Temple Mount Drama and the US Playing Favorites with Terrorists
http://chersonandmolschky.com/2014/11/13/temple-mount-drama-playing-favorites-terrorists/
By: Rachel Molschky
When it comes to Israel lately, the headlines are all about tensions in Jerusalem over the Temple Mount. Palestinians are doing what they do best: playing the victim and blaming those “overbearing” Jews who are “trying to take over.” The US is “concerned” as usual, not for the six Israelis who have been murdered by Arabs recently or the many other wounded in Muslim terror attacks, but over the possibility of Israelis building 200 homes in a Jewish, yes a JEWISH, part of East Jerusalem.
Just a reminder- Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people, the capital of Israel according to the country itself, whether the rest of the world wants to accept it or not, and is the holiest city in Judaism, while only the third holiest city in Islam behind Mecca and Medina.
Several years ago, Daniel Pipes wrote a comparison of Jerusalem’s significance to both Jews and Muslims. Briefly summarizing the Jewish perspective, Pipes explained:
Judaism made Jerusalem a holy city over three thousand years ago
and through all that time Jews remained steadfast to it. Jews pray in
its direction, mention its name constantly in prayers, close the
Passover service with the wistful statement “Next year in Jerusalem,”
and recall the city in the blessing at the end of each meal. The
destruction of the Temple looms very large in Jewish consciousness;
remembrance takes such forms as a special day of mourning, houses left
partially unfinished, a woman’s makeup or jewelry left incomplete, and a
glass smashed during the wedding ceremony. In addition, Jerusalem has
had a prominent historical role, is the only capital of a Jewish state,
and is the only city with a Jewish majority during the whole of the past
century.
Where does Jerusalem fit in Islam and Muslim history? It is not the place to which they pray, is not once mentioned by name in prayers,
and it is connected to no mundane events in Muhammad’s life. The city
never served as capital of a sovereign Muslim state, and it never became
a cultural or scholarly center. Little of political import by Muslims
was initiated there.
One comparison makes this point most clearly: Jerusalem appears in the Jewish Bible 669 times and Zion (which usually means Jerusalem, sometimes the Land of Israel) 154 times, or 823 times in all. The Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem 154 times and Zion 7 times. In contrast, the columnist Moshe Kohn notes, Jerusalem
and Zion appear as frequently in the Qur’an “as they do in the Hindu
Bhagavad-Gita, the Taoist Tao-Te Ching, the Buddhist Dhamapada and the
Zoroastrian Zend Avesta”—which is to say, not once.
And there is more:
Elsewhere in the Qur’an (30:1), Palestine is called “the closest land” (adna al-ard).
Palestine had not yet been conquered by the Muslims and contained not a single mosque.
The “furthest mosque” was apparently
identified with places inside Arabia: either Medina or a town called
Ji’rana, about ten miles from Mecca, which the Prophet visited in 630.
The earliest Muslim accounts of
Jerusalem, such as the description of Caliph ‘Umar’s reported visit to
the city just after the Muslims conquest in 638, nowhere identify the
Temple Mount with the “furthest mosque” of the Qur’an.
The Qur’anic inscriptions that make up a
240-meter mosaic frieze inside the Dome of the Rock do not include
Qur’an 17:1 and the story of the Night Journey, suggesting that as late
as 692 the idea of Jerusalem as the lift-off for the Night Journey had
not yet been established. (Indeed, the first extant inscriptions of
Qur’an 17:1 referring to Jerusalem date from the eleventh century.)
Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya (638-700), a
close relative of the Prophet Muhammad, is quoted denigrating the notion
that the prophet ever set foot on the Rock in Jerusalem; “these damned
Syrians,” by which he means the Umayyads, “pretend that G-d put His foot
on the Rock in Jerusalem, though [only] one person ever put his foot on
the rock, namely Abraham.”
There is no doubt the Temple Mount is nothing more than a means to an end for Palestinians. Over time, Muslims have been erasing Jewish history to the land in their own narrative. The Islamic Waqf, for example, which maintains religious control over the Temple Mount, recently put out a new pamphlet rewriting history, claiming that the Temple Mount and Kotel are Muslim, King Solomon was Muslim, and there is no Jewish history associated with the site.
