Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now barred Jewish visitors from the Temple Mount until the end of Ramadan, due to widespread violence. According to the prime minister’s Office, this was done “on the unanimous recommendation of the Defense Minister, the IDF Chief-of-Staff, the Director of the ISA and the Israel Police Inspector General.” But Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir called the move a “‘serious mistake’ that risks further inflaming tensions.” Ben Gvir argued that “the absence of Jewish visitors on the flashpoint site would mean fewer Israeli police officers stationed there, ‘which will create fertile ground for massive demonstrations of incitement to murder Jews and even a scenario in which stones will be thrown at Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall. When terrorism strikes us, we must hit back with tremendous force, not surrender.’”
Leading up to this decision, it may seem odd to read and watch the barrage of news stories condemning Israeli police for “storming” the al-Aqsa mosque, as though Palestinians at al-Aqsa were being provoked and abused for no reason at all. Bear in mind that Muslims reference the whole Temple Mount compound as the “al-Aqsa mosque compound.” i24 news described a typical scene:
Those detained that had locked themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque included “masked individuals, stone and firework throwers, and individuals suspected of desecrating the mosque,” the police spokesperson said. The clashes come nearly halfway through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and as Jews prepare to celebrate Passover starting Wednesday evening. “Overnight, many dozens of law-breaking and masked juveniles smuggled fireworks, clubs and stones into the mosque and violently barricaded themselves inside of it using iron rods, closets and other objects from the mosque, which they vandalized, aiming to disrupt the order while desecrating the mosque,” the police statement said.
The reason why Israeli police are there goes back to the Six-Day War in June 1967. The “status quo” agreement was reached after that war, during which Israel reconquered the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan formulated the agreement. Under its terms, “the Muslim Waqf, a Jordanian religious trust, would retain control of the Temple Mount. Jews would be allowed to visit the site without restrictions, though they would not be allowed to pray there. Israel would also take responsibility for security, though its forces would stay off the mount.” But it hasn’t been that simple in the face of escalated Palestinian violence, as well as Jewish history and the Jews’ claim to the Holy Land. Although Dayan formulated the agreement to pacify hostile Arab forces that were bent on obliterating Israel, this fact does not alter the reality about Jewish rights or about the violent outbreaks on the Temple Mount. Israel Hayom quotes Yisrael Medad, a Temple Mount activist for over 50 years, making the point that “Israel should not allow threats of Muslim violence to dictate what Jews can or cannot do on the Temple Mount. Once you accept the position that your enemy, or your rival, sets the rules, and you have no say in what those rules are, whatever you do will be wrong in his eyes.” The article also states that Jews have been praying at the site for years, and that in fact, today “thousands of Jews visit the site annually.”
For Jews, the Temple Mount is the most sacred site in the world. It is the place where King Solomon built the first temple 3,000 years ago. The second temple was also on that site, and was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The rage of the Muslim world when Ben Gvir visited the Temple Mount in December was odd, since at no time did he violate the status quo. As Senator Ted Cruz stated:
“A visit by a minister from Israel’s government to a site inside Israel is not a change in any status quo arrangement, and it should not be controversial for a Jew to visit the holiest site in Judaism.”
A report in i24 also stated:
If the UN were a serious and credible organization – and not a hypocritical and biased institution – it would have investigated the multiple Palestinian violations of the status quo on the Temple Mount long ago.
Despite the clear terms set out by the status quo, constant conflict breaks out, even in the face of Jews’ adherence to it. The reason for the violence, according to Nir Hasson, a journalist for Haaretz, was this:
The status quo that Israelis speak about is completely different from the status quo that the Waqf and Palestinians speak about.
The article below is important to understand the mindset of Palestinians, and more broadly what Arab nationalism is about. It is antisemitic at its root. The repeated rallying cry of the Palestinian “resistance” is: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” meaning that Israel must be obliterated from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
The bottom line is that Palestinians do not accept the status quo, nor do they recognize the ancient Jewish claim to Judea and Samaria; nor will they accept Jews visiting the Temple Mount, which they call the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound.
“What does the ‘status quo’ mean at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque?,” by Adam Sella, Al Jazeera, April 11, 2023:
The legal status of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is a recurring flashpoint in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Last week, Israeli police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque, attacking and arresting Palestinian worshippers who had been inside the prayer hall. Rockets were shot into Israel from Gaza and Lebanon in retaliation, leading to a brief flare-up in violence.
In 2021, a similar raid led to an 11-day Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.
To understand how a single police raid can precipitate a war, one must understand the status quo governing the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
What is the status quo?
For Palestinians – and under international law – the matter is quite simple.“Israel doesn’t have sovereignty over [East] Jerusalem and therefore doesn’t have sovereignty over Al-Aqsa,” which is in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, says Khaled Zabarqa, a Palestinian legal expert on the city and the compound. Consequently, Zabarqa says, international law dictates that Israel is not authorised to implement any status quo.
For the Palestinians and the Waqf, the Jordanian-appointed body that manages the Al-Aqsa compound, it is a status quo rooted in the site’s administration under the Ottoman Empire, which dictated that Muslims have exclusive control of Al-Aqsa, according to Nir Hasson, a journalist for Haaretz covering Jerusalem.
The Israelis, however, see things differently, despite international law not recognising any attempt by an occupying power to annex territory it has occupied.
“The status quo that Israelis speak about is completely different from the status quo that the Waqf and Palestinians speak about,” explains Hasson.
For Israel, the status quo refers to a 1967 agreement formulated by Moshe Dayan, a former Israeli defence minister. After Israel occupied East Jerusalem, Dayan proposed a new arrangement based on the Ottoman agreement.
According to Israel’s 1967 status quo, the Israeli government allows the Waqf to maintain day-to-day control of the area, and only Muslims are permitted to pray there. However, Israeli police control the site’s access and are responsible for security, and non-Muslims are allowed to visit the site as tourists……
stephen says
Give muslims an inch and they will insist the next two miles belong to them in perpetuity.
stephen says
If the UN were a serious and credible organization – and not a hypocritical and biased institution – it would have investigated the multiple Palestinian violations of the status quo on the Temple Mount long ago.
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The UN should also look into the legitimacy of those manufactured people, the palestinians, who are not, and have never been, a nation.
Hoi Polloi says
“Israel would also take responsibility for security, though its forces would stay off the mount,” (what a trap that is) and the matter of forbidden prayer are obviously the camel’s nose set up.
Articles I’ve seen supposedly detailing the issue use diagrams that acknowledge with a mere dot any claim that isn’t muslim. Muslim domination of the UN should mean the US pulls out. China’s dominance should have been enough to force that and their drive to dominate is at least more rational.
pfwag says
The “Temple Mount” is not where the location of the Temple ever was. Read the Bible. The Temple was located in the City of David and had other attributes like running water.
For more “proofs” read “The Temple” by Cornuke.
Bottom line: the Muslims have deceived the Jews, most Christians, and the rest of the world.
However, that does allow the Jews to rebuild the Temple without having to raze the Al-Aqsa Mosque – per biblical prophecy for the end times.
mg says
you are incorrect. The author of that thesis wasn’t even a scholar on the subject, nor an expert, except at meteorology which was his area of expertise. There are many who have dwelled on erasing the jewish presence on the Temple Mount, the stones of which attest to the very buiding of the Temples there some 300 yea FO. You can now rejoin your group of erasers.
mg says
That would be 3000 yrs ago- sorry for the typo…..
pfwag says
meterology? He was an FBI trained police investigator and SWAT team member before becoming a biblical sleuth.
1. Were the writers of the Tenach scholars or experts?
2. YOU have been deceived. The “Temple Mount” is the remains of the Roman fortress as attested to by historical eye witnesses..
3. The Jewish presence for any “temple mount” is in the City of David. Try actually reading your own scriptures some time instead of being BLINDED by TRADITION. I suggest you start with 2 Chronicles 3:1:
4. You didn’t even read, let alone investigate,the book before making ignorant opinions on its conclusions.
5. Yes, over the years there have been many who have dwelled on, and even triied, erasing any and everything Jewish, like Yeshua the JEWISH MESSIAH, but they all failed, as prophesied. That said, you really aught to be standing on YOUR scriptures, GOD’s word, rather than a bunch of stones that don’t really attest to anything..
Clifford Fodor says
King David must be turning over in his grave.