Republican US Presidential candidate and real estate mogul Donald Trump
is strongly considering a visit to the Temple Mount when he comes to
Israel for the first time at the end of the month.
A source closely connected to organizing the trip to Israel confirmed to The Jerusalem Post
on Wednesday that Trump's staff is looking into the logistics of
visiting the holy site and point of conflict between Israel and the Arab
world.
The planned visit follows Trump's call for "a total and
complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our
country's representatives can figure out what is going on" in light of
"great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim
population."
Palestinians have often used Israeli politicians'
visits to the Mount as an excuse for violence, falsely claiming Israel
is changing the status quo.
The government maintains the status
quo, in that non-Muslims may visit, but not pray on the Temple Mount,
which is administered by the Jordanian Islamic Trust (Wakf). Jewish
visitors are often harassed at the holy site, and earlier this year, a
delegation of US Congressmen visiting the plaza also complained of harassment by Wakf guards.
Palestinian claims about the Temple Mount reached a fever pitch in
recent months, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
claiming Jews' feet defile the site, and contributed to sparking the
current wave of terrorism, during which police found explosives hidden
in the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Mount.
MK Taleb Abu Arrar (Joint
List) said of Trump's plan to visit the Temple Mount: "If Trump the
racist plans to visit Al-Aksa, the holiest place in the world for
Muslims, to harm the sensitivities of people against whom he incites, he
and Netanyahu will be responsible.
"Such a visit will set the whole region on fire, I am warning," Abu Arrar added.
Yes, but neither of those Congressmen (Bill Johnson (R-OH) and David McKinley (R-WV)) were a particular target for the Arab world, and they visited 'undercover.' Trump is very recognizable and is now a lightning rod for the Arab/Muslim world. While I believe it's wrong to allow only Muslims access to the Mount, I don't believe that Israel needs to give the 'Palestinians' an excuse for suicide bombings and murder by allowing Trump onto the Mount.
Hamas takes over Temple Mount, Jews and tourists banned
Those of you who hope to ascend the Temple Mount this holiday may be disappointed. Hamas had taken over the Mount, and the Israeli police are too inept to do anything about it.
“Hundreds of Jews who came to the Temple Mount for Pesach were
astonished to find a police representative standing at the entrance gate
and announcing that the Mount had been closed off to Jews after Hamas
had taken over the Mount and threatened violence against any Jews who
enter,” the Temple organizations reported in a news communique.
The Temple organizations called for the police commissioner to resign, following his failures on the Temple Mount.
“Time after time, the police abandon the Mount to hostile hands
– especially on Jewish holidays," they charged. "Then the same
commanders come to the Knesset and the Interior Committee, and lie that
the Mount was open.”
...
Despite being the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount is
administered by the Islamic Waqf foundation, and Jewish visits are
subject to strict restrictions including a blanket ban on prayers or
other forms of worship, under pain of arrest.
Jewish groups have long condemned the discrimination as a surrender
to Muslim extremism; a new bill proposed by the Jewish Home party is
currently being debated to grant equal prayer rights to Jews and Muslims
on the Mount.
Hamas flags are allowed on the Temple Mount but Israeli flags and any form of Jewish prayer are banned. What could go wrong?
US Congressmen shocked by treatment on Temple Mount
Two US Congressmen - Bill Johnson (R-OH) and David McKinley (R-WV) - visited the Temple Mount undercover and were shocked at the treatment they received.
In an exclusive interview Congressman Johnson told Arutz Sheva
that while he was inspired by his experience in Israel as a whole, he
was "shocked and disturbed" by what he witnessed firsthand at Judaism's
holiest site.
Despite being the holiest site in Judaism, Jewish access to the
Temple Mount is very limited - including a blanket ban on Jewish worship
there - in what activists have condemned as a capitulation to Muslim
extremism. Israeli police, in an attempt to appease the Muslim Waqf
trust which was left in charge of the compound after the 1967 Six Day
War, ban Jews from praying or performing any other form of worship.
The two US legislators were part of a small group of six people, led
by Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute, among hundreds of people
queuing to visit the Mount, which is also the site of the Al Aqsa
Islamic complex.
Rabbi Richman urged the legislators to pay attention to the
difference between how their group - which included religious Jews -
would be treated in comparison to other visitors to the Mount.
"No one knew who we were... that we were members of the U.S. Congress or anything like that," Johnson said. And
it was that anonymity which enabled them to experience a ritual that is
all too familiar to the countless Jews who have visited the Temple
Mount.
"We were first in line," he recalls, but after handing their IDs to
police as requested they were forced to wait until everyone else behind
them ("and it was a long line!") filed through, before they were finally
allowed to ascend.
"When we were finally allowed to go through we were followed very closely by a member of the Waqf," he recounted.
"It struck me how intimidating this gentleman was trying to be. He
looked like someone out of a Hollywood movie - with his hair slicked
back and his shades hiding his eyes so you couldn't see what he was
looking at... he stayed pretty close to us, and followed us around
wherever we went.
"The rabbi pointed out that if he were to take out his Torah or give
any indication that he was exercising his freedom of worship on the
Temple Mount by praying - or if any of us were to take out our Bibles
and try to pray or express our religion on the Temple Mount... we could
have been arrested and removed and incarcerated.
