Jerusalem Street Name Changed to Honor Fallen Soldiers

On the 839th anniversary of the Muslim commander Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem from the Crusaders, Eliyahu Liebman replaced a street sign in the capital bearing Saladin's name with one reading "Heroes of the War of Independence." Liebman, whose son Elyakim Shlomo Liebman was killed on October 7, was accompanied by about twenty supporters. They covered the street signs on the main thoroughfare leading from the Flower Gate. Liebman stated that the day marks the anniversary of the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem and is an opportune moment to "uproot this memory" and thwart the "invented people's hope to establish an invented state here." He added, "Whoever immortalizes the conqueror admits the conquest succeeded." Liebman noted that this is not unprecedented, recalling that in 1951, Haifa's then-Mayor Aba Hushi changed the name of Saladin Street in Haifa to "Heroes Street." Party chairman Avi Maoz wrote to Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, demanding the name change be brought before the naming committee. Maoz argued the move would "uproot the hopes of our enemies who seek to destroy us, and for whom the Muslim commander serves as inspiration for their aspiration to liberate Jerusalem from our hands." He also stated it would "honor and memorialize all those self-sacrificing heroes for their people and state, like Elyakim, who fell while sacrificing himself to save Israeli women." Maoz concluded that if Haifa, the "red" city, could make such a change, it is even more inappropriate for Israel's capital to continue commemorating the Muslim conqueror.