Israel’s Foreign Ministry blasted Arab rioters who have been attacking people on the Temple Mount over the past several weeks, pointing out “it is the rioters themselves who are defiling the Al Aqsa Mosque by transforming it into a base for attacks. They use the mosque’s furniture as barricades and launch fireworks from inside its premises.” The video clip below shows examples of Muslim Arab violence on the Temple Mount over the past several months. (Photo credit: Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit)

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where both the First and Second Temples in Judaism were built, remains the holiest site in Judaism.

Known in Hebrew as “Har HaBayit,” the site is called “Haram al-Sharif” in Arabic (the Noble Sanctuary) by Muslims, and now contains the ‘Dome of the Rock’ as well as the Al Aqsa Mosque,’ which is considered to be the third holiest site in Islam.

The Al Aqsa Mosque is situated at the southern end of the Temple Mount plaza (esplanade), and covers only a relatively small part of its surface. Moreover, there is evidence that places the historical Jewish Temples on a different part of the Temple Mount than that which is occupied by the mosque.

When Jerusalem was reunited in 1967, Israeli officials decided to allow the Islamic Waqf Authority to continue to administer the site, in cooperation with the Jordanian monarchy. Israel also chose to uphold the existing status quo, according to which non-Muslims can visit the Temple Mount at fixed times, but are not permitted to conduct any prayers. Moreover, non-Muslims who visit the Temple Mount cannot enter the Al Aqsa Mosque itself, and are limited to visiting other parts of the site, mainly the large open spaces.

“It is very important to note that the Government of Israel is committed to maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount and will oppose all proposals to change it,” emphasized the Foreign Ministry in its statement released this week. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu emphasized a similar stance on Sunday prior to the start of the weekly government cabinet meeting.

“In the past few months, Palestinian radicals have been trying to breach the status quo by preventing Christians and Jews from visiting the Temple Mount,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“Palestinian rioters – incited by Hamas and the radical branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel – have attacked visitors as well as police with stones and fireworks, using the Al Aqsa Mosque as their base of operations. The Israeli authorities have sought to contain these attempts by Islamist extremists to escalate the situation on the Temple Mount.

“The ridiculous accusations that Israel plans to harm the Al Aqsa Mosque are utterly baseless. The fact that they are made not only by Islamist extremists but also by the mainstream Palestinian leadership is alarming and dangerous.

“It is the Palestinian rioters themselves who are defiling the Al Aqsa Mosque by transforming it into a base for attacks. They use the mosque’s furniture as barricades and launch fireworks from inside its premises, where carpets and wooden beams could easily catch fire. The rioters are also demonstrating their disrespect for the many Muslim worshippers who simply wish to pray in peace, as well as for the Islamic Waqf that manages the site.”

Israel Police, which is responsible for public order in Jerusalem, exercises extra caution — and some would say far too much care — not to hurt the sensitivities of Muslim worshipers on the Temple Mount.

Officers restrict themselves solely to entering the area specifically in cases “when riots must to be controlled.” Moreover, as a matter of policy, the police never enter the mosque itself, the Foreign Ministry points out.

Although they often find themselves in life-threatening situations, police officers who operate on the Temple Mount are only equipped with non-lethal means for self-protection.

On Tuesday morning, Israeli police arrested a Waqf guard on the Temple Mount for allegedly attacking and threatening a policeman, according o a YNet report.

Also on the Temple Mount, a Jewish man was arrested for the crime of praying on the Temple Mount.

In this video, Moshe Feiglin talks about the Arab riots on the Temple Mount yesterday:

Arab rioters succeeded in violently shutting down the Temple Mount this Jerusalem Day to everyone except Muslims.

One police officer has been injured so far by a rock hurled by a rioter as security personnel battle Palestinian Authority Arabs on the Temple Mount in the first hours of the morning on Wednesday.

Masked Arab youths have been hurling stones and firebombs (Molotov cocktails) since the start of the morning, once again effectively preventing Jews and anyone other than Muslims from reaching the site. Their handy weapons are stored in piled caches in and around the Al Aqsa mosque, one of two Muslim houses of worship located on the Temple Mount.

The Arab rioters are taken to calling themselves “Almoravids”, which were an early version of Muslim knights.

While only 250 Israelis managed to ascend to the Mount prior to the attack, four times that many — 1,000 foreign tourists — succeeded in reaching the site before police closed it down to everyone except Muslim ‘worshipers.’

Jews are routinely arrested on the site simply for moving their lips, in what might be construed as a prayer. The Waqf Islamic Religious Authority, which rules the site, forbids Jewish religious activity on the Temple Mount. It is part of the Western Wall complex and believed to be the location of the “holy of holies” in the ancient Jewish Holy Temple of Jerusalem, Judaism’s most sacred site.

