March 31, 2018 -- Sixteen Shot and Killed near Gaza Border

© Provided by AFP  Israeli soldiers fire tear gas as thousands of Gazans march just across the border fence sparking clashes in which 16 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,400 wounded on March 30, 2018

16 Palestinian protesters were killed on Friday after conflicts arose between Israeli armed forces near the Gaza border.   The demonstrations, which began Friday and are scheduled until May 15, took place at several locations along the Israeli-Gaza border.  May 15 is the day set for the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem.   

Organizers of the demonstration are to have encouraged the protesters to stay a safe distance away from the fence.  However, a group broke away and headed toward the fence hurling rocks and rolling flaming tires.  Israel responded with force.  The protesters were clearly out matched.  Israel had made it clear that they would not tolerate any attempt to come close to the fence or to breach the boarder.     

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu praised the Israeli troops for guarding the Israeli-Gaza boarder.  Others were not so enthusiastic.  Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday condemned the shooting of the 16 Gazan protesters.

March 30, 2018 -- Passover is for Jews and Christians

I came across an article from one of my former professors Scott Hahn on the Passover.

Passover is for Christians as Well as Jews

March 29, 2018 -- Tomorrow 14th of Nisan -- Palestinians to Demonstrate

Jewish priests prepare for a Passover Sacrifice 'practice' ceremony at Davidson Center in Jerusalem Old City, on March 26, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Remember when I told you that a group of Jews sacrificed and celebrated the Passover (as practice) just outside the Temple Mount last Monday?  Well tomorrow a group of Palestinians will demonstrate the Jewish ceremony.  Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, who was at one time Grand Mufti of Jerualem, did not recognize the celebration and viewed it as a provocation toward Palestinians, and he expressed frustrations that the ceremony took place so close to “Land Day,” which takes place this Friday.  This day has been a commemoration since 1976 when Israeli forces killed six Israeli Arabs who were protesting what they claim was Israeli appropriation of Arab own land in order to build Jewish communities.  This Friday is also the 14^th of Nisan on which Israel has celebrated the Passover since biblical times.  Sabri has not been without controversies.  For example, he claimed that Israel has no claim to the Temple Mount and is to have said, “this is a decree from God.  The Haram al-Sharif belongs to the Muslim.  But we know the Jew is planning on destroying the Haram.”  Although Sabri was appointed by Yasser Arafat as mufti in 1994, he was removed by Mahmoud Abbas in 2006.   

March 27, 2018 -- Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita visits Al-Aqsa Mosque (Temple Mount).

JPOST: Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita toured the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Tuesday, becoming the second Arab foreign minister to visit the site in two months.

In February, Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi also toured the mosque. Senior Arab officials rarely visit the site.

Bourita was accompanied by Azzam al-Khatib, director of the Wakf Islamic trust in Jerusalem, Omar al-Kiswani, the director of the mosque, Palestinian Authority Jerusalem Gov. Adnan al-Husseini and PLO Ambassador to Morocco Jamal al-Shobaki.

March 26, 2018 -- Rare bronze Jewish coins from the First Jewish Revolt found near south wall of Temple Mount.

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: A hoard of rare bronze Jewish Revolt coins has been discovered at the recently renewed Ophel excavations. The trove of dozens of bronze coins minted during the last years of the ill-fated four-year rebellion of the Jews against Roman rule was uncovered in a cave just south of the Temple Mount by Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar.

