The metal detectors debacle: Netanyahu's feeble response - Mati Tuchfeld

by Mati Tuchfeld

Israel's response to the terrorist attack on the Temple Mount was hasty and confused, and it is no wonder that PM Benjamin Netanyahu ultimately caved

Israeli police officers walk outside the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City on Tuesday | Photo credit: AP

The problem did not start with Israel's feeble removal of metal detectors from the gates to the Temple Mount compound. The problem started days earlier, with the ill-advised installation of the metal detectors in the first place. The Israeli response to the July 14 terrorist attack at the Temple Mount, in which two Israeli police officers were murdered, was so hasty and confused that there was never any doubt that even the slightest pushback from the Arabs and the Waqf would lead to Israeli capitulation in the end. After all, ever since 1967, Israel's conduct regarding the Temple Mount has been like that of a leaf in the wind. 

Benjamin Netanyahu is not the first prime minister to display utter Israeli helplessness in the face of powerful Islamic groups that control the holy site with an iron fist. Previous prime ministers were paralyzed by feeble threats from Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia when Israel started renovating Mughrabi Bridge (a wooden bridge connecting the Western Wall plaza with the Temple Mount's Mughrabi Gate), which was about to collapse. They did nothing when the Waqf freely discarded ancient remnants of our temples that it dug up there. It was former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who caved to Turkish pressure and agreed to let a Turkish delegation inspect the excavations at Mughrabi Gate when Israel wanted to reinforce the foundations of the only Temple Mount gate that is accessible to Jews. 

But unlike the acts of previous prime ministers, the move Netanyahu led this week went directly against his own political base. A Channel 2 poll revealed on Tuesday evening that after the removal of the metal detectors, 77% of the Israeli public feels that the government caved in to pressure and 67% of the public feels that Netanyahu did not handle this situation well. Furthermore, 68% of the public thinks that the initial decision to install the metal detectors was correct, despite the vocal objections of the Left, so there is no need to guess how Likud voters (and Habayit Hayehudi voters whom Netanyahu aims to draw to Likud) feel about this situation. It doesn't take an experienced pollster to see that the numbers are close to 100% in all the parameters, and that is precisely Netanyahu's problem right now. 

The Temple Mount is not exactly the powder keg that the Left often makes it out to be. Moreover, Islamic leaders' concerted efforts to turn it into one over the last week have been largely unsuccessful. But it is a site that does elicit profoundly powerful emotions among Jews, on both sides of the debate, and the cabinet decision to dismantle the metal detectors fell directly into this trap. Our sages taught us that the people of Israel must walk tall to ensure our survival in the face of our enemies. The metal detectors debacle has lowered our stature in this regard. 

Mati Tuchfeld

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=44135

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