In the battle over Jerusalem – especially when it comes to the Old City and the surrounding “Holy Basin,” the Israeli left have become some of the greatest vocal opponents to the reestablishment of Jewish Shiloach (aka Silwan) and the Old Jewish Quarter (aka Muslim Quarter).

Take Nir Hasson of Haaretz for example. Hasson, a reporter for the extreme left Haaretz, makes a habit of attacking everything Ateret Cohanim does. From claiming that the organization misleads sellers to taking advantage of loopholes in governmental laws, Hasson takes every chance he gets to undermine Ateret Cohanim.

Why does the left focus so much of their energy on attacking organizations working to renew Jewish life in neighborhoods that is was snuffed out of nearly a century ago?

The answer is simple – truth. The left sees 1948, the year the State was established as sacrosanct. For them, the secular left leadership at that time forms the basis for their understanding of what the raison d’etre of the State of Israel is.

By accepting that there was a continuous pre-state Jewish existence in Jerusalem from the 19th Century onward, the purpose and uniqueness of the secular leadership becomes overshadowed by those Jews who had worked hard to build up the land well before the secular Zionist leadership arrived.

The fact is, there was a majority of Jews in Jerusalem’s Old City by the 1860s. By the 1880s neighborhoods like the Shiloach and Shimon Hatzaddik were established Jewish communities.

Ateret Cohanim and other likeminded organizations are not “uprooting” arabs from their homes. They are using old fashioned real estate purchases to restore formerly Jewish neighborhoods back to the Jewish people.

The fact is, Nir Hasson of Haaretz and others in the leftist Israeli media and establishment have long had an issue with anything Jewish or Zionist. Its time their reporting is shown to be what it is – misleading and damaging to the Jewish people.