Maayana Miskin of Arutz Sheva writes:
In one section, titled, ‘Al-Buraq Wall
and NOT the Wailing Wall,’ the pamphlet teaches, ‘Al-Buraq wall is part
of the western wall of the Al-Aqsa mosque.’ The pamphlet goes on to link
the wall to Islam, stating that it is known as the site where Mohammed
‘tied his winged steed, Al-Buraq.’ (According to Islamic legend Muhammed
did not die but flew to heaven on a winged horse called Al-Buraq.)
“Jews and some Christians, while falsely
claiming it is part of their so-called Temple, have made a ritual of
standing in front of it, and wailing over the power they say was lost to
Muslims. Despite the lack of a shred of proof to support these claims,
they have turned it into a Jewish shrine since occupation in 1967, and
have been conducting so-called archaeological excavations beneath it… in
preparation for laying hands over the whole Mosque,” the pamphlet
continues.
Earlier this year, the Palestinian Authority demanded control even of the Kotel. “Every piece of land Israel occupied in 1967 belongs to the Palestinian state. The Buraq Wall, too, will be under Palestinian sovereignty,” Palestinian Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud al-Habash said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 10 News.
And Muslims are constantly criticizing Israel for “Judaizing Jerusalem.” That’s right, “Judaizing” Judaism’s holiest city.
After a Palestinian terrorist attempted to murder Temple Mount advocate Yehuda Glick, violent Arab riots immediately followed, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the closure of the al-Aqsa holy site a ‘declaration of war’. Hamas and Islamic Jihad demanded that Palestinians to step up ‘resistance’ against Israel; Abbas’ Fatah Party called for a ‘Day of Rage’; Islamic Jihad’s response was that Yehuda Glick ‘got what he deserved’; and Fatah celebrated the ‘hero’ who shot Glick. Then the US told Israel the Temple Mount ‘must be opened to Muslims’, and more praise for the terrorist responsible when the PA called the terrorist a ‘hero defending freedom’, and Abbas sent condolences to his family.
Israeli MKs have been discouraged from visiting the Temple Mount during all this mess and may even be barred. As the Times of Israel reports, “public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said that members of Knesset and Jewish visitors will be prevented, where necessary, from going to the Temple Mount so as to avoid a deterioration of the already tense security situation in East Jerusalem and across the country,” but there will be no restrictions for Muslim visitors.
Now US Secretary of State John Kerry, who loves to interfere, always on the side of Palestinians by the way, (indeed, he believes the US is “Biblically” obligated to help Muslims), said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, that steps are being made to de-escalate the situation.
The manner in which the US handles Palestinians reminds me of an acquaintance of mine, the mother of two young boys. The younger of her two children is spoiled beyond belief and always gets his way. As a result, he’s constantly screaming because he knows that if he whines enough, things will go his way.
The pattern started when he was a toddler, and he always wanted whatever toys his older brother had. When the older boy would complain, their mother would become angry with him, telling him to just let the little one have it so he’ll stop screaming. And now the little one expects to get everything he wants all the time, no matter what. One day that older boy will get tired of it. He cannot give everything away just to appease his brother, who doesn’t appreciate it anyway. Essentially, the badly behaved brother is the one rewarded.
Similarly, the US expects Israel to do to anything and everything to keep the peace with terrorists. But the instigators, the ones committing the violence, the ones doing the screaming, do not meet halfway, not a quarter of the way, not even a tenth of the way. And to give them what they really want is not equal access to the Temple Mount- it is the entire Temple Mount.
In the bigger picture, it is not a two-State solution, but a one-State solution. They see the “Palestinian State” as all of Israel and have no desire to live side-by-side with Jews. Not only do they say it plain as day, but the indoctrination of their people to hate and kill Jews, including civilians, (men, women, children and even babies), and praise for those who follow through with the murders they seek can leave absolutely no doubt. They want Israel, the one and only Jewish State.
Why does the world continue to pretend it isn’t so?
Related Reading:
Jewish Children Terrorized by Arabs on Temple Mount
Temple Mount: At Judaism’s Holiest Site, Palestinian Flags Fly, but Israeli Flags Prohibited
Palestinians ‘Forbidden’ to Sell Land to Jews
There Is No Draw in Religious Wars
What Will Israel Do to Fight this Terror Wave? Netanyahu Responds…
Hamas: Terror Attack Shows ‘Tenacity’ of Palestinian People
Arab Terrorists Fatally Stab Woman and IDF Soldier in Separate Attacks
Obama Administration Sticks it to Israel Once Again
Jerusalem Terror Attack: 1 Dead after Hamas Member Drives into Crowd
Israel, October 2014: Arab Violence and More
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