"This thug followed us everywhere we went and if we stopped and took
too long in one place he would look at the Israeli police, who would say
'you need to keep your group moving.'"
Despite a police escort, the group was subjected to a torrent of
verbal abuse by a group of female Muslim worshipers who, he noted with
some irony, were engaged in "their own prayer services, their rituals"
on the Mount, "something Jews are not allowed to do."
...
The experience left him "shocked and disturbed", and he said he found
it hard to reconcile such a jarring experience with the rest of his
trip, which was overwhelmingly positive.
But Johnson was philosophical about the episode, saying it taught him
something far deeper about the Arab-Israeli conflict as a whole.
"It showed me the extent that the Israeli people and Israeli
authorities are going to in order to try to create an atmosphere of
peace. They are going to the extremes to try and create an atmosphere
where there's no violence and no one feels intimidated."
The issue, he says, is that "the Israeli police have been instructed
to prevent anything occurring on the Temple Mount which could incite
violence - but it's the Waqf which gets to decide what constitutes
incitement!
The result is a situation where Muslim authorities have
monopolized control over the Temple Mount, to the extent that Jews "are
not allowed to go up and express their freedom of religion in their
holiest place!"
He said the message he has taken from the experience has been that
further pressure on Israel to make more concessions is not the answer.
"The Jewish people have conceded enough. They have given up
land for peace over generations, they have been squeezed into such a
confined space that now even today they do not have full autonomy,
authority and sovereignty over the very holy places that define their
existence in the first place.
"The rest of the world seems to be blind to the fact that one side
truly desires to live in peace and harmony - and that's the Jewish
people.
"The other side, the Palestinian Authority, don't desire peace at all - I think they just desire the Jewish people to go away."
Read the whole thing. There are a lot of people in Washington who need to get that message.
'Palestinians' stone Feiglin on Temple Mount, police bar Jews from site in response - UPDATED WITH VIDEO
This makes 'perfect' sense, doesn't it?
The 'Palestinians' stoned MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud-Beiteinu) and a group of 'right wing activists' on the Temple Mount on Thursday morning, and in response police banned Jews from the Mount.
Two Arab rioters were arrested Thursday for attempting to
attack MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud Beteinu) as he visited the Temple Mount.
Hundreds of rioters threw stones at Feiglin and several individuals who
accompanied him. Feiglin was forced to leave the site, and police took
steps to break up the riot.
As a result of the riot, the Temple Mount was closed Thursday morning to Jews and to tourists.
You didn't really think they'd clear the Arab rioters from the Mount, did you?
After being forced to leave the site Thursday, Feiglin said that “the
incidents today show more than ever that the Temple Mount is such a
powderkeg specifically because it is clear to the Palestinians that
violence pays off. Israeli weakness encourages this violence.”
Police, Feiglin said, did an admirable job of protecting the Jews and
tourists caught up in the riot and putting down the riot. “But cutting
our visit short and clearing the Mount of Jews on the one hand while
allowing the rioters to remain on the other left the victory in the
hands of those who initiated the violence, and will only encourage more
violence.”
Yes, especially when it's the second time this week that's happened.
On Sunday,
Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) was also
forced to leave the Temple Mount after rioters threw stones at him.
Then, too, police cleared the Mount of non-Muslims.
“A reality in which rioters determine the day's agenda on the Temple
Mount, and prevent Jewish visitors from ascending [to the Mount], is
unacceptable," Ariel stated after the visit. "I went up to the Mount
this morning, I intend to keep on doing so in the future, and I demand
that security forces help keep Jewish sovereignty intact and allow any
Jew to ascend to the Mount freely."
Har HaBayit b'Yadeinu? (The Temple Mount is in our hands)?
UPDATE 1:34 PM
Here's video of Feiglin's visit (sorry, Hebrew only).
Police clashed with dozens of Palestinian youths at the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem who threw rocks and fireworks at them following the opening
of the Mughrabi gate. Some of the men wore masks, according to police.
Three young men were arrested, while the rest were dispersed by a stun
grenade thrown by police. According to Palestinian media, several of the
youths were injured. The Israel Police said no Palestinians were
injured.
Two police officers suffered light injuries; one from a firework and the
other from the rocks. They were treated on site before being taken to
Shaare Zekek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Perhaps the reason for this warm welcome is that, after chickening out last week, the Knesset is due to take up a bill by MK Moshe Feiglin on Tuesday, which attempts to affirm Israeli sovereignty over the Mount.
The more we lose our sovereignty on the Temple Mount, the more the world
turns against us. When we safeguard our rights, the world respects
that. After the 6 Day War in 1967, Moshe Dayan and the State of Israel
gave religious sovereignty on the Temple Mount to the Moslems, out of
respect for their religious beliefs. But they did not mean to give the
Jordanians actual sovereignty. Israel’s respectful approach was taken
advantage of by the Arabs and today no sign of Israeli sovereignty is
allowed on the Temple Mount. We want Israeli sovereignty on the Temple
Mount to be affirmed in a clear statement by the Knesset this Tuesday.
