Makor Rishon ran a fascinating poll this week, asking Israelis for their opinions on the current status quo on the Temple Mount, as well as who is responsible for the recent violence in Jerusalem.

1) Do you know what the status quo currently is on the Temple Mount?

Know: 61%
Don’t know: 22%
Might know, but not sure: 17%

2) Do you support removing the restrictions on Jews on the Temple Mount?

Against removing restrictions: 34%
Support removing restrictions: 37%
Don’t Know: 29%

3) If an arrangement were set up on the Temple Mount like it is in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, such that there is separation between Jews and Muslims, would this calm the situation?

It would create more conflict: 37%
It would calm things down: 40%
Don’t know: 23%

4) In your opinion, who is primarily to blame for disturbances over the past few months in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount?

Arabs: 55%
Jews: 19%
Police: 10%
Don’t know: 22%

4a) Same question, results broken up by sector:

Secular:

Arabs: 60%
Jews: 28%
Police: 12%

Hareidi:

Arabs: 80%
Jews: 5%
Police: 15%

Religious:

Arabs: 71%
Jews: 2%
Police: 27%

Arab:

Arabs: 5%
Jews: 65%
Police: 30%

The poll was held by telephone on the 4th and 5th of November. 501 people answered above the age of 18.

The installation of concrete barriers by every train platform yesterday should be a kick in the pants for the Prime Minister, the Security Minister, and just about every other elected official we have.

Iron Dome, that technical miracle, was a failure.

It was a failure because we needed to use it.

It meant that Israel no longer maintained a sufficiently high level of deterrence with out enemies, and as such, they decided they could shoot freely at us, and even as of this week, continue to do so.

It was a failure because as a result of having it, we no longer felt the need to fight to win.

It was a failure because as a result of having it, the world blamed us when we defended ourselves, because,in their eyes, not enough Jews were killed to justify our response.

Now we have “Concrete Box”, a concrete barrier to prevent Arabs from running over Jews at Jerusalem train platforms, because the Arabs in Jerusalem no longer feel deterred from committing terror attacks. Their sick society praises their terrorists, glorifies them, encourages them, and Israel… Israel puts up concrete barriers.

Israel has the means to end this anarchy.

And I don’t mean by shooting down all the Arabs, as some of you are thinking, and perhaps even wishing.

I’m talking about minimum required jail sentences in solitary confinement for the stone throwers and fireworks shooters.

I’m talking about real zero tolerance policies for stone throwers.

I’m talking about massive numbers of Yassam police troops walking through the streets of Jerusalem, including Shuafat, Beit Hanina, Assawiya, A-Tor, and everywhere else the Arabs have brought their anarchy into, and using overwhelming force to quell these rioters when they dare raise their head.

Where’s the Skunk? Where’s the Screamer. They need to be deployed immediately.

Israel knows who many of the Hamas members are in Jerusalem. Send them and their families to their friends in Gaza.

And the Temple Mount must be absolutely closed. Not for some people. Not for everyone under 50. Not for for everyone, except Waqf officials.

Closed. Period. Everyone. No human beings allowed. No Waqf officials. No one.

If Jews can’t go and pray on our holiest site, then certainly no Arab terrorist should be allowed up there to desecrate it under the Waqf’s watchful eyes.

Israel has the legal means to restore deterrence and calm in Jerusalem.

Does the government have the will?

President Reuven Rivlin made history Sunday (Oct. 26) by being the first sitting Israeli president to participate in the annual memorial ceremony at Kafr Kassem that marksg the deaths of 48 residents of the village.

During his visit Rivlin met with the mayor and officials of the village, who said they had waited 58 years for such a senior Israeli leader to attend the ceremony and speak against the conduct of Israel’s security personnel during what was then called Operation Kadish.

Known as the Kafr Kassem Massacre, the October 29, 1956 event was one of the most complex and difficult in Jewish-Arab relations in the history of the State of Israel, and the source of the expression, ‘the black flag.’

Because the country was at that time on a wartime footing, an order went out on that day at 3:30 pm placing all Arab villages near the Jordanian border on curfew from 5 pm to 6 am. However, most of the Arabs from the villages who were working out of town were unavailable and could not be notified – there were no cell phones, or any phones in most Israeli homes – in those days.

The Israeli commanding officer received orders to take all precautions to ensure quiet on the Jordanian border, and he then reportedly ordered his commanders to “shoot on sight” any villager violating the curfew. No one was to be allowed to leave their home, or enter the village from any direction. The mayor of the village was advised of the curfew and he asked what would happen to those working outside. He was told they would be taken care of. Word was sent and most returned immediately. Some did not make it back in time.

