UPDATE: Yesterday, Border Police once again stormed the Al Aqsa mosque and its defenders fought back to repel the desecrators of the holy shrine. One of them, 21-year-old Walid al Sharif, was shot in the head with a sponge-tipped bullet. Eyewitnesses and his family confirmed this. He was mortally wounded. Taken to Hadassah Hospital, he is now in a coma and his death appears imminent.
Police claim he fell and hit his head while throwing rocks. As if throwing rocks at police defiling a sacred shrine was a capital offense. Despite videos taken of the incident, the police have not produced any documentation of their claim. Meanwhile, Hadassah Hospital cleverly covers the lie, claiming there is “no evidence” of injury from “live ammunition.” Only a knowledgeable individual would know rubber bullets, considered non-lethal (though they are often quite lethal), are not categorized as “live ammunition.” Therefore, they are tacitly admitting he was killed by ammunition that was not live. That is, rubber bullets. The Israeli medical establishment is helping perpetuate the lies of the security apparatus, employing a deliberately misleading statement. This is medicine in service to not just the state, but the state’s terror apparatus.
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I saw this photo on Twitter tonight and made me sick to my stomach. It shows the interior of Al Aqsa mosque earlier this week, after pitched battles between Muslim worshippers and Israeli Border[less] Police. The worshippers were especially enraged by the presence of 750 Israeli settlers who, each year recreate the ancient Israelites’ pilgrimage to the Holy Temple.
The not-so-subtle message of the settlers is that they are pressing for the rebuilding of the Temple. As there is only one place it can stand–its original location is smack-dab where Haram al Sharif now stands–this would require the destruction of the Muslim holy site.
Nor am I comforted by Haaretz’s liberal Zionist columnists who dismiss the seriousness of these threats:
Contrary to what is being said on Palestinian social media, in the mainstream Arab media and by preachers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Israeli government has no secret plans to push Muslims off the Temple Mount and turn it into a site of Jewish worship. The security cabinet hasn’t decided to divide the Al-Aqsa compound and prayer times on the Mount between Jews and Muslims, as it did at the Ibrahimi Mosque (the Tomb of the Patriarchs) in Hebron.
The government hasn’t ordered the police’s special forces to draw up an operation to oust Muslims from the Mount, nor has it ordered settlers to sacrifice goats at Al-Aqsa on Passover.
This is nonsense. There doesn’t have to be a “secret plan.” What matters is not whether there is a plan or not. But actions on the ground. And the thuggery of those acting in the name of the State are all that matters. And they belie Hasson’s claims. He continues:
I’m just pointing out that the people who want to offer sacrifices or build a synagogue there belong to small, radical groups that are unpopular with most Israelis. Most of Israel’s religious parties oppose visiting the Mount for reasons based on Jewish religious law, and even in the religious Zionist community, opinions are split on this issue.
There were certainly German Jews who dismissed the fears of Hitler in the years leading up to his assumption of power: don’t worry, they’re just a few crazy extremists, it can’t happen here, there are too many good people who will stop it, etc. We’ve heard that sort of wishful thinking before. But it could happen there and did.
So Mr. Liberal Zionist, don’t tell me it can’t happen in Israel. Because it can. Those like Nir Hasson, who argue cavalierly that the Palestinians and left-wing Israelis who warn of catastrophe are the Boy Who Cried Wolf, are deluding themselves. Even worse, they are confusing their readers. When they hear such rhetoric, they put their guard down. As a result, they will be totally unprepared when the real catastrophe does come.
The Nazis too began by assaulting Jews in the street, breaking windows in their shops, publishing cartoons comparing them to rats and vermin. But then they escalated their attacks and desecrated synagogues by burning them to the ground. So don’t say Israel isn’t capable of such horrors in Jerusalem. Even if it isn’t now, things can change in an instant. What was once impossible is now not only possible, but normalized, accepted behavior. Could a German Jew or any German have imagined in 1930, what would happen in 1939 and afterward?
Returning to Al Aqsa, Israeli police muscled their way into the holy sanctum, defiling it with stun grenades, tear gas and flailing billy clubs. Their goal was to lock Muslims into the site so the settlers could congregate in the courtyard in front of the mosque. On that day, those pictured were among 400 worshippers arrested and 150 were injured by the police assault. Take another look at those shackled prisoners above. Remember the gruesome photos of Ukrainian civilians murdered in cold blood with their hands similarly tied? The difference: the Muslims were only beaten and shackled. Not killed as the Ukrainians were. Does Israel want the reputation: Not-as-bad-as-the-Russians??
As a Jew, I imagine great rabbis of the past–Rambam, the Baal Shem Tov, Hillel, Rabbi Akiva, Rav Kook, Leo Baeck, even the Lubavitcher rebbe–assaulted by thugs in their synagogue with all their disciples bound and gagged and forced to lie face-down on the floor. How can we, as Jews, countenance this outrage? How can our own leaders, including our rabbis behold this schandeh and not be revolted by it? I’ll tell you how: they are fatally compromised by their loyalty to Israel. They can claim all they want that their loyalty is to their vision of a Jewish, democratic state holding liberal, humane values, and not to any particular government or policy. But that is a lie they tell themselves. The truth is that Israel has become a thuggish fascist state, resembling the Third Reich more and more with each passing day.