Every MK who said “If I forget thee o’ Jerusalem, may my right hand lose
its cunning” under his or her chuppah must make it his/her business to
be at this all-important deliberation.
Three Jews were arrested and strip-searched on the Temple Mount on Tuesday, two for carrying Israeli flags onto the site, and one who was filming the events. A fourth Jew was thrown off the Mount for having Tefillin on under his shirt.
The incident began as dozens of Jews who went to the Temple Mount
Tuesday morning were ordered by an officer to enter his office one by
one, and were there ordered to undress to make sure they weren't
"smuggling" Jewish symbols onto the site. Those banned symbols included dried fruit on Tu B'ishvat.
Moti Gabai, the officer tasked with the gate to the Temple Mount,
told Jewish visitors he was instructed to prevent all Jewish or Israeli
symbols from being brought onto the site. Temple Mount Deputy Commander
Daniel Sarga oversaw the scandalous strip searches personally, according
to reports.
Two of the Jews were found to be in possession of a banned object - the flag of Israel.
The two young Jews were immediately arrested by police. A third who
was filming the events at the entrance and on the Temple Mount was
reportedly hit by an officer, and arrested as well as he continued to
film.
...
A fourth Jew that was wearing tefillin (phylacteries) under his
shirtsleeves was expelled from the site by officers, and forbidden from
entering.
Muslim Waqf keeps Canadian PM Harper off Temple Mount
Stockwell Day, Canada's former Minister of Public Safety, and member of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's delegation which is currently visiting Israel, personally visited the Temple Mount on Sunday, January 19, where he was greeted by angry Waqf officials and hostile Muslims seeking to prematurely end his visit.
Stockwell Day, wearing a light and dark blue windbreaker, can be seen in the early seconds of the video clip, on the left side of the picture, and again at the conclusion of the video, standing on the steps leading to the area of the Dome of the Rock, where the Holy Temple once stood.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper himself had planned an official visit to the Temple Mount, but had to cancel the plan in the face of strident Waqf opposition to the presence of Jewish security personal set to accompany the Prime Minister.
Members of Harper's entourage had made a preliminary tour of the
Mount Sunday morning. The Waqf's announcement that it would not allow
the Jewish bodyguards in was made at the last moment, supposedly because
the Waqf did not know earlier that some of the guards were Jewish.
Harper would not enter the Mount without the bodyguards and the visit
was cancelled, according to a press statement by B'nai Brith Canada.
...
However, the Huffington Post has a different version of what happened.
"Planning and logistics required on a trip like this can be
complicated and unfortunately we weren't able to make it work in a
manner that satisfied the security organizations involved," Harper
spokesman Jason MacDonald said of the decision to cancel the visit,
according to the publication.
"Specifically,” he is cited as saying, “Shin Bet (the Israel Security
Agency) would not guarantee that they would not enter the mosque."
While the Huffington Post quote is ambiguous, MacDonald was
apparently saying that the Shin Bet refused to promise that if
disturbances occur, its men would refrain from entering the Al Aqsa
Mosque. It is not clear whether the people demanding this commitment
were the Waqf or the Canadians.
...
Arutz Sheva spoke to sources in the Foreign Ministry who
confirmed that the Waqf had cancelled Harper's visit. However, their
version was that the Waqf simply refused to allow Canadian security men
into the Temple Mount.
Glick, a prominent Temple activist and LIBA project coordinator, told Arutz Sheva Wednesday
that he spoke to sources within Harper's entourage who confirmed that
the Waqf refused to allow Jewish bodyguards into the Mount.
You can bet that if Israel gives up 'control' of the Old City, there won't be any Jews allowed in.
New report shows Israeli government conspiring to maintain Wakf control over Temple Mount
I saw this report last week, and unfortunately thought it was just another report about about how the Muslims are destroying priceless Jewish archaeology on the Temple Mount (see picture above). Sadly, there's more to it than that.
In 2008, Israel's state comptroller produced a report that was highly critical of the State's handling of the Temple Mount. The issues involved included the aforementioned destruction, the prevention of Jewish prayer on the Mount (which as some of you may recall is not something my rabbis permit me to do), and the general control that the Muslim Wakf exercises on the Mount.
From 2008 (during the Olmert government) to 2010 (during the Netanyahu government), the government managed to force the comptroller to cut out two thirds of the report. In 2010, the Netanyahu government convinced a Knesset subcommittee that the report should be buried out of 'national security' and 'foreign policy' concerns.
The report has been buried for three years. Last week, it showed up on a website called The Jewish Voice of New York. Parts of the report have also been translated into English on that site, and they are truly shocking. Moshe Dayan apparently continues to determine Israel's approach to the Temple Mount from his grave.
This is from the first link.
The following report issued by the Israeli government is of a previously
classified nature. It reveals the terrifying truth about the Israeli
conspiracy to relinquish control of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount to hands of
the Muslim Waqf. Each past of this report provides a detailed account
of the methods taken by the Waqf to vanquish the inextricable ties that
the Jewish people have to Jerusalem. As a place that is of significant
holiness to Jews around the globe; the Waqf has strictly forbidden Jews
to pray there and they enforce their draconian decrees against Jews with
a palpable zeal. The photo that accompany this article graphically
depict the massive and well orchestrated Muslim campaign to maintain
sole autonomy of the Temple Mount; with the clandestine cooperation of
the Israeli government.
