Jordan has just complained publicly about what it calls an Israeli “invasion of Al-Aqsa Mosque.” The preposterous complaint is here.
Jordan reiterates to Israel: Al-Aqsa is a place for Muslim worship only.
The ministry’s spokesperson Deifallah al-Fayez condemned the “continued Israeli violations.”
The Kingdom of Jordan has requested that Israel “respect the sanctity” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the status quo, after it recently reopened to Muslim worshipers following a two-month hiatus amid coronavirus lockdowns.
According to Jordan’s official news agency Petra, “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has sent Israel, via diplomatic channels, a memo calling on Tel Aviv as an occupying power to respect the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, and end all provocations and violations there.”
There have been no “provocations and violations” that the Israeli police have permitted. The rules are clear: Jews are not allowed to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque, so could not possibly have interfered with Muslim worshippers, unless we are to accept the notion that their mere presence on the Temple Mount somehow “interferes” with the prayers of Muslims inside Al-Aqsa. The Jews at all times “respect the sanctity” of the mosque.
Jews can visit Temple Mount only on five days a week, from Sunday to Thursday. Visits must take place in the summer (from April through September) — between 8:30 and 10:30 am, and between 1:30 and 2:30 pm, and in winter (from October through March) between 7:30 and 10:30 am and 12:30 and 1:30 pm.
That is, Jews are allowed to visit the Temple Mount for only three hours a day, five days a week. That’s only 15 hours a week during which they can visit the holiest site in Judaism.
Furthermore, Jews are forbidden to pray, aloud or silently, or to engage in any other religious activity. Nor can they have on their person anything of a religious nature, such as prayer books or tallit, when visiting the Temple Mount. This rule is strictly enforced by the Israeli police.
On the latest Tisha B’Av (July 30), there were far more Jewish visitors than usual. Some 800 Jews entered the Temple Mount Thursday morning, with police admitting them not all at once, but in staggered groups of 20. There was thus no sudden rush of a large number of Jews onto the Temple Mount; they were admitted methodically, steadily, in those small groups, so as to prevent the total number of Jewish visitors on the Temple from suddenly becoming unmanageable. Once a certain number – 100? 200? — had been let in, the rest of the Jews waiting to be admitted were let in pari passu with the number of Jews who had come and gone.
When the Jordanian spokeswoman called for an “end to all provocations and violations there,” the “there” she was referring to was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where — as she knows perfectly well — Jewish visitors do not go. But she also knows that very few in her worldwide audience will know that. And how many people, other than Jews (and by no means all of them), realize that Jews are not allowed to pray – not even silently – on the Temple Mount?
The ministry’s spokesperson Deifallah al-Fayez condemned the “continued Israeli violations,” the most recent example given being the “Israeli occupation forces allowing hundreds of Jewish extremists to storm the mosque” on Tisha B’Av.
As already noted, the claim that “hundreds of Jewish extremists” had been allowed to “storm the mosque” is a flat-out lie. There was no storming of the mosque. There never has been any storming of the Al-Aqsa mosque by Jewish visitors. Nor was there any “storming” of the Temple Mount itself. Israeli security made sure of that.
The spokesperson reiterated, in a note of exclusion, that the Al-Aqsa mosque is a place of worship for Muslims only and that the Jerusalem Waqf Department, run under the auspices of Jordan, “is the sole institution responsible for administrating the affairs of Al Aqsa Mosque.”
It’s not just Al-Aqsa that is a place of worship “for Muslims only.” It’s the entire Temple Mount that is a “place of worship for Muslims only.” Jews who violate that rule and dare to engage in prayer, including silent prayer, are removed by the Israelis themselves. How many people realize that at the holiest site in Judaism, Muslims but not Jews may pray?
There was one small violation, by a handful of visitors to the Temple Mount, on Tisha b’Av.
Of the nearly 1000 Jewish visitors on that day, exactly ten were found to have prayed (it’s unclear if these were spoken or silent prayers), and they were promptly detained, and removed, by the Israeli police. 10 out of 1000 – 1% of the Jewish visitors – dared to pray and were taken away. Yet the Jordanians have charged the Jewish visitors with failing to “respect the sanctity” of the mosque, which they did not get near, and of being guilty of “violations and provocations” which the Jordanian spokesman did not detail, because noting the only “violation” — the 1% of Jewish visitors who attempted to pray on the Temple Mount — would have made clear what strict limits the Jews had placed on themselves. Better to simply accuse them of “violations and provocations” that are left unspecified, save for the charge that the “Jewish extremists” were allowed “to storm the mosque.”
Israel does not interfere in any way with the Waqf in its administering “the affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque.” The Israeli police are there to provide security, to prevent violence, and above all, to ensure that Jewish visitors respect the limitations imposed on them.
Here’s an answer the Israelis might make to the Jordanian complaint:
On Tisha b’Av, 978 Jews visited the Temple Mount during the three hours they are allowed. Israeli security allowed them to enter the Temple Mount only in groups of 20, staggered in time so as to prevent congestion. The Jews did not enter either the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock, but – as always –confined themselves to the Temple Mount itself.
They did not pray aloud. They did not pray silently. They did not carry prayer books, tallit, or any other religious articles.
However, ten of the 978 Jewish visitors did start to pray. They were soon observed, detained, and removed by the Israeli guards. Those guards were following the rules laid down for Jewish visitors that Israel has undertaken to enforce, even though – please remember – the Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. We think the fair-minded, properly informed, will reject the baseless accusations made against us, and appreciate the policies we have adopted to minimize conflict at this holy site.