Once safely shut down, police moved forward to take control the Temple Mount plaza area, according to Walla! The rioters have since retreated and are currently within the mosque, according to a local source, who said they are continuing to hurl rocks and firebombs at security personnel.

Police officers are using riot control methods in an attempt to disperse the mob.

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the liberation of the 3,000-year-old Jewish capital of Israel, the Old City of Jerusalem, from Jordanian occupation in the 1967 Six Day War. Jerusalem Day celebrates the unification of the holy city and its restoration as the healed capital of the Jewish State.

Arabs carrying Hamas flags on the Temple Mount chanting “With blood we will free Palestine.”

Pope Francis has had a busy day so far in the ancient Old City of Jerusalem.

He began his day on the Temple Mount, in the Al Aqsa Mosque, visiting with the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Waqf Islamic Authority. The pontiff was quoted as telling both, “May we work together for justice and peace.”

Given the violence that has emanated week after week from that quarter towards Christians and Jews alike, that would seem to be a tall order. There is no information about the response of the Arab officials to the Pope’s comments at the mosque. On the first leg of his journey to the Holy Land, yesterday, he made an unscheduled stop at the separation barrier that was built by Israel to prevent suicide bombers from infiltrating and murdering citizens in areas of the country that were under the government’s control prior to 1967.

The Pope was then led to Judaism’s holiest site for prayer by Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. The Kotel (Western Wall) had been cleared of visitors for security reasons earlier by police. The pontiff bowed his head in prayer with his hand on the ancient stones. He followed those silent moments of communion with the Creator by placing a note in the Wall — an ancient tradition observed by nearly everyone who comes to the Wall — and embraced close Jewish and Muslim friends with him.

Francis met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres and made a quick visit to the Mt. Herzl cemetery where he laid a wreath at the tomb of the ‘father of Zionism,’ Theodore Herzl. He then visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in a moving ceremony where he laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance and greeted six Holocaust survivors. There the pontiff questioned the role of G-d in the slaughter of the millions of victims murdered by the Nazis.

“The Father knew the risk of freedom, he knew that His children could be lost, yet perhaps not even the Father could imagine so great a fall, so profound an abyss,” he reflected. Having lit the memorial light in the center just minutes before, he compared the Nazi Holocaust to idolatry, and standing before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, himself a survivor, lashed out against the murderers.

“Who convinced you that you were G-d? Not only did you torture and kill your brothers and sisters, but you sacrificed them to yourself, because you made yourself a god. Today, in this place, we hear once more the voice of G-d: ‘Adam, where are you?’ Hear “L-rd and have mercy,” Francis prayed. “We have sinned against You. You reign for ever.”

The Pope also received from Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev a reproduction of a painting of a Chossid engrossed in prayer created in the Lodz ghetto by a teenage victim of the Holocaust.

He is expected to celebrate Mass at the Cenacle, the upper room in the complex where some believe the tomb of the Biblical King David is located – and where Christians believe the Last Supper took place, sometime before leaving to return to the Vatican in the afternoon hours.

There have been protests against the Pope’s visit to various sites in the Old City of Jerusalem by both Muslim and Jewish groups, both saying the leader of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church is intent on defiling their respective holy places of worship.

Six Arab protesters were allegedly arrested Tuesday on the Temple Mount in an unusual move in the Old City of Jerusalem after they harassed Jews by chanting slogans at those who were touring the site.

Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The Jewish Press at midday that all six male youths who were involved in the incident were taken into custody by officers from the David District  “for attempting to disturb visits taking place.” He added that “visits on the Temple Mount are continuing regularly.” No entry restrictions were deemed necessary, he said. 

Generally police respond to such incitement by removing all tourists and closing the site to all visitors except Muslim women of all ages, and Muslim men with Israeli identity cards, age 50 and up. Jews are also arrested for even moving their lips when touring the Temple Mount, in fear they may be “praying” on the site.

Earlier this week two Knesset members announced they plan to propose a bill that for the first time would allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, using religious items such as a tallit (prayer shawl), tefillin (phylacteries) and a siddur (prayer book). The lawmakers did not tell Ynet, which published the report,when the draft of the controversial measure would be brought to the floor for a vote.

At present the Muslim Waqf Authority controls the Temple Mount site in tandem with the Jordanian government, under an agreement with the State of Israel. The site is located at the heart of the conflict between the Palestinian Authority and Israel; the PA insists that Israel hand over the Old City and a significant part of its capital city, Jerusalem, so it can create a new Arab country within Israel’s borders, using the Jerusalem piece as the capital for its new state, “Palestine.” Israel is expected to hand over all of its own Jewish holy places as part of that deal.

