Mount Scopus: History and the Lie of Erasure

Mount Scopus: History, Coexistence, and the Lie of Erasure

Mount Scopus is often mentioned casually in political debates about Jerusalem, sometimes even framed as a “contested” or “colonial” site. That framing collapses under the weight of history. Mount Scopus is not a modern invention, not an ideological project, and certainly not an obstacle to peace. It is one of the clearest examples of Jewish historical continuity in Jerusalem and also one of the strongest proofs that Israel’s institutions are fundamentally inclusive.

The name Mount Scopus (Har HaTzofim) comes from the Greek Skopos, meaning “lookout.” During the Second Temple period, it was the first point from which Jewish pilgrims approaching Jerusalem from the north could see the Temple. That moment carried such spiritual weight that Jewish law required pilgrims to pause and tear their garments in reverence. Long before nation-states or international resolutions, Mount Scopus was already embedded in Jewish religious life.

Its strategic importance was equally clear. In 70 CE, Roman legions camped on Mount Scopus during the siege that ended with the destruction of the Second Temple. Over the centuries Byzantine, Islamic, and Ottoman Mount Scopus remained a recognized landmark overlooking Jerusalem, largely undeveloped but never forgotten.

The modern chapter begins in 1925, when the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was inaugurated on Mount Scopus. This was not an act of dispossession, but of construction: a university devoted to science, medicine, and the humanities. Figures such as Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann supported the project, seeing it as a beacon of intellectual revival. Alongside it rose the Hadassah Hospital, serving Jews and Arabs alike.

Then came 1948. During Israel’s War of Independence, Mount Scopus became an isolated Israeli enclave, cut off from the rest of Jerusalem and surrounded by Jordanian forces. That same year, a medical convoy traveling to Hadassah Hospital was ambushed. Seventy-eight doctors, nurses, and staff were murdered. Their only “crime” was healing the sick. For 19 years, Mount Scopus could be reached only through UN convoys.

In 1967, during the Six-Day War, Mount Scopus was reunited with the rest of Jerusalem. The Hebrew University returned to full operation, not as a fortress, but as a campus.

That reality matters today especially when discussing terrorism and moral responsibility. In 2002, Mount Scopus was targeted again, this time in a terrorist bombing at the Hebrew University cafeteria. Nine people were murdered, including Israeli and foreign students. The attack did not distinguish between Jews and non-Jews. Terror never does.

What is often ignored in discussions about that attack is a crucial fact: Hebrew University is not a Jewish-only institution. Around 20% of its students are Arab citizens of Israel, alongside Arab faculty members, doctors, and staff. Arab and Jewish students sit in the same lecture halls, study medicine together, conduct research together, and share campus life daily. Mount Scopus is one of the clearest examples of coexistence in practice, not theory.

Terrorism targeted that coexistence deliberately. The cafeteria bombing was not an act of “resistance”; it was an attack on civilians, education, and shared life. When terrorists strike a university where Arabs and Jews study side by side, the lie that this is a fight for justice becomes impossible to sustain.

And yet, Mount Scopus is still misrepresented internationally. It is spoken of as if it were an imposition, rather than a place that predates most modern capitals. No one questions universities in Paris, London, or Amsterdam because demographics in nearby neighborhoods have changed. Only Jerusalem is subjected to this double standard.

Mount Scopus tells a different story, one of ancient roots, modern rebuilding, tragedy, resilience, and coexistence. It shows that Israel’s presence in Jerusalem is not about exclusion, but continuity. Not about erasure, but survival.

To erase Mount Scopus from history is to erase facts. And facts, unlike slogans, endure

Time To Stand Up for Israel

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