At the Ophel archaeological dig outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, a hoard of rare bronze coins from the Jewish Revolt were recently discovered, dating to circa 66-70CE. (Eilat Mazar)

March 26, 2018 -- Recent Developments around the Temple Mount

There have been a couple recent developments surrounding the Temple Mount.  The first is the recent court case that will allow three 14 year old Jewish girls to pray just outside the mount near the various gates.  This decision was in part the response to the three youths who were arrested for praying near the Forgiveness Gate.  The arrest went to trial, but was overturned.  The other development involves a group of Jews who will be allowed to sacrifice a Passover Lamb near the base of the Temple Mount at its southwest corner in the area known as the Jerusalem Archaeological Park.  For the past ten years, the Passover sacrifice has taken place, but only in recent years has it happened so close to the Temple Mount.  In 2015, the event took place about two miles west of the mount in Kiryat Moshe.  In 2016, the sacrifice took place on the Mount of Olives east of the Temple.  In 2017, it was held in the plaza of the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City some 400 yards from the mount.  This year it will be closer than it has ever been in the last ten years.  According to Jewish tradition, the sacrifice should take place on the Temple Mount. 

The practice of a Passover sacrifice as close as possible to the location of the Temple has been low profile for years.  However, those who advocate the practice have recently gained support from the Jerusalem’s Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern, rabbis Yaakov Meidan and Uri Sherki, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, founder of the Temple Institute, and even some rabbis that are not without controversies such as Dov Lior, Shmuel Eliyahu. 

March 22, 2018 -- Who cleans the cracks in the Western Wall?

Equipped with long sticks, a team of cleaners on Tuesday gouged out written prayers that visitors to Judaism’s Western Wall in Jerusalem traditionally cram into its crevices.

Twice a year, the Rabbi of the Western Wall oversees the collection of thousands of notes to ensure there’s always room for more. The papers are then buried on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives in accordance with ritual.

https://www.sde.co.ke/article/2001274104/clearing-god-s-mailbox-cleaners-remove-prayer-notes-from-jerusalem-s-western-wall

March 18, 2018 -- International Union for Muslim Scholars call for protests againts US Embassy move to Jerusalem.

The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has called for a “public and official uprising” against the U.S. decision to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May.

IUMS calls for Protests

March 5, 2018 -- Israeli Court (Magistrates' Court Judge Malka Aviv) rules in favor of Jewish prayer on Temple Mount.

ARUST SHEVA: Temple activists were euphoric Monday after a precedent-setting ruling by Magistrates' Court Judge Malka Aviv in the case of Yehuda Glick vs. the Israeli Police, a day earlier. The judge ruled that the police “must make sure that Jews are able to pray on the Temple Mount” – in a ruling replete with harsh criticism of the police's policies on the Temple Mount.

Activists were quoted on a Temple activists blog as saying: “This day will be remembered for generations in the annals of the struggle for the return of Jews to the Temple Mount.”

The police are legally bound “to ensure that Jews are able to pray on the Temple Mount, and not to act sweepingly to prevent Jews from praying on the Temple Mount,” the judge determined.

Attorney Aviad Visoly, who represented Glick said Tuesday that the verdict “has made prayer on the Temple Mount 'kosher'. In essence, the court took the Supreme Court's rulings about the Jews' right to pray on the Temple Mount, and implemented them.”

"This is almost the first ruling – and certainly the most sweeping – in which the court implements the right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. From today, every Jew is allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. The prayer itself is not an offense.”

Judge Aviv said that the police ban on Glick's visiting the Mount was issued “without appropriate consideration” and was “arbitrary.”

“There is nothing in the deeds of the plaintiff [Glick] that justified in any way the punishment that he received, not in the ban itself and not in the extended period [of the ban],” she said.

Glick was awarded NIS 500,000 in damages and NIS 150,000 in legal costs.

March 5, 2018 -- US President Trump to consider attending the opening of US Embassy in Jerusalem during mid-May.

NPR: As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced snowballing corruption allegations at home, President Trump said, during the Israeli official's visit to Washington, that the relationship between the two nations is better than ever.

Trump said he is considering attending the mid-May opening of the controversial U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

Moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv is controversial because Palestinians also consider Jerusalem their capital. Indeed, as NPR's Jerusalem-based correspondent Daniel Estrin reported, Palestinian political leadership are currently boycotting the Trump administration because of the embassy decision.

For more, see here.

President Trump and Melania Trump meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu, who visited the White House on Monday.

Evan Vucci/AP