I'm embedding the parts that are in English for your convenience.
MK's from the Likud Beytenu and Bayit Yehudi parties - the two 'right wing' parties in the Prime Minister's coalition - are stepping up the pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu not to make more concessions to the 'Palestinians.'
MKs on the Right said they were concerned that US Secretary of State
John Kerry would pressure Netanyahu to make more concessions, so they
felt it necessary to counter-act Kerry's demands to Netanyahu with
pressure of their own. To that end, 16 MKs in the coalition wrote the
prime minister as he was meeting with Kerry.
"Tell the secretary of state that Israel has no intention of
returning to the parameters of the Oslo Accords or relinquishing any
more of Israel's homeland to the Palestinian Authority," the MKs wrote
in the letter.
Among the 16 MKs were legislators from Likud
Beytenu and Bayit Yehudi, including deputy ministers Ze'ev Elkin
(Foreign Ministry), Tzipi Hotovely (Transportation), Eli Ben Dahan
(Religious Services), Avraham Wortzman (Education), and Ophir Akunis
(Knesset Liason).
Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon complained
that the Palestinians had upped their demands in the negotiations by
asking for the concessions made by former prime minister Ehud Olmert. In
September 2008 when he was prime minister, Olmert offered the
Palestinians 100 percent of the West Bank with land swaps, the return of
thousands of Palestinians to Israel's final borders, a Palestinian
state with its capital in eastern Jerusalem and the internationalization
of the Holy Basin of Jerusalem's Old City.
That's 16 out of 68 MK's or one shy of a quarter of the coalition. And you will note that the list doesn't include any ministers - only deputy ministers. That's because the ministers probably all fear Sharon treatment (Sharon fired all the ministers who voted against expelling Jews from Gaza in 2005).
But here's one Right wing minister who did not sign on.
Netanyahu receive unexpected defense from the most right-wing
minister in the cabinet, Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel.
"I
am strengthening the prime minister to withstand all the pressure he is
under the best way he can and maintain Israel's clear interests," Ariel
said. "I am sure that 20 years after the Oslo agreement was signed, he
learned the historic lesson to not accept false promises at the expense
of Israel's security."
I wonder what makes Ariel so sure. I'm not so sure.
The Knesset Committee of the Interior will hold a hearing on Monday
regarding preparations for Jewish visitation to the Temple Mount over
the upcoming Succot holiday.
Groups lobbying for Jewish prayer
rights at the site criticized the lack of access afforded to them over
the recent Rosh Hashana festival and are demanding that Jewish visits
over Succot be enabled by the police.
Access was restricted on the first day of Rosh Hashana and the site was
closed on the second day to Jewish and other non-Muslim visitors when
non-Muslims are generally not given access.
The second day of Rosh HaShana was a Friday....
Feiglin also intends to publicly question the legality of the Waqf and its authority to administer the Temple Mount.
He
recently sent a letter to the Israel Police asking for clarifications
regarding the legal authority of the body, and subsequently challenged
the reply that a government decision taken after the Six-Day War of 1967
authorized the Waqf to continue running the site.
“To the best of
my knowledge there is no such decision, and from a reading of the words
of the ministerial committee in 1968 it is clear that they thought
there was no such agreement,” Feiglin wrote to Israel Police Insp.-Gen.
Yohanan Danino.
He then quoted the comments of then Justice
Minister Yaakov Shimshon Shapira from a committee meeting in June 1968
as saying "We never announced that the entirety of the Temple Mount
belongs to the Arabs. We never announced that it is forbidden for Jews
to pray there, we never announced that it is forbidden for Jews to
establish a synagogue there.”
Feiglin wrote that in the absence of
such a decision, “all directives which discriminate between Muslims and
non-Muslims regarding entrance to the [Temple] Mount should be
immediately rescinded, and free entrance from all gates to the Mount be
enabled, in accordance with the law.”
The MK also demanded that
all Waqf stewards be removed from the site and raised questions about
the institutes legal status, questions that he will raise in Monday’s
committee hearing.
In particular, Feiglin claims that the Waqf is
not a registered institute in any state framework, and therefore does
not pay the appropriate taxes and national insurance contributions as
required by law.”
“It seems to me that this a badge of shame for
the Israel Police to cooperate with this criminal organization and for
its police officers to respond to the whims of its officials,” wrote
Feiglin.
It's a pity that it's taken 45 years for anyone to raise this. And that sizzling sound you just heard was MosheDayan rolling over.
Glatt told the
committee his office will examine ways to arrange Jewish prayer on the Temple
Mount.
“It cannot be that in the State of Israel, Jews need to stand
aside,” said committee chairwoman Miri Regev. “The Temple Mount should be a
place where people of any religion can pray.”
According to Regev, the
Temple Mount is a mainstream issue in the heart of the Jewish People, who have
prayed to return to Jerusalem for thousands of years.
At the beginning of
the meeting, MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) and other Arab lawmakers complained that
the screening of a short film of paratroopers liberating the Temple Mount and
Western Wall from the Jordanians was offensive, and demanded it be
stopped.
MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud Beytenu), who has been voting against
the coalition in response to recently being banned from visiting the Temple
Mount by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said the main issue is sovereignty
over the Temple Mount.
I guarantee you that the first time they announce organized Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, the Arabs will riot and the government will back down.
President Hussein Obama may visit the Temple Mount while he's here next month, and the 'Palestinians' are - wait for it - seething about the prospect (Hat Tip: IMRA).
Noted Palestinian figures declared their intention to hold a news conference on Sunday before afternoon in the Palestinian national theater in occupied Jerusalem to state their position towards the upcoming visit of US president Barack Obama to the Aqsa Mosque.
A number of religious and national figures, including head of the higher Islamic council Ikrima Sabri and head of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied lands Sheikh Ra'ed Salah, will participate in this news conference.
"It is known that we have our constants as Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians regarding the issue of Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque, and we confirm that Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque are under occupation, which has no sovereignty or legitimacy over them and will inevitably end," the Aqsa foundation quoted Sheikh Ra'ed Salah as saying.
"The US president is likely to visit the Aqsa Mosque, but we should affirm that our position towards such situation will be in conformity with the constants of the Muslim and Arab nations, and the Palestinian people as well as with the issue of Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque," he added.
For his part, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri said that the Palestinians would welcome any visitor to the Aqsa Mosque, provided that he should abide by the regulations set by the Islamic Waqf authority.
Sheikh Sabri explained that if Obama wanted to visit the Aqsa Mosque, he should enter through Al-Asbat gate and not Al-Maghariba gate under Israel's control in order to show his respect for the Islamic sovereignty over the Mosque.
He added that Obama should not be accompanied by an Israeli official during his visit to the holy Mosque because it belongs to Muslims and it is their holy site alone.
The funny thing is that Obama would probably agree to all this, and Israel would have no choice but to accommodate him, but it would be a nightmare for his American security guards. In the past, visiting officials, including French President Jacques Chirac, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, abided by the Wakf's regulations.
Responding to unconfirmed rumors that US
President Barack Obama intends to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
during his trip to Israel next month, the Hamas terror group and local
clerics warned the American leader against the idea on Tuesday, calling
it “a diplomatic catastrophe.”
A statement issued by Hamas called Obama’s
potential visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located at the
southern perimeter of the Mount, “an imminent danger which the Al-Aqsa
Mosque and Jerusalem have never faced.”
Hamas stated that a visit by the American
president to the contested site under the auspices of “the Zionist
occupation” would be more dangerous than the relocation of any country’s
embassy to Jerusalem, considering the international preeminence of the
United States.
The Temple Mount, revered by Jews as the site
of the first and second temples and by Muslims as the point from which
Muhammad ascended to heaven, is administered by the Jerusalem Islamic
Waqf, a trust that has governed the site since the 12th century.
Someone needs to remind the Wakf who won the 1967 War, and that were it not for the Leftist General, Moshe Dayan, they would no longer control the Temple Mount.
Wakf destroys more priceless Temple Mount artifacts
We've seen this before. The 'Palestinian' Wakf is bulldozing the Temple Mount again destroying thousands of priceless artifacts.
Let's go to the videotape.
The story is told in Hebrew here. In 2004, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that excavations cannot be carried out on the Temple Mount without archeological supervision. While there is apparently some dispute as to whether a permit was obtained, what is clear is that there was no supervision other than the person in the video who sought to stop the work. The Antiquities Authority was not allowed to go through the material before it was dumped.
Image: Second Temple column tossed out by the Wakf
Journalist Michael Freund posted the image above on his Facebook page. For those who cannot recognize what it is, Freund explains.
Here,
in a pile of rubble and trash on the Temple Mount, lies a marble column
from the Second Temple that was broken and then discarded by the Muslim
Wakf which effectively controls the area. Our heritage is under
assault. It is time for the Israeli government to act, and take back
control of the Temple Mount!
It's long past time. But don't hold your breaths waiting for it to happen.
Deja vu all over again: Wakf work destroying priceless Temple Mount artifacts
The truth is that the Arab Muslims could care less about Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. It's not mentioned in the Koran. They would gladly abandon the Temple Mount altogether... if only that didn't mean that the Jews would gain access to it. Over the last 15-20 years, the Arab Muslims are doing all they can to destroy any evidence of a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. They have destroyed countless priceless artifacts that were used in the Temples and buried or abandoned on the Temple Mount hundreds of years ago. Now, a Wakf 'renovation' project threatens what is believed to be the most priceless artifact of all: The even shithiya, the huge stone over which the Arab Muslims built their 'dome of the rock,' which, assuming this rock is the same one that is described in the Talmud....
The primary focus of Mishkney Elyon is upon the form of the Heavenly Temple, but since this is the prototype of the earthly Temple, much of what applies to the Heavenly Temple also applies to the earthly Temple. In many passages in Mishkney Elyon, Ramchal speaks simultaneously on a number of different levels, a feat made possible by the richness of Hebrew.