Of the 48 people in the village, six were women (one was pregnant, leading Arab sources to make the count 49) and 23 were children ages eight to 17. More were wounded but their families were not allowed to come out to help them until the next morning after 6 am, when they were taken to hospitals in trucks.

Eleven border police officers and soldiers involved in the operation were charged with murder; eight were convicted and sentenced to prison terms. Judge Benjamin Halevy wrote in his decision, which is still quoted today, that “The distinguishing mark of a manifestly illegal order is that above such an order should fly, like a black flag, a warning saying: ‘Prohibited!’”

On November 20, 1957, a “sulha” (traditional Bedouin reconciliation ceremony) was held in memory of the victims of the Kafr Kassem massacre between Israeli government and community leaders, and members of the leadership of neighboring Arab villages. Reparations were made to the families of the victims.

In December 2007, then-President Shimon Peres formally apologized for the massacre, but until today, no president ever participated in the annual memorial ceremony commemorating the victims at the village.

“Distinguished guests, I came here today as a member of the Jewish people and as a President of the State of Israel to stand before you, the victims’ families and the injured, to remember the pain together with you,” Rivlin said.

“The existence of this terrible black flag that implemented the killing of innocent people was criminally ignored. The Supreme Court has spoken clearly and gave expression to legally verify the State of Israel’s moral consciousness,” he added. “It is our duty to teach future generations this difficult episode.

“Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, but it will also forever be the home of the Arab population. They are not a fringe group – it is a population which is part and parcel of this land, a population with a cohesive national identity and a shared culture that will always be a fundamental component of Israel.

The phenomenon of Western Muslim citizens traveling from their home countries in the West to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq has been widely reported on. Israel is now seeing this phenomenon with its citizens, as there are over 30 Israeli Arab citizens having joined ISIS according to Israeli intelligence estimates.

Some of these jihadists have begun to make the local Israeli news. Recently a doctor who was interning in Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, named as Alkia’an Othman, was reported to have died while fighting for ISIS in August. Othman was from the small Negev town of Hura, located ten kilometers north of Be’er Sheva.

Earlier this month, Ahmed Habashi, a 24 year old from Iksal, was killed in Iraq fighting for ISIS. Reports say he went to Syria with Rabiya Shahade, from Nazareth; Shahade is now known in jihadi circles as “the Butcher from Palestine”. Both traveled with two other friends intending to join ISIS; they had told their families and friends they were going to Turkey for vacation over Eid-al-Adha, but were smuggled into Syria to join the fighting by jihadists upon their arrival in Antalya, a Turkish resort town.

In addition, Ahmad Shurbaji, 23 years old and from Umm-al-Fahm, was arrested in late September upon returning to Israel from Syria, where he had been trained by ISIS and fought against the Syrian Army. Another Israeli Arab was arrested by Syrian government intelligence services trying to join ISIS there.

ISIS materials, including flags and other paraphernalia, have been found in Nazareth and Umm-al-Fahm as well.

The General Security Services (Shabak) of the State of Israel believes that more Israeli Muslims are preparing to join ISIS.

Minister of Tourism Uzi Landau wrote a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week calling for Israelis who join ISIS to have their citizenship revoked. “These are people who live in Israel as citizens of the state, and as such they enjoy a long list of privileges and may have access to a lot of sensitive information. It is only a matter of time before these people become a lethal threat to us.”

The traffic between Israel and ISIS has not been one way. One of the terrorists killed by the IDF during Operation Protective Edge was Saudi-born Sultan Farhan Rajah Harbi. Harbi had fought in Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria previously. There were also two ISIS-affiliated terrorists, Osama Hasoumi and Mohammed Fatsih, killed in June by an IDF airstrike in Gaza.

While 30 Israeli Arabs leaving to fight ISIS may seem like a high number, other Western nations have much higher numbers of citizens who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight on ISIS’ behalf. According to EU Counterterrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove, there were over 3,000 Europeans fighting in ISIS as of a month ago – and they come from France, Britain, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Austria. Fundamentalist Muslims from all over the world are flocking to join the nascent Islamic State, and Israel continues its efforts to combat the terror and aims of those who wish to create a global caliphate.

The Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon announced Sunday morning that an Israeli Bedouin doctor who was doing his internship at the medical center is the same person who security sources said joined the Islamic State ISIS group of barbaric killers and was killed in fighting in August.

The doctor was identified as Alkian Othman, age 26, from the Bedouin city of Hura, located approximately 10 miles north of Be’er Sheva. His brother was arrested last April for helping him on his journey.

Barzilai officials searched for its resident doctor-turned-terrorist after he disappeared and discovered that he changed professions. Instead of saving lives, he preferred to end lives, and his case, it was his own.

