Australians harassed at Temple Mount
Women and youngsters have attacked a group of Australian youth visiting the Temple Mount in Jerusalem this week.
Michael Kuttner reports:
In June 1967 as Israeli soldiers liberated the old city of Jerusalem from illegal Jordanian occupation, the words which rang out loud and clear that the Temple Mount was now in our hands, electrified the entire Jewish world. It seemed that for the first time in many years, Jews would be able to ascend and pray on the Mount where the Temples once stood.
However these hopes were quickly dashed because in an act of unfathomable folly, Moshe Dayan handed back the keys of the site to the Moslem religious authorities and promised that no Jew would ever utter any prayers there. Intended as a liberal gesture of goodwill it was and still is understood by the Islamic authorities to be a demonstration of weakness and craven folly on the part of Israel and Jews. Until this very day any Jews who visit the Temple Mount are forbidden to move their lips, pray from a book or give the slightest indication that they are moved in any way to be visiting this most holiest of sites.
From the moment they set foot there they are shadowed closely by Islamic authorities and harassed by mobs of youths, women & men who seek to provoke a confrontation. Israeli police monitor each and every Jewish group and at the slightest indication of annoyance or resistance to this incitement, arrests are made. Those doing the inciting get away with it while Jews who are the targets of this intolerance are punished.
It should be made quite clear that Jews who visit the Temple Mount do so only after strict preparation beforehand. There is no intention to enter the Mosque and in fact only those parts of the Mount which have been identified as not being part of the original Temple building are visited. All Jewish groups visit in a spirit of sincere religious devotion and reverence for the sanctity of the area. Not only are they met by a torrent of abuse but usually also by a hail of rocks and missiles thrown at them.
https://www.facebook.com/theisraelproject Scroll to March 11 to see the footage
This is what happened again in the last few days when a group of Australian youngsters visited the holy site. They were verbally and physically assaulted by a mob of women and youths who shouted “Allah al Akbar” and made intimidating gestures. The sole intention is to intimidate and prevent any Jew from visiting the Temple Mount, let alone praying there.
This demonstration of hate and incitement, instigated and fueled by the Fatah/Hamas Authority makes a mockery of their repeated assertions that they are custodians of religious freedom and tolerance. It gives a clue as to what we could expect if they are ever given control of half of Jerusalem as most of the rest of the world demands.
The real scandal is how successive Israeli Governments have caved in to the terror tactics of the Islamic authorities. Once again jihadist threats of mayhem and violence combined with craven appeasement on our part continue to deny Jews their basic rights.
Australian Jewish leaders, lay & religious, should be raising their voices in a concerted protest at this travesty which has existed for far too long.
The issue is not so clear cut. While possibly a majority of Charedi Rabbis forbid visiting the Temple Mount and equal number of Modern Orthodox and some Charedi leaders do permit visits under Halachic guidelines. The number of Charedi men who are visiting the Temple Mount is increasing which proves that the religious public are voting with their feet.
Waiting for the Messianic age is a cop out used by those who do not want to make decisions in the light of modern realities. There are still those who believe that Israel should not exist until the Messiah comes. Although one prays for that to happen soon, realistically we know that Jewish history demands that we face up to current events and act accordingly. If we are not prepared to assert Jewish sovereignty over Judaism’s holiest site then it follows we may as well chuck in the towel and hand Israel over to those seeking our destruction.
Back in the 1930’s certain Rabbis told their flock to stay in Europe because of the same reasons (the Messianic age would solve everything). Well, we all know where that led to and we should learn.
The Government of Israel I assume believes that this particular battle is not won they can win and are exerting efforts to limit the overall effects of extreme Islam.
hopes were quickly dashed because in an act of unfathomable folly, Moshe Dayan handed back the keys of the site to the Moslem religious authorities
this was not folly.but Diplomacy .it is post Dayan polies that stuffed it up
ben
According to the majority of Halachic authorities both past and present it is forbidden for we Jews to presently ascend the Temple Mount.
Let us pray that the time will quickly arrive when this situation will change, with the ushering in of the Messianic Redemption and a time of eternal world peace and universal harmony.