I was banned from Twitter for a few days for posting the analogy between settlers chanting Death to Arabs and the Nazis. I tweeted Death to Arabs=Sieg Heil. Twitter called it hate speech. I call it a reality check. I’m proud of what I wrote. Even though it pains me as a Jew and former liberal Zionist myself.
I’m aware of how troubling, even enraging this analogy will be for some Jews. But we can no more mince words about what Israel has become. There is not enough lipstick we can put on this pig. Yes, I’m aware of the pejorative nature of this choice of animal imagery and I chose it deliberately. Israel, like the pig, is treif.
Israel and its captive media speak of “unrest,” “riots,” and “rock-throwing,” which justified the Israeli assault, designed solely to restore civil order. This is a smokescreen to conceal the fact that Israel has no right to, or control over Haram al Sharif. In 1967, it ceded control to the Jordanian Waqf in return for Israeli sovereignty over the Kotel.
But over the years, the Israeli ultra-right governments have encroached and gradually whittled away Muslim control. Settlers come in their thousands every year. Rather than show sensitivity to the feelings of Muslims, the government curries favor with its settler base and their right-wing enablers.
Ultimately, if left to its own devices, Israel would remove the Waqf and institute its own form of control. It already places limits during Ramadan on who may enter Jerusalem to worship. Numerous times in the past, it has prohibited men under the age of 50 from entering. Israel’s intent is to exert absolute control over not just Israel itself, but Palestine as well. It has essentially stolen most of what was Palestine. The crowning achievement for these messianic Jews, who believe there must be an all-out war of extermination between Jews and Muslim in the Holy Land, is rebuilding the Temple and eliminating any Muslim presence there.
The Israeli assault on Haram al-Sharif flies in the face of nearly 2,000 years of Jewish law. From the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, the rabbis decreed this as sacred space and warned Jews that they must not enter. In 1967, the Chief Rabbis of Israel forbade entrance to it. This prohibition was renewed in 2005. The vast majority of ultra-Orthodox Jews will not do so. Historically, the Ottoman authorities prohibited entrance to non-Muslims from the mid 19th century. Though there are extremist rabbis and their disciples who willingly ignore/violate the prohibition, they are a minority of a minority.
Though Israel claims it is a Jewish state, which Jews does it represent? Certainly not all Jews. given what’s happening in Jerusalem. How many Jews in the world believe it’s worth asserting Jewish dominance over this spot? How many even in Israel? Apparently, Israel is the State of only a tiny minority of those Jews in Israel (settlers) and an even smaller minority of Diaspora Jews. It is shameful that this tiny sect has hijacked an entire nation’s security policy. How is it that such a policy now mimics the visions of messianic zealots, leaving the Israeli state in their hands?
Whether or not they achieve their messianic vision in all its details is almost immaterial. Even if they don’t, they will, and are doing enormous damage to Israel. Damage that is irreparable. They are creating a fascist authoritarian state run by religious extremists and their political martinets. Israel, if it survives, will never be the same.
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excellent article. Analogies with the Nazis most apt
The analogy of the Israeli police actions against the violence people that throw rocks from the mosque area into the Wall square , the place where other people , non muslim (Jews ) are worshiping God , is indeed an excellent example. An example of twisting the facts. An example where telling half of the story is a full lie. None of the people, (Jews )hunted by the nazis threw stones and tried to harm any of their neigbors. Frankfurt’s Great Synagogue burning on Kristallnacht was a pure act of hate. The same hate which motivates those people whom the Israely police must stop , in order that this mad minority will not put us all in fire.
@ Nesher Lea: Not so fast. Israeli police have no place on Haram al Sharif. It is not in their jurisdiction. Their presence incites defenders of the mosque to resist them. They have every right to defend their holy site with any means available to them. Just as Jews would have a right to defend the Kotel if violent thugs invaded and desecrated it.
NOnsense, the Nazis called Jewish partisans terrorists. Those partisans did far worse than throwing rocks. They planted bombs, they killed Nazi officers. They resisted in precisely the same way the mosque worshippers are defending their holy shrine.
As for whose hate must stop, you stop your hate first and the Muslims will follow. The Border Police thugs and the state that sent them are responsible for the hate. Muslims are only responding to it and resisting it.
You may not publish any further comments in this thread.
In order to keep the peace, Israel has arrested Jewish religious extremists bent on sacrificing lambs on the Temple Mount and has blocked a Rightist ‘flag day’ demonstration in Jerusalem’s Old City.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-threatens-israel-over-extremists-plans-for-passover-sacrifice-on-temple-mount/
And finally, Israel has banned all Jews from the Temple Mount for the next ten days in order to prevent further violence.
These are not the actions of a government intent on destroying the Haram al Sharif and the Islamic holy sites, but rather, these are the actions of a government intent on maintaining the status quo and gh religious freedoms of all.
Israel arrested a handful of the most extreme, messiah-crazed loonies. While it physically thrust 35,000 Jews all of whom wanted to restore the Temple. As for banning Jews for ten days, it already did the damage. It thrust 750 messianice nutcaes down Muslim throats beforehand. No Jews should be permitted on Haram al Sharif at all, but certainly none during Ramadan.
Nor did I say the government currently has a formal policy to destroy Al Aqsa. Even if it did, like Ben Gurion & the Nakba, it wouldn’t announce it.
I agree that this Israeli government is intent on maintaining the status quo: of Israeli terror attacks on the holy sites and increasing encroachment on Muslim worship and prerogatives.
As for “religious freedom,” don’t get me started. How can you use the term with a straight face. Israel is a Jewish-dominated state. Islam is derogated in every possible way: mosques are defiled (not just Al Aqsa), the State regularly rejects Muslim imams while approving virtually all rabbis, and now a Palestinian murdered by Border POlice. Is that your idea of religious freedom?
No more comments in this thread. A warning: I view your comments as pallid regurgitations of Israeli hasbara. Not worth my trouble in responding. Take that as you wish.
“No Jews should be permitted on Haram al Sharif at all, but certainly none during Ramadan ”
History says otherwise.
St. Jerome portrayed with evident relish how the Jews had to bribe the Roman soldiers for permission to lament at their holy site on Tisha B ‘av, and how a whole people came mourning, women feeble with age, old men burdened with years, etc. .
From the Babylonian Talmud we have instructions to those who go up on the Temple Mount, issued by Rabbi Bibi, a late fourth century sage: “do not spit, do not carry a walking stick, do not wear shoes, do not carry a coin purse, and do not use the Temple Mount as a short cut –– because all these behaviors degrade the holiness of the place.”
The Christian Empress, Eudocia, issued a proclamation allowing Jews to return to the Temple Mount, prompting rabbis to send letters to Jewish communities throughout the world, informing them of the good news and asking them to come on pilgrimage to Jerusalem on the coming Sukkot festival.
In 439, More than one hundred thousand Jews came to Jerusalem on that Sukkot festival and there was great enthusiasm because once again Jews were permitted to ascend the Temple Mount. However, in the end the ascent did not take place because of the aggressive opposition of the Christian mob.
And in a halakhic ordinance that was included in the sixth century Midrash Shir Hashirim Rabba; this midrash instructs Jews on the direction they are to face when praying.
When praying outside the Land of Israel, one should face the Land … Those who pray in the Land of Israel should turn toward Jerusalem …those praying in Jerusalem should face the Temple site… and those who pray on the Temple Mount should turn to the Holy of Holies.
See-The status quo on the Temple Mount during the Byzantine Empire (300-618), by
By Meir Loewenberg
Bar-Ilan University
@ Off Pitch: Two can play at this game. Isn’t is grand when people invoke “History” as the source of their claim. However, history doesn’t always bear out their claims. Rather, it often refutes them or demands far greater context–which is true in your case.
Before I get into details, my main point is that at no point in the historic past of which you speak, did a visit to the Haram al Sharif endanger either Jewish or Muslim lives. Now such visits endanger both. Not only was a Muslim defender of the mosque murdered yesterday, but Yehuda Glick was nearly murdered for leading of such groups to the Mount. Visits to the Noble Sanctuary never in the past endangered a delicate relationship between religious communities. They never threatened to provoke major religious conflict and even war itself. So whatever may’ve happened 1,000 years ago has little bearing on the current situation. Not to mention the number of Jews during the historical periods you mention who did visit this space was minuscule compared to the overwhelming number of Jews who would not and did not do so.
Another point to bear in mind is that the Ottoman authorities prohibited from the mid-19th century all non-Muslims from entering the Noble Sanctuary at all. So this prohibition has been in effect for nearly 200 years.
Though there is some debate about whether Jews are permitted to visit, the predominant view of the majority of authorities is that it is prohibited. Yes, there are those who say it is permitted. But the Chief Rabbis going back to 1967 all prohibited it. And the isur was renewed in 2005. Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Jewish authorities almost universally prohibit it.
Of course, settler rabbis and those with their political/religious orientation permit and even encourage it (usually tacitly or covertly). But they are a minority of the Israeli Orthodox population, an even smaller number among all Israeli Jews, and even smaller number among Diaspora Jews.
But my main criticism of almost all halachic considerations I’ve read, is that none take into account the provocation and violence that such visits cause. The level of communal unrest they stir up. And the actual war they provoke. A Muslim defender of the mosque was murdered yesterday. Yehuda Glick a former leader of the visits was nearly murdered by a Muslim. The BOrder POlice attack not only incite a violent response from Muslim worshippers, they provoke Hamas retaliation, which last year led to an actual war.
Only one of the rabbinic discussions I’ve read even mentions this dimension of the question. Rabbi Manning is a UK Orthodox rabbi. Not only does he raise important issues, but he has the rabbinic gravitas to do so:
IT seems to me that balancing the purpose/value/benefit for Jews in visiting the sacred area and the violence that such actis cause, that halacha should include this danger a major part of its considerations, the value of human life.
[comment deleted: You are already moderated. If you comment again on my Mental health you will be banned.]