The Temple Mount, site of the “holy of holies” located within the two ancient Holy Temples in the Jewish faith, is the most sacred place on earth in the Jewish religion.

It is the third holiest site in Islam, and the place on which two mosques are built – the smaller Dome of the Rock, and the large Al Aqsa Mosque, wherein on most Fridays an imam delivers a fiery anti-Israel sermon urging followers to destroy the Jewish State.

Arab governments around the world use the site as an incitement tool with which to inflame passions and rally local Arabs against the state.

Is there a deal in the works to hand the Tomb of King David over to the Vatican?

Rumors of such an agreement appear to have enough substance to have prompted Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) to write a query to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Hotovely reminded the prime minister of the importance of the tomb of the Biblical monarch, noting its sanctity to the Jewish nation. She warned Netanyahu not to make the same mistake with King David’s Tomb that previous administrations made with the Temple Mount – that is, handing sovereignty over the sacred site to a foreign power.

In the case of the Temple Mount, the Jordanian-linked Islamic Waqf Authority controls all matters over the site, even though it is located in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City and is the holiest place in the Jewish faith. Because the Waqf is in control, Jewish access to the Temple Mount is severely restricted – and Hotovely warned Netanyahu that handing the Tomb of King David to the Roman Catholic Vatican could create exactly the same situation for Jews there too.

There has not yet been any announced response to Hotovely’s letter.

Although an Israeli government source has denied any intention of transferring control over the site to the Vatican, other sources have said otherwise – including journalist Gulio Meotti, an editorial contributor to Arutz Sheva, who maintains there is truth to the rumors a deal is still in the works.

Once again, on the eve of a major Jewish holiday, Israel Police have  closed access for Jews and Christians to the Temple Mount due to intelligence “there would be disturbances” if Jews were allowed to ascend to the site.

Hundreds of tourists who flocked to the site on Monday were turned away due to violence spawned by Muslim rioters the previous day.

Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told The Jewish Press in a telephone interview Monday morning, “Police officials made the decision to close access to the site based on information there would be disturbances similar to those that occurred yesterday, and which caused injuries to two police officers. As a result, access to the site was restricted solely to Muslim men age 50 and above, and to Muslim women of all ages.”

Asked whether Muslim women had never caused any disturbances at the Temple Mount – which they have on numerous occasions — Rosenfeld responded: “Muslim women do not pose any problem for Israel Police. It is Muslim men under age 50 who are the most dangerous to the general population and to police officers during disturbances at the site.”

On Sunday police closed the Temple Mount to visitors — but not to Muslim worshipers — after Muslim rioters hurled rocks and firebombs (Molotov cocktails) at police officers posted at the Mughrabi Gate near the Western Wall Plaza.

Two Israel Police officers were injured in the riot which started when the site was opened to visitors.

Rosenfeld claimed he had “no idea what [you] are talking about” when asked about a report posted on the Arutz Sheva website describing a virtual takeover of the Temple Mount by “dozens of Hamas men… waving Hamas flags and ‘not allowing Jews and tourists into the Mount.’

The site has always been a flash point of contention between Jews and Muslims. There is no holier site in the Jewish faith, and it ranks third in importance in Islam.

The Temple Mount encompasses the Western Wall – the last remnant of the Holy Temple, the western retaining wall of the Temple Mount. It is the wall that was the closest to the Holy of Holies when the Holy Temple once stood in Jerusalem.

In Judaism, the Temple Mount is also known as Mount Moriah, which according to Jewish tradition is the place where the creation of the world began from the Foundation Stone at the peak of the mountain, and is where Adam, the first human being, was created.

It is also the site where the Biblical patriarch Abraham was commanded to prepare his son Isaac for sacrifice, (by the way, the Muslims believe it is Ishmael who was nearly sacrificed) and where the binding of Isaac – the Foundation Stone – took place. The Holy of Holies, around which both the First and Second Holy Temples were built, is set around the Foundation Stone.

Known to the Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, the Temple Mount site is believed to be that from which Islam’s prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven to speak with God about the details of prayer rituals after a night-long journey to Jerusalem, “the farthest mosque,” on his steed Buraq. For this reason, Islamists fight with particular ferocity over the site and do what they can to claim sovereignty over the Temple Mount.

Israel’s willingness to allow the Islamic Waqf Authority to administer the site has backfired dozens of times as increasing violence by Islamist extremists on the eve of every Jewish holiday makes it clear it is impossible for the status quo to continue.

A similar scenario was deliberately used by Hamas to ignite the Second Intifada in the year 2000 when MK Ariel Sharon made a visit to the Temple Mount just prior to the Jewish new year holidays, setting off violent Muslim riots and sparking a lethal police response. It seems likely that plans are afoot to recreate the same scenario again.