Itamar Ben Gvir Visits Temple Mount, and Washington Gets its Knickers in a Twist

Tisha b’Av is an annual fast day, the “saddest day in the Jewish calendar,” on which five calamities in Jewish history are observed. The two most important that Jews mourn on this day are the destruction of the First and Second Temples. The First, or Solomon’s, Temple, was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 B.C., and the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. This year, Itamar Ben Gvir marked the day by visiting the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount, where both temples once stood. He had every right to do so. He did not violate the rule forbidding the saying of Jewish prayers, either openly or even silently. He did not bring with him a Jewish prayer book, or wear a Jewish prayer shawl, or have tefillin strapped to his arms. Nonetheless, in Washington there was much unhappiness over Ben Gvir’s appearance.

More on Ben Gvir’s 15-minute visit to the Temple Mount that caused the Bidenites to get their knickers in a twist, can be found here: “US slams Ben Gvir’s ‘unacceptable’ Tisha Be’av Temple Mount visit,” by Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post, July 27, 2023:

The United States slammed as “unacceptable” National Security Minister Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount on Thursday, to mark the annual Tisha Be’av fast.

“We reaffirm our long-standing US position in support of the historic status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington.

“Any unilateral action or rhetoric that deviates or jeopardizes the status quo is completely unacceptable,” Patel emphasized.

The US Embassy in Jerusalem issued a similar statement and US Ambassador Robert Wood echoed his country’s displeasure in a speech he delivered to the United Nations Security Council.

But despite the American tantrum, Ben Gvir’s visit did not violate the “status quo” on the Temple Mount. Perhaps the Biden Administration thinks that Itamar Ben Gvir is sufficiently controversial that his mere presence on the Temple Mount constitutes a challenge to the status quo.

“This holy place should not be used for political purposes. We call on all parties to respect its sanctity,” he [Ambassador Wood] said.

There is only one side that has failed to respect the sanctity of the Temple Mount. That is the side of Palestinian Muslims, who use Al Aqsa as a storehouse for weapons – rocks , fireworks, and bottles — and as a fort from which to launch attacks, with those same weapons, that are hurled both at Jewish visitors to the Mount and on Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall far below. Elder of Ziyon comments:

No matter what one thinks of Ben Gvir, what is unacceptable is for the US to say that some Jews have a very limited right to visit their holiest spot, which is bad enough, and then to make it worse by saying that some Jews should have no rights to visit it at all.

If Ben Gvir did nothing to change the status quo, then it must be his very self to which Washington objects. Apparently, the Bidenites do not want Ben Gvir, or any Jew who shares his views, to visit the Temple Mount. His presence, they claim, is a “political act.” But Palestinian preachers offering antisemitic harangues at Al-Aqsa, Palestinians warehousing weapons inside Al-Aqsa, Palestinians throwing large rocks at Jewish visitors to the Mount in order to drive them away – these are apparently okay. Elder of Ziyon adds:

Jewish sensitivities towards the most sacred spot in Judaism are meaningless to the State Department.

But for some reason, Muslim sensitivities to make the entire area Judenrein is not something to be condemned by the US government..

Even when they give antisemitic speeches there.

The sermons given at Al-Aqsa during Friday Prayers routinely include fiery denunciations of Jews before audiences of 50,000-100,000 Muslims.

Even when they wave Hamas flags….

The Bidenites have never denounced Palestinians waving Hamas flags on the Temple Mount, which clearly signal their support for the terror group, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel and its replacement “from the river to the sea” by a Palestinian state. Surely that is more worthy of condemnation than a brief and silent visit by Ben Gvir?

Al-Aqsa is used by Palestinians as a place to store weapons – large rocks, bottles, fireworks – that are then thrown both from inside the mosque at Jewish visitors to the Mount, or brought outside to be hurled down on Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall far below. This practice of using Al-Aqsa as a weapons storehouse has never yet been condemned by the Bidenites nor, for that matter, by any American administration in the past.

At Al-Aqsa the khutbas – sermons — that accompany Friday Prayers are almost always devoted to the perfidy of the Zionists. Yet these, like the use of Al-Aqsa as a weapons storehouse, are not condemned by the Bidenites as an affront to the “sanctity” of the Temple Mount.

Itamar Ben Gvir was completely within his rights to visit the Temple Mount. He did not in any way violate the status quo. Nonetheless, the Bidenites threw a tantrum about his making the same brief and silent visit to the Temple Mount that he has made several times before. Their minds are made up: in their view, Jews visit the holiest site in Judaism not by right, but by sufferance, according to terms set by others – the Americans, the UN, and of course, the Palestinians. And Ben Gvir is beyond the pale.