In January, the UN held an “emergency” Security Council session over Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to Temple Mount, despite the fact that he never breached the status quo. Nonetheless, the Muslim world blew his visit completely out of proportion, and the its rage is still smoldering. “Dozens of leaders and senior officials from Arab and Islamic countries” met in Cairo to “warn” that “Israeli actions in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank could worsen regional turmoil, as violence surges between Israel and the Palestinians.”
The Israel-Palestinian status quo allows Israelis to visit the Temple Mount but not to pray there. This is absurd, but Ben-Gvir respected it. When he entered the Temple Mount compound, he merely walked around for 13 minutes, and left quietly. He never even approached al-Aqsa Mosque, yet the Muslim world’s rage hasn’t calmed since the visit. They are afraid of what might come next from a government that has had enough of Islamic subversion and the bullying of Jews in their own ancient homeland. Even Jewish voices within Israel have condemned Ben-Gvir for offending the sensibilities of the Muslim world. But an important question to ask is: why would Ben-Gvir’s visit be so deeply offensive to Muslims? That question forces one to contemplate the degree to which religion is engrained within the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In the view of the Palestinians — backed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Arab League and the vast majority at the UN — it doesn’t matter that Muslims have their two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, the Kaaba inside the Masjid-al-Haram and the Masjid-e-Nabawi, respectively. In their view, Jews must comply to Muslim demands, period. Heaven forbid that Muslim sensibilities be hurt.
The holiest site for Jews is the Temple Mount. A Washington Times article states:
Do you understand why the Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif [the Al Aqsa mosque compound] occupy the same small hilltop? It’s because, in antiquity, imperialist conquerors — not just Muslims — commonly built atop the holy sites of those they conquered.
Yet the world at large complies with Islamic conquest and the rules that follow.
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs tells the real story of what has been repeatedly discussed lately, the status quo:
- The status quo on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, as formulated by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan in 1967, no longer exists. In the 55 years since the Six-Day War, changes in the status quo have greatly improved the Muslims’ hold on the Temple Mount.
- Muslims have inaugurated four new mosques on the Temple Mount since 1967: the Dome of the Rock, which originally was not built as a mosque; the El-Marwani Mosque, located underground in Solomon’s Stables; the “Ancient Al-Aqsa” Mosque, established in 1998 under the existing upper mosque; and the Gate of Mercy (Golden Gate) prayer area, set up and turned into a mosque in 2019.
- The establishment of additional mosques on the mount stemmed from a new definition of the Temple Mount compound by the Muslims, who began to refer to all of the area as “Al-Aqsa” and to regard the entire mount as one great mosque. Until the Six-Day War, the compound as a whole was called “Al-Haram al-Sharif” (the Holy and Noble Place), and was defined differently from the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
But who is holding Palestinians to account? Amid the volume of incessant criticism coming from the Muslim world, the UN, and even from some quarters within Israel, how many are defending the rights of Jews to visit the Temple Mount, and further, to pray at their holiest site?
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who notoriously speaks out of both sides of his mouth, called Jerusalem “the backbone of the Palestinian cause,” and warned of “dire repercussions of any Israeli move to change the status quo of the holy site, saying they would ‘negatively impact’ future negotiations to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” El-Sissi has also stated that the freedom of expression stops when it comes to “‘offending the feelings’ of Muslims.”
It isn’t Israel that should be blamed for threatening regional turmoil in advancing basic rights to Jews; it is the Palestinians and the leadership of the Muslim world.
“Arab leaders warn Israeli actions threaten regional turmoil,” by Samy Magdy, Associated Press, February 12, 2023:
CAIRO (AP) — Dozens of leaders and senior officials from Arab and Islamic countries warned on Sunday Israeli actions in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank could worsen regional turmoil, as violence surges between Israel and the Palestinians.
The meeting in Cairo was hosted by the Arab League and attended by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas along with many foreign ministers and senior officials.
The high-level gathering came amid one of the deadliest periods of fighting in years in Jerusalem and the neighboring Israeli-occupied territory. Forty-five Palestinians have been killed so far this year, according to