Othman, who studied medicine in Jordan, was supposed to begin working in Israel’s Soroka Medical Center in May but suddenly disappeared.

“Security forces contacted us and searched for him,” Barzilai Hospital said in a statement on Sunday. “Then, we were informed that he chose to join ISIS.”

So much for a bright future.

He had plenty of other companions from Israel.

More than 30 Israeli Druze, Bedouin and Arabs, all of them with Israeli citizenship, have been enlisted in the ranks of ISIS after leaving the country for a “vacation” in Turkey and then moving to Syria.

“My son went to Syria last January, and we did not know what his intentions were,” said the father of Ahmed Havashi, from northern Israel, who also was killed in battle. “I told him this is not our religion; this is not the message of Islam,” the bereaved father added.

Dozens of masked Arab rioters locked themselves inside the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount Wednesday morning after they injured at least four policemen with firebombs, cement blocks and large rocks during visits by Jews and foreign tourists to the holy site.

One of the firebombs was hurled from within the mosque. At least one of the policemen was directly hit by a Molotov cocktail, which struck his protective gear. The bottle exploded but did not ignite.

Policemen were treated at the scene for light injuries, and several Arabs reportedly were hurt in the violence that continued at least until noon.

Unlike previous riots, the police did not bar Jews and tourists from continuing to visit the Temple Mount compound.

Police said they will “continue to take action to show zero tolerance in the face of any attempt to disturb the peace and will act to arrest rioters and bring them to trial.”

The tough stand comes after years of escalating violence by Arabs to keep Jews off of the Temple Mount site.

Arabs blocked the entrance to the Al Aqsa mosque with marble slabs, ropes and anything else that does not move, and then even poured inflammable liquid on the barricade, which police succeeded in removing.

Police are not entering the mosque, the Muslims’ holiest site in Jerusalem, in order not to provoke further violence.

Muslim clerics and Palestinian Authority leaders continues to accuse Israel of trying to cause the collapse of the Al Aqsa mosque by digging tunnels underneath, and media in the Arab world repeatedly report that Jews “storm” or “invade” the Temple Mount as part of a secret plan to build the Third Temple.

Israel this week unveiled a project for a new gate that would allow Jews to visit the Temple Mount site. PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi charged Israel with “insulting” the Arab Muslim world by proposing the new entrance and added, “Israel is creating a new reality at the expense of Palestinians, their religious rights, sites, and historical identity.”

She did not explain what “religious rights” are being violated by Israel, unless one of those rights is to try to kill Jews.

Ashrawi also did not mention “Jewish religious rights.”

One of the favorite Palestinian Authority Arab world campaigns in recent years has been to claim that the First and Second Temples never existed and that there is no Jewish connection with the Temple Mount.

Even more ridiculous is that millions of Muslims, and non-Muslims, believe it.

2:15pm Update: Jewish visitors report that the Temple Mount was closed for them this afternoon.

Jerusalem Arabs attacked a school bus with large rocks and bottles in the Maaleh Zeitim neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem Sunday morning.

No one was injured although the attackers managed to smash the windshield of the bus, which was taking the children to their school in Jerusalem,

Border Police rushed to the scene, but – surprise but no surprise – no suspects were found.

Jews living in eastern Jerusalem have frequently complained of lack of police protection and of a soft-glove approach by courts when anyone is arrested and indicted.

Dozens of Jewish motorists and passengers have been ambushed several times in eastern Jerusalem the past several years, as reported here last week, here and here last month, and here in July.

Allowing Arab terrorists to rule the roads in Gush Katif in 2000-2005 was one of the factors that incited public opinion to favor expelling 9,000 Jews from 19 communities in Gaza in the summer of 2005.

Establishment media constantly claimed that the IDF could not protect their safety and that trying to do so cost the lives of soldiers as well as civilians.

The same cockeyed logic was behind the withdrawal of the IDF from the security zone in southern Lebanon in 2000, when Ehud Barak was prime minister.

Six years later, after Hezbollah exploited the total vacuum of intelligence and Israeli soldiers on the ground, it killed 121 IDF soldiers and 43 civilians in the Second Lebanon War.

More than 400 civilians were hospitalized in massive Hezbollah rocket and missile attacks, and nearly 900 suffered trauma. Approximately 6,000 homes sustained damage while 1 million residents spent much of their time in bomb shelters.

Following the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif, hams bombarded Israel from the Negev to the Galilee with thousands of missiles and rockets, and Israel still has not achieved a long-term cease-fire agreement.

Constant attacks on Jews in eastern Jerusalem, with the help of Israel and foreign establishment media, could set up another scenario for the repeatedly failed strategy of offering “peace” by telling Jews the cannot live where they want in Jerusalem.