Recent Events on Temple Mount Since Cease-fire

 

Just hours after the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli Police and Palestinian demonstrators clashed on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif this past Friday.  Following noon prayer, Palestinians began to celebrate as they waved flags and banners—some supporting Hamas.  At some point the Israeli police were called to the mount.  It is uncertain what exactly triggered the conflict.  The confrontation ended within an hour.  For a video that does not show what prompted the confrontation, but shows the Israeli police forcing individuals off the mount click here.    

The Temple Mount reopened on Sunday morning to Jews, following its closure to Jewish visitors during the final days of Ramadan and the conflict between Israel and Hamas.  Although a number of rabbis and ministers of the Knesset approved, Moshe Gafni, chairman of the United Torah Judaism Party, called on President Netanyahu not to reopen the site. He said, “the Temple was destroyed because of our sins, and those who go up to the Temple Mount are liable for spiritual excommunication….Not going up to the mount is the deepest proof of our association with this holy place to which we turn from all over the world when we pray.”

Jews visit Temple Mount on Sunday
(photo: Or Nehemiah Aharonov)

Two Accounts about Two Events - which one is right?

It is interesting to read two different accounts about the same events, yet both make different arguments.  An article by Morgan Winsor, Nasser Atta and other contributors state that Hamas would agree to a ceasefire under two conditions: 1) Israeli forces must stop “incursions into the Al-Aqsa compound [Temple Mount] and respect the site” and 2) Israel must stop forcing evacuations of Palestinian residents in the Sheikh Jarah neighborhood.  Another article by Neville Teller argues that the Temple Mount and the Sheikh Jarrah issue are “a convenient and long-awaited smoke screen behind which deeper incentives hide.”  For example, Hamas wants to become the dominant voice in Palestinian politics in the place of Mahmoud Abbas.  The leaders of Hamas want to be seen as the champion of the Palestinian cause.  However, this is only a “vital step toward their ultimate aim – the destruction of Israel.”

Jewish Knesset member thought to be responsible for ongoing Jewish-Arab riots.

 

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that extreme-right MK Itamar Ben Gvir is responsible for ongoing riots in Jewish-Arab cities, Israeli TV reported Thursday.

 

During a briefing, Shabtai said that every time police appear to be getting an area under control, Ben Gvir, the Kahanist member of the Religious Zionism party, shows up to fan the flames, Channel 12 and Channel 13 news both reported.

 

“The person who is responsible for this intifada is Itamar Ben Gvir. It started with the Lehava protest at Damascus Gate,” Shabtai said, referring to far-right demonstrations around Jerusalem’s Old City. “It continued with provocations in Sheikh Jarrah, and now he is moving around with Lehava activists.”….

 

Ben Gvir ceremoniously moved his office earlier this month to the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where there has been international outcry due to Israeli plans to evict Palestinian families and hand over the homes to Jews who had proven their pre-1948 ownership….

Fire on the Temple Mount: Updated 5.16.2021

The conflict, violence, and fighting happening in Israel grieve me deeply.  Both sides certainly have pointed fingers at each other.  One thing that stands out in my mind was the call by Hamas to ratchet up antics and violence against Israel.  At one point, I heard it said that if Israel would keep Jews off the Temple Mount/Harem al-Sharif, there would not be any attacks.  I learned that Israel decided to keep Jews off the mount.  Then I heard Hamas (and perhaps Islamic Jihad) still launched airstrikes against Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  They evidently want Israeli police off the mount too.  As the tensions have escalated, the image that stands out in my mind is from a video that shows a fire burning on the mount near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, while Jews are singing and dancing at the Western Wall.  At first glance, someone could be cynical and explain the celebration as a result of the fire on the mount.  However, it was Jerusalem Day and the celebration appears to be going on before the fire broke out.  The irony!  The fire may have been started by protestors on the mount who had been throwing rocks and fireworks at Israeli security forces.    

There are huge cedar trees on the mount and at least one of them caught fire.  I have included a link to videos of the Temple Mount fire here and here.   

Updated: 5/16/2021

According to Yair Wallach, the young Israelis who were singing at the Western Wall—during Jerusalem Day, as the fire broke out on the Temple Mount—were singing a Hassidic rock song associated with Rabbi Meir Kahane based on the biblical story of Samson: “O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!”  The Israeli youth who were jumping and singing were shouting “May their name be effaced!” 

Meir Kahane is a controversial figure.  While some consider him a hero others consider him a “criminal racist.” He founded the anti-Arab Kach political party, which calls for the annexation of all conquered territories and the removal of all Palestinians.  He approved the use of violence and was imprisoned.  While in prison he wrote his work They Must Go (1981), in which he expressed his negative views of Arabs and Jews living side-by-side in Israel. 

It is not hard to imagine a group of zealot religious youth, combined with a radical/racist mindset, could be highly problematic and a source of contention for both Israel and the Arab community that lives there.  I just hope that is not the case.        

Yom Yerushalayim (יוֹם יְרוּשָׁלַיִם)

 

It is bitter/sweet that I share this blog today, especially in light of the recent and growing tensions and conflicts in Jerusalem.  Today is Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), which commemorates the reunification of the city of Jerusalem after the Six-Day War on June 7, 1967.  It is celebrated on the 28^th of Iyar.  Before the war portions of the Old City were under Jordanian control and Jews were not allowed to enter.  Today, Jerusalem is part of Israel and people generally are allowed to visit the holy city and her sacred sites that are significant to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, though there are exceptions.  Both Jews and Christians are presently not allowed to visit the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, though again there have been exceptions to this rule.  When I visited Israel in 2017, I was allowed to visit the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, but not the Dome of the Rock.  However, in 2015 Pope Francis was permitted to visit the Dome of the Rock. In a more recent account, a none Muslim was allowed to visit and capture a video of his tour of the Dome.        

Among the tensions in Jerusalem today, the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif seems to produce some of the highest tensions in the city of Jerusalem.  Some Palestinians accuse Israel of wanting to tear down the Dome of the Rock and build the Third Temple on the mount.  Not all Jews wish for this to happen, but some groups advocate the building of the Jewish Temple, groups such as the Temple Mount Faithful, which was founded in 1967 by an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) officer named Gershon Salomon, whose goal is “the building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in our lifetime in accordance with the Word of G-d and all the Hebrew prophets and the liberation of the Temple Mount from Arab (Islamic) occupation so that it may be consecrated to the Name of G-d.”

However, this apparently was not the view of everyone following the Six-Day War.  On June 7, 1967, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan stated,

This morning, the Israel Defense Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned to the holiest of our holy places, never to part from it again. To our Arab neighbors we extend, also at this hour - and with added emphasis at this hour - our hand in peace. And to our Christian and Muslim fellow citizens, we solemnly promise full religious freedom and rights. We did not come to Jerusalem for the sake of other peoples' holy places, and not to interfere with the adherents of other faiths, but in order to safeguard its entirety, and to live there together with others, in unity.

Moshe Dayan is also known for a pivotal decision during the Six-Day War.  During the war, Mordechai (Motta) Gur and his paratroops were the first to visit the Western Wall and the Temple Mount during which time he became know for his recorded words, !הר הבית בידינו‎, Har HaBayit BeYadeinu! “The Temple Mount is in our hands!”  Ezra Orni, the chief communications officer for the brigade, hung an Israeli flag over the Dome of the Rock.  However, Dayan was watching through binoculars from nearby Mount Scopus and radioed Gur saying, “Do you want to set the Middle East on fire?”  As a result, the flag was taken down.  Later, Dayan visited the site with Yitzhak Rabin to commemorate the return of the city of Jerusalem and the sacred site to the Jews.  At the Western Wall, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the IDF’s chaplain, blew the shofar to honor the event. 

For more information, see The Six-Day War: Background & Overview.    

Israeli Paratroopers at the Western Wall (Photo: Rubinger)

Violence on Temple Mount Following Last Friday Prayers of Ramadan

 

THE JERUSALEM POST: Violent clashes broke out at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Friday between worshipers and security forces, just as tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers gathered to mark the last Friday prayers of the Ramadan month of fasting….

Following the incident, Netanyahu met with numerous security heads on Saturday afternoon.

"Israel is acting responsibly to keep law and order in Jerusalem while protecting the right to worship in the Holy sites," Netanyahu said during the meeting….

Israel Police reported that "police troops began using riot control measures a while ago, in an attempt to restore order after violent riots broke out at the Temple Mount, during which hundreds of suspects started throwing rocks, bottles and other items toward our forces."