https://imeu.org/article/misperceptions-re-tensions-over-the-noble-sanctuary
Misperceptions Regarding Tensions Over the Noble Sanctuary
Misperception: Israelis who are pushing for greater access to the Noble Sanctuary mosque complex (known as the Temple Mount to Jews) in occupied East Jerusalem just want religious freedom for Jews.
Can we establish that the Temple Mount predates Islam as a holy site for Jews by a thousand years? Right now, they aren't even allowed to pray there.
The Facts:
- Although they often couch their goals in terms of civil rights and religious freedom, the right-wing Israeli individuals and groups that are pushing for more access and Jewish prayer in the Noble Sanctuary want to remove the Muslim holy sites that it houses and replace them with a Jewish temple. On its website, one of the movement’s most prominent organizations, the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, declares as its objective:Liberating the Temple Mount from Arab (Islamic) occupation. The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque were placed on this Jewish or biblical holy site as a specific sign of Islamic conquest and domination. The Temple Mount can never be consecrated to the Name of G-d without removing these pagan shrines. It has been suggested that they be removed, transferred to, and rebuilt at Mecca.
- For these messianic Jewish extremists, efforts to gain more access and to be able to pray in the Noble Sanctuary form part of a larger plan to remove and/or destroy the mosques it contains and replace them with a Jewish temple. As Moshe Feiglin, then-deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, explained in March 2014: "I'm not asking for equality at the Temple Mount; there is no equality - it's ours and ours alone."
- Many Palestinians fear that Israel will eventually attempt to take over all or part of the Noble Sanctuary for exclusive Jewish use, as occurred with the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. In that case, the Israeli government divided the mosque and gave half of it to Jewish settlers following the massacre of 29 Palestinian worshippers by an Israeli-American settler in 1994.
Of course Jews will want more access to their holiest site. As I have already said, right now they aren't even allowed to pray there. When groups of religious Jews visit, they are followed around by the authorities, and subject to attack by Muslims.
In 1986, a group of Jews finally won permission from the Supreme Muslim Council to pray on the Temple Mount. One small group made it onto the Mount and were immediately attacked by a mob with stones and bottles.
Misperception: Israeli authorities reject attempts to change the status quo in the Noble Sanctuary and oppose actions by Jewish extremists that provoke tensions over it.
The Facts:
- While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he has no intention of changing the status quo in the Noble Sanctuary, senior officials in his current and previous governments have openly called for the construction of a Jewish temple in the Noble Sanctuary, including Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel of the extreme right wing Jewish Home party and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely of Netanyahu’s Likud party. In July 2013, then-Housing and Construction Minister Ariel declared to an “archeological conference” in the occupied West Bank:We’ve built many little, little temples… but we need to build a real Temple on the Temple Mount.
- In May 2014, hardline Knesset member Miri Regev from Netanyahu’s Likud party introduced a bill calling for the status quo to be changed to allow Jews to pray in the Noble Sanctuary.
- The Israeli Knesset (parliament) has also held hearings on changing the status quo in the Noble Sanctuary to allow Jews to pray there, including a February 2014 debate that was initiated by the ultra-right wing Moshe Feiglin, then a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party and deputy Knesset speaker.
The so-called "status quo" is an agreement that was reached in 1757 governing holy places in Jerusalem. It says that "No regulation nor law shall be made prohibiting or interfering with the free exercise of religion".
When Jordan took control of the Temple Mount in 1948 they closed all sites in the Old City of Jerusalem to Jews, ignoring the provisions of the status quo that had been in effect for almost 200 years. When Israeli won the Old City, including the Temple Mount, in 1967, they opened the Temple Mount up to Jews again, with the restriction on prayer in place.
Since then, the status quo has remained unchanged, except for four exceptions, none of which have benefited the Jews.
(1) Jewish visits are often prevented or considerably restricted.
(2) Jews and other non-Islamic visitors can only visit from Sunday to Thursday, for four hours each day.
(3) Visits inside the mosques are not allowed.
(4) Jews with religious appearance must visit in groups monitored by Waqf guards and policemen
The Israeli government provides funding to organizations like the
Temple Institute, which are actively working towards building a temple in the Noble Sanctuary. According to a March 2013 report by Israeli NGOs Ir Amim and Keshev:The State of Israel directly funds various Temple movement activities. In the years 2008-2011, the Ministry of Culture, Science and Sports and the Ministry of Education supported the Temple Institute and the Midrasha at an average rate of NIS 412,000 [approximately $105,000 USD] per year. In 2012, the Midrasha, the educational arm of the Temple Institute, received NIS 189,000 [approximately $48,000 USD] from the Ministry of Education.On December 30, 2010 a highly attended conference took place at Binyanei Ha’uma (The Jerusalem Conference Center). The event, promoted as ‘Every Jew Has a Part in the Sacred’ (the logo on the invitation proclaimed ‘Something good is happening in Jerusalem!’), drew thousands of attendees, mostly Haredim. The program included a discussion of ritual sacrifice and an exhibit presenting a model of the Temple. It also showcased a virtual presentation illustrating the construction of the Third Temple on the ruins of the Dome of the Rock. The conference was held under the auspices of the Jerusalem Municipality’s Department of Religious Culture.
$150,000 in funding for pro-Temple groups. Does this sound like it's a priority?
Misperception: Messianic Temple Mount extremists are a tiny minority in Israel and are on the fringes of society.
The Facts:
- Once considered to be on the margins of the Israeli political right, the Temple Mount movement has grown rapidly over the past decade and a half and has become mainstream.
- Growing numbers of Israeli rabbis are approving, and even encouraging, Jews to visit the Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount, something that until recently was opposed by the vast majority of Jewish religious authorities based on theological grounds.
Israel is one of the least religious countries on earth. Two-thirds of Israelis claim no religion at all.
Messianic Temple Mount extremists who advocate the building of a Jewish temple in the Noble Sanctuary mosque complex now sit in powerful positions in government, including ministerial posts.
The minister of agriculture. Big whoop. Again, hardly a front burner issue.
The Facts:
- Israel routinely violates the religious rights and freedoms of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories.
- Israeli authorities frequently prevent access to the Noble Sanctuary to Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem by implementing age and gender restrictions that prohibit men under a certain age, such as 50-years-old, from entering to worship.
- The Israeli government denies millions of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza access to East Jerusalem and its holy sites. Millions of other Palestinians living in Jordan, Lebanon and elsewhere in the diaspora are similarly denied the right to worship freely at their holy sites in Jerusalem.
One hundred percent of restrictions to the Temple Mount have been in response to Muslim violence. For instance, just last week, three guys came out of the mosque with machine guns and killed two Jews.
