ever existed on the Temple Mount, despite overwhelming archaeological and historical proof. International bodies have passed resolutions referring to Judaism’s holiest site solely by its Muslim names, as though centuries of Jewish attachment can simply be legislated away.
This is historical revisionism. But archaeology itself demolishes these falsehoods.
Excavations throughout Jerusalem have uncovered ancient Jewish coins, Hebrew inscriptions, royal seals, and remnants from the First and Second Temple periods. Ancient historians, such as Josephus, documented the destruction of the Second Temple in vivid detail. Even Roman triumphal imagery, most famously the Arch of Titus in Rome, depicts Jewish captives carrying the Temple menorah into exile.
Facts do not cease to exist simply because anti-Israel ideologues seek to erase them.
Nor should anyone forget what happened when Jerusalem was divided between 1948 and 1967 under Jordanian rule.
During those 19 years, Jews were completely barred from accessing the Western Wall and the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, despite explicit guarantees in the 1949 armistice agreements. Fifty-eight synagogues in the Jewish Quarter were destroyed or damaged by the Jordanians. Ancient gravestones on the Mount of Olives, some dating back centuries, were desecrated and used for roads, military camps, and even latrines.
The city’s reunification in 1967 ended 19 years of Jordanian control of eastern Jerusalem, with the Hashemite Kingdom’s annexation having been recognized by only two countries.
Yet, somehow it is Israel that now stands accused of restricting religious freedom.
The truth is precisely the opposite.
Since reunifying Jerusalem in June 1967, after Jordan joined the Six Day War, Israel has safeguarded access to holy sites for all faiths. Muslims pray freely at al-Aqsa Mosque. Christians maintain churches and institutions throughout the city. Jerusalem, under Israeli sovereignty, has become one of the few cities in the Middle East where Jews, Christians, and Muslims all have genuine religious freedom protected by law.
The city itself reflects that vitality.
Today, Jerusalem is home to nearly one million residents, making it Israel’s largest city. It boasts well over 1,000 synagogues, hundreds of churches, and dozens of mosques. It is the seat of Israel’s parliament, Supreme Court, and national institutions. It is a living, thriving capital, not a relic of ancient memory.
And that is ultimately what Jerusalem Day represents.
It is not merely the anniversary of a military victory. It is the celebration of an ancient people returning to its historic heart after centuries of dispersion and longing.
When Israeli paratroopers reached the Western Wall in June 1967, commander Motta Gur famously declared, “The Temple Mount is in our hands.” At that moment, Jewish history came full circle.
Jerusalem was not conquered in 1967. It was liberated and reclaimed.
At a time when lies about Israel spread with alarming speed across campuses, social media, and international forums, it is more important than ever to stand unapologetically for truth.
Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people because history says so. Archaeology says so. Demography says so. And 3,000 years of uninterrupted Jewish memory say so.
The facts are there for anyone willing to see them.■
The writer served as the deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.