Israel cannot allow bigots to control the narrative around the Temple Mount

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On the Temple Mount, Muslims wish to continue to prevent Jewish visitors from praying, and to keep strict limits on visiting hours by Jews to four hours a day, and only on five days a week, while there are no limits on when Muslims may visit. Details can be found here:

This position is not unique to extremist non-state militants. Just this month, the Arab League called for an end to Jewish worship on the Temple Mount, stating “Al-Aqsa and Haram al-Sharif in all its area is a sole place of worship for Muslims”; and the UAE, a party to the Abraham Accords, canceled participation in a planned Israel Independence Day flyover due to the Temple Mount riots.

The trope that Jews are trying to seize and desecrate Muslim holy sites — “Judaizing the Temple Mount”– has been used to foment violence since the 1920s. If Israel is “Judaizing” the Temple Mount, it is certainly taking its sweet time. One might even argue that Israel is going about it all wrong.

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Can Israel be guilty of “Judaizing” the Temple Mount when it continues to prohibit Jews from saying prayers on the site, and severely limits the hours when Jews can visit, while ensuring that Muslims can visit at any time and say their prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque and all over the 35-acre compound?

For instance, when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, they did not work out a deal by which Eastern Orthodox clerics and Byzantine authorities retained control over the Hagia Sophia. They just conquered it and converted it into a mosque. Israel by contrast won control of the Temple Mount in a defensive war, after imploring Jordan not to attack. Upon its military victory, Israel then gave control over the Temple Mount to the Jordanian Waqf. There is no historical precedent in which a militarily victorious country made such a concession to a vanquished foe. One might have expected that the world would credit Israel for its tolerance.

Today, the concepts of human rights, dignity, equality, and tolerance are thankfully considered to be paramount in most of the world. The demand to bar only Jewish worship at a site that is sacred to multiple religions is akin to the worst examples of segregation. Jewish worshipers on the Temple Mount are not guilty of disrupting Muslim prayer. They are not the ones rioting, shouting, burning tires, throwing rocks, or even murdering worshipers. Indeed, neither Jews nor Israel even consider banning Muslim worshipers from the holy site.

While most controversial issues in the Middle East have some shade of gray, this is one of the most black and white ethical dilemmas. Jews want to pray and let Muslims pray. Those manufacturing a crisis want the Jews banned, period.

Unfortunately, many international leaders and the international media outlets automatically blame Israel and thus, peaceful Jewish worship, for the tension. Even the US State Department called upon Israel to defuse tensions caused by Arab rioting on the Temple Mount. It is amazing that this centuries-old excuse for violence still bears weight.

Israel cannot allow bigots to control the narrative around the Temple Mount, and it is high time its leaders get out in front with a well-articulated explanation. While many Jews and Israeli officials have made this case, Israel’s leadership must make an articulate, public, and unapologetic case to its Arab neighbors and the world, that it respects religious freedom, demands that same respect, and explains that it is those perpetrating violence who are truly desecrating this holy site. This is urgently needed, not just to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment, but to save the hopeful promise of the Abraham Accords.

Among his first acts, returning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should address the world on the subject of the Temple Mount. He should say something like this:

“Both Jews and Muslims deserve equal measures of religious freedom. That means they should have equal rights to pray at the sites both regard as holy. For too long, Israel itself has denied Jews the right to pray on the Temple Mount, despite its being the holiest site in Judaism. There are no such restrictions on Muslims, nor should there be. But it is only fair that Jews have the same rights to pray on the Mount as Muslims possess, and furthermore, that their access no longer be so severely restricted in time. And no one should expect the government of Israel to turn a blind eye to the desecration of Al-Aqsa when it is used not for the purposes of worship, but as a storehouse of weapons and a hideout for fighters. We will continue to protect the sacred character of the Temple Mount for both Muslims and Jews. That is my solemn promise.”

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Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago

The muslimes are the only bigots.

maria
maria
1 year ago
Reply to  Snowedin

No muslims on Temple Mount

Jan Hellsund
Jan Hellsund
1 year ago
Reply to  Snowedin

So are the Chinese.

Jan Hellsund
Jan Hellsund
1 year ago

Muslims Islamized the Hagia Sophia because the soil beneath it was taken over by Turkey.
Likewise, the Temple Mount should belong to the Jews because it’s now in Israel. That’s fair.

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Thanks for sharing!