Ramchal explains step by step how the entire Heavenly Temple in all its details emanates from a single "place" or "point". This point exists on a plane that is beyond space as we know it, one that we could perhaps call metaspace. In the terminology of religion and Kabbalah, this is the spiritual plane "above" as opposed to the material world here "below". Indeed this "point", source of the Heavenly Temple, is ultimately the source of space as we know it.
This heavenly "place" or "point" corresponds to Even Shetiyah, the "Foundation Stone", in the earthly Temple. This is the rock on the Temple Mount that is called "the belly of the earth", the place from which the entire earth emanated like a fetus growing from the belly outwards. It is from the heavenly point corresponding to the earthly Even Shetiyah that all the lights that bring the Heavenly Temple into being shine forth. This point corresponds to the last of the Ten Sefirot, or Divine Attributes, of which the Kabbalah speaks. This is the Sefirah of Malchut, "Kingly Power", through which all the upper Sefirot shine. This Sefirah is also called Shechinah, the "Indwelling Presence of God".
Starting from this "point", Ramchal traces the emanation of the Heavenly Temple, beginning with the Holy of Holies and moving on successively to the main Sanctuary with its Gate and Vestibule, the surrounding Inner Temple Courtyard with its massive stone sacrificial Altar and various chambers, the Outer Courtyard and its chambers and gates, and finally the Temple Mount.
This is 'heady' material, and we can only being to understand what we don't understand from it. With that in mind, let's look at what the Wakf is doing.
According to activists, the body responsible for the site and charged with carrying out renovations to the Temple Mount chose to erect scaffolding directly on the Drinking Stone (Even Shtiya) – the holiest place for Jews, and which Muslims also honor.
In an "urgent plea" to Danino, attorney Aviad Visoly claimed in the name of the Temple Mount groups that photos published in the national-religious weekend paper 'Makor Rishon' showed the holy stone covered by "building material, rubble, and tools."
According to Visoly this comprises desecration of a holy place specified as such in Protection of Holy Places Law – an act punishable by seven years behind bars.
"To the best of my knowledge, the Jerusalem District Police commander and his officers in the David region know about this, and are doing nothing to stop the crime," Visoly wrote, adding that various Temple organizations had issued repeated warnings about "indifference, contempt, and even hostility" on the part of the police regarding preserving the Temple Mount's holy status. Now, he said, he demanded that Danino stop the desecration of the Drinking Stone immediately, and bring those responsible to trial.
"The Muslim Wakf, Hamas, and even the Iranian government declare morning and evening that they are working to eliminate every shred of the Jewish people's holiest of holies from the Temple Mount," Visoly's letter concluded. "That the upper echelon of the Israel Police is, intentionally or not, cooperating with them is outrageous, revolting, and incomprehensible."
Many years ago, I had an online argument with someone who is a much greater Torah scholar than I ever expect to be. He argued - based on scripture - that once the Temple was destroyed, its artifacts are no longer considered holy. I argued, based on an early gloss in the tractate of Nedarim, that the verse did not mean that we were expected to stand aside and watch the same artifacts be destroyed - that they still retain some of their holiness even if it is not the same holiness they had while the Temple existed. In the end, he agreed with me.
According to specific Antiquities Authority instructions, any digging at the site was not allowed to exceed 60 centimeters (roughly two feet) and was not to be undertaken using mechanical equipment. However, reports drafted by Pasternnack and other sources, exposed for the first time by Yedioth Ahronoth Friday, indicate that workers largely ignored the instructions.
Much of the work was done using a tractor, continued during the night with the help of a flashlight, reached deeper than the permit allowed for. Moreover, the clods of earth removed from the site, which apparently comprised valuable remnants from the two Jewish Temples, were thrown away to an improvised garbage dump by members of the Waqf (the administrative Muslim body in charge of Temple Mount.)
Archeology expert Dr. Gabai Barkai, a world-renowned expert on Temple era excavations, was shocked by the reported work: "How could one dig up such sensitive area at night? How could one dig using mechanical equipment? Every such move is a crime. This is first-rate barbarity."
Where was YNet four and a half years ago when I reported that? I posted pictures (including the one above) of the destruction of the Temple Mount, including the tractor here. I reported that the destruction of the Temple Mount was carried out with the approval of then-Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert. I even posted a video of the destruction here, which I am re-posting below.
Let's go to the videotape.
And I wasn't the only one who knew about it. Then Congressman (and now House Majority Leader) Eric Cantor (R-Va) knew enough to protest about it.A Druze policeman (no - the Jewish ones went along with it!) tried to no avail to stop the destruction.
Oh - but wait. YNet's story is about why the Israeli government is trying to cover up the destruction of the Temple Mount. So I'll blog that story below, and leave it to future investigation why Israel's mainstream media has been complicit in that coverup until now.
An investigative report by Yedioth Ahronoth revealed the ongoing failure of various Israeli authorities in safeguarding the rare archeological treasures found on Temple Mount. Information elicited by the newspaper showed that the Waqf is consistently erasing any trace of Jewish history at the site.
Mideastern affairs expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar says these acts are undertaken in the framework of an Arab practice known as "erasing the signs," aimed at eliminating the remnants of any civilization that preceded Islam.
Members of the State Comptroller's Office launched an investigation into the affair four years ago and drafted a report about it. However, the Knesset's State Control Committee decided to impose a gag order on the report for "security reasons."
However, Israeli intelligence officials told Yedioth Ahronoth there is no reason to prevent the report's publication. A senior Shin Bet Security Service official said following the Committee's session on the matter: "I'm ashamed. This is akin to cheapening national security to the lowest point possible."
Former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan has also questioned the gag order. "There is no connection whatsoever between the failure to publish the report and national security. As far as I know, both Mossad and Shin Bet said there is no reason not to publish the report…apparently there are other considerations here, pertaining to political motives."
Conversations and interviews held with dozens of officials involved in drafting the State Comptroller's secret report indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is among the senior officials interested in shelving the document. Attorney Yisrael Caspi, who represents a group fighting the destruction on Temple Mount, says the PM is unequivocally responsible for the ongoing failure.
For those of you who don't speak Israelspeak, allow me to enlighten you. What they're saying is that if they disclosed the truth - that there is ongoing destruction on the Temple Mount - it would prove conclusively that the Muslims (and it's not just the 'Palestinians' here because the Wakf acts in the name of the Arab and Muslim governments) are not even willing to acknowledge a Jewish (and Christian) presence on the Temple Mount and therefore there is no chance - as in "none" "zero" - that they will ever make peace with the existence of a Jewish state on any part of the land of Israel. That's the truth. And if Netanyahu (who didn't start the policy - as noted above - but continued it) were to acknowledge that, what would he say to President Hussein Obama in Washington next week?
But make no mistake about it: Netanyahu is continuing his predecessor's policy on the Temple Mount:
"One cannot underestimate the prime minister's responsibility for the state of affairs on Temple Mount; one can only refer to it as absolute responsibility," he said. "We know with certainty that nothing happens on Temple Mount without the advance knowledge and permission of the Prime Minister's Office and its head. All the criticism, all the negligence, all the failures, the entire cover-up and the helplessness in dealing with the matter - and therefore all the historical responsibility - are his."
Caspi says Netanyahu does not want to be reminded of the "historical scandal" of handing over the holy site known in Judaism as Solomon's Stables to the Waqf during the PM's first term in office, in the 1990s. "This turned Solomon's Stables, an amazing archeological site…into a place that Jews are not allowed to enter and into the largest mosque in the State of Israel," he says.
"These days too, three tractors are being used on Temple Mount," Caspi says. "Construction materials are also continuing to be brought into Temple Mount in violation of police pledges…Temple Mount looks today like a construction materials' warehouse…materials being brought in today will be used for illegal works tomorrow."
Netanyahu is shirking the blame.
The Prime Minister's Office issued the following response to the story: "As opposed to the claims, the body that imposed a gag order on the (State Comptroller's) report was not the government, but rather, the sub-committee of the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affair's Committee…any argument alleging that the report is not being published as result of irrelevant reasons is baseless and disconnected from reality."
Who is the sub-committee? Who is on it? From whom does it take orders? Who is its chairman? Who are its members? Since when can the Prime Minister's office be prevented from publishing something by a 'sub-committee' of the Knesset?
And the Wakf is denying that they're doing anything wrong.
The Waqf issued the following response: "The Waqf's management was sorry to hear the claims made in the story pertaining to the Waqf's policy on Temple Mount. In the Waqf management's view, all these claims are baseless and constitute false charges. Our official policy is to preserve and respect any human heritage. You are invited to visit the mosque and see for yourself well preserved Roman, Byzantine and Crusader artifacts, among other items."
But not Jewish ones of course. In the Wakf's world, those never existed.
Read the whole thing. I hope that this won't be the last time the mainstream media discusses this issue.
Jonathan Tobin has got it right about why there's no peace in this region. Unfortunately, no one in the halls of government outside of Israel is likely to listen.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that plans to demolish a temporary structure that allowed access to the Temple Mount would be indefinitely postponed due to the threats of violence not only from Palestinians but also from Egypt and Jordan. As with the case of previous efforts to either modernize or create better access for this historic and sacred area, any actions by Israel have been regarded by denizens of the so-called “Arab street” as a conspiratorial plot to destroy the mosques on the Temple Mount or otherwise offend Muslim sensibilities. The fact that even an anti-Israel institution like UNESCO — which has routinely denounced archeological digs in the city by Israelis — regards the ramp demolition as in no way compromising Muslim rights or shrines is meaningless to Israel’s Arab foes. While frustrating for Israel, these threats ought to clearly illustrate to the world the irrational aspect of Arab and Islamic critique of Israel. The resentment the Temple Mount project has generated is rooted in a belief that Jews have no right to be in Jerusalem. It has nothing to do with anything Netanyahu or his government might do.
Renovation of the ramp, which is a temporary structure put up in 2003 after an earthquake and a severe winter storm caused the old access ramp to collapse, in no way harms the mosques on the Temple Mount or interferes with Muslim rights to worship there. Indeed, the carrying on about anything Israel does with the adjoining Western Wall or the tunnels leading to it have never been about any harm to Arabs or Muslims. After all, in an act of magnanimity that has never been equaled in the annals of war, Israel handed over control of the Temple Mount — which is the most sacred spot in Judaism — to the Muslim Wakf almost immediately after the city was unified in 1967. For the first time in history, one of the contestants for control of the city did not destroy the shrines of other faiths or convert them to other uses as Christian and Muslim conquerors had done. But Israel got no credit for Moshe Dayan’s attempt to appease Islamic sensibilities. In the decades since this gesture, the Wakf has redoubled its efforts to foment violence. Even more to the point, it has conducted excavations on the historic site that resulted in the trashing of antiquities.
The only period when all religions were allowed free access to their holy sites in the city’s history has been the last 44 years of Jewish sovereignty. Yet Muslims still react to any Jewish presence in the Old City much as they did in 1929 when extremists fomented rumors of a Jewish plot to destroy the Temple Mount mosques that resulted in riots that took the lives of many Jews, including the massacre of the ancient Jewish community of Hebron.
Indeed.
So is Netanyahu going to remove his 'temporary' hold on the project before the ramp collapses and we are blamed for that? Or is he going to continue to kotow to the Egyptians and the Obama administration? What could go wrong?
Hussein's palace to be renovated by Jordan? UPDATE: Work halted
On Wednesday, I reported on an apparent land grab by the Wakf at Hussein's palace in Beit Hanina here in Jerusalem. Now, Maan reports that it's the Kingdom of Jordan which is behind the land grab. The King has apparently decided to complete his father's palace.
Jordan is renovating King Hussein's unfinished palace in Jerusalem, Hebrew-language media reported Sunday.
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs is carrying out the work at Jordan's request, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported.
Maariv said the Jerusalem Municipality was not informed of the plans for the building, which is located in occupied East Jerusalem.
...
According to Maariv, the deserted building is used by prostitutes and drug users.
So is the Jerusalem municipality (or the government of Israel) going to insist that they go through ordinary approval processes? Or is the government going to de facto give up its sovereignty over 'east' Jerusalem? What could go wrong?
Illegal renovations of King Hussein’s partially built summer villa, whose concrete shell was abandoned following the 1967 Six Day War, were halted Sunday after workers began building a fence around the building last week.
The site, located north of Jerusalem and believed to be the site of King Saul’s ancient palace and the capital of the tribe of Benjamin, is an archeological park that belongs to the Israel Lands Authority. Like other politically sensitive sites, no work has been done on the site since 1967, to honor the delicate status quo.
Chaim Silberstein, the CEO and founder of Keep Jerusalem, notified the police and the Jerusalem municipality when he saw tractors and workers pouring cement at the site on Thursday. Silberstein regularly brings groups to the site for an educational tour of the Jerusalem boundaries.
“I went up to the manager, and I asked him what they were doing, and he said, ‘I work for the Waqf, this is our property, it’s too dangerous and we’re fencing it in,’” Silberstein told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
...
Any renovation work on the building would require a permit from the municipality. The municipality told the media they had not issued any permits for the building.
“This is the site of the ancient Givat Shaul, it’s the second most important archeological site in Jerusalem after the City of David [near the Old City],” said Silberstein. “They are trying to remove Jewish connections and exert Palestinian sovereignty in east Jerusalem, and that’s not something we want,” he said.
Repeated attempts to contact the Waqf were unsuccessful.
According to Silberstein, who notified a bevy of right-wing activists and Knesset members of the illegal renovations, the renovation work was halted at the end of last week. Silberstein said in the future, he wanted to see the area renovated for tourists and archeologists.
This should be fun.... 'International incident' coming in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1....
In 1972, when I made my first trip to Israel, the tour guide proudly took us to Hussein's palace. Hussein's palace, pictured at top left, was being constructed by Jordan's King Hussein when he foolishly entered the Six-Day War in 1967. It was never finished.
The unfinished palace sits on a high hilltop with a commanding view of the city. It can be seen from many parts of northeastern Jerusalem.
Over the years, it has become a bit less popular as a tourist attraction because going to an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem (in this case Beit Hanina) is... a bit dicey....
Today, I received the following in an email from Avi F:
hello i volunteer for an organization here in jerusalem called keep jerusalem ie. Im eskachech. we were touring some people today around jerusalem when we discovered that some people were fencing off Hussein's palace. when asked if they had a permit, they said it was paid and ordered by the wakf. we are currently trying to get on the issue with knesset members and the city police but if you could spread the word to anyone who might be able to stop this blatant illegal arab land grab it would be greatly appreciated.
Below are a couple more recent pictures that Avi F. sent to me.
Jews assaulted on Temple Mount by Wakf on 9th of Av
A group of Jews who ascended the Temple Mount on Tisha b'Av (the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av) were assaulted by members of the Wakf, the Muslim religious guard that controls day-to-day affairs on the Mount.
Jewish Leadership’ Likud faction leader Moshe Feiglin led a group onto the Temple Mount for their monthly ascent today, the 9th of Av. They were berated by a Moslem woman, who was joined by members of the WAKF who assaulted the visitors after they attempted to photograph the woman. The police urged the Jewish visitors to leave the premises quickly.
Feiglin responded, ”The government cannot give up the Temple Mount. This will undermine our presence in the Negev and Galillee, and even on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Avenue.”
If only the government would listen.... The problem is that it is always the Jews who are expected to turn tail and leave.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
