by Nadav Shragai
The original sin was committed by former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, who gave the Temple Mount over to the Muslims and forbade Jews from praying there
Today,
1946 years after the destruction of the Second Temple, most of the media
maintains a shroud of silence when it comes to the Muslim chronicle of
violence and lies about the Temple Mount. They behave as though it
wasn't the holiest place to the Jewish people.
Only two weeks ago, six
Israeli archaeologists touring the eastern part of the Temple Mount
were attacked and beaten. The incident garnered only marginal coverage,
much like the regular ambushes on Jewish visitors to the Mount by the
Morbitun and Morbitat guards affiliated with the Northern Branch of the
Islamic Movement.
The attack on the
archaeologists was reminiscent of another egregious, violent event that
took place on the Temple Mount a few years ago, when an Israel Police
station there was attacked and set on fire and the police officers were
run out. Then, too, most of the media looked the other way.
The Muslim violence at
the site is yet another aspect of the bias and discrimination against
Jews on the mount -- a situation Israel put itself into knowingly. The
original sin was committed by former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, who
gave the Temple Mount over to the Muslims and forbade Jews from praying
there. Since then, what has come to be known as the "status quo" has
evolved, with almost all the guidelines pertaining to Jews changing for
the worse. Visits by Jews (unlike Jewish prayer) that in the past were
permitted have become so difficult they are nearly impossible. Too
often, the Mount is closed to Jews because the Muslims are making
threats. Even when Jews are allowed to visit the Mount, they are subject
to limitations that were not part of the original status quo agreement:
they may no longer visit the Mount on the Sabbath or enter the Temple
Mount mosques. The areas Jews are allowed to visit have been curtailed,
as have visiting days and hours. The length of individual visits has
also been restricted.
All these changes
dovetail perfectly with a well-oiled machine of Muslim incitement and
lies. In face of the many archaeological discoveries that confirm that
the Second Temple existed there, and a range of historical sources by
Jews and non-Jews that document its existence, the Muslims today refer
to the Temple as "Al-Mazoum," which means the false or imaginary. Their
lies place the Temple's location as far away as Nablus or even Yemen,
claiming it never stood on the Temple Mount.
They also fake history
and move the Muslim presence in Jerusalem back to the historical time of
the Jews here. When discussing the Temple, the Palestinians go as far
as to reject the writings of certain Muslim historians, whose assertions
they wholeheartedly accept in reference to other historical points.
These historians -- such as geographer Al-Muqaddasi of the 10th century
C.E.; Bachar al-Wasti, who preached at Al-Aqsa Mosque at the beginning
of the 11th century C.E.; or 13th-century Iranian scholar Hamdallah
Al-Mustawfi -- identify Al-Aqsa Mosque with Solomon's Temple. Even the
abbreviated guide to "Al-Haram al-Sharif," as the Muslims refer to the
Mount, that was published by the Supreme Muslim Society under Grand
Mufti Amin al-Husseini (who would later collaborate with Hitler) in
1924, says that "this site is one of the most ancient in the world…" and
that "its identity as the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond doubt."
At the same time, the
Muslims decided that the Temple Mount compound and walls would be as
sanctified as the name Al-Aqsa and the mosque itself. Today, they claim
that it was never any other way, but that's also a lie. In an official
Jordanian tourist map from 1965, which can be found in an extensive
collection of maps of the Land of Israel belonging to Mr. Haim
Steinberger of New York, Al-Aqsa Mosque is labeled simply as a structure
located at the southern end of the compound. The Mount itself is
labeled using its biblical name -- Mount Moriah -- yet another detail
that Muslims today deny.
Another problematic
element of the current reality on the Temple Mount, the location of the
Second Temple, stems from the relations between Jordan and Israel, which
are based on mutual interests of security and economics. But Israel is
paying Jordan too high a price in the currency of the Temple Mount.
Jordan has in effect become Israel's partner in managing the Temple
Mount. It has vetoed the construction of a replacement for the Mughrabi
Bridge; clearing trash out of the plaza of the "little Western Wall";
and even intervenes when it comes to the number of religious visitors to
the Mount and how the police will conduct themselves there. Israel went
too far with the Temple Mount. The verbal and physical Muslim violence
there feeds off the mistakes we made here.
Nadav Shragai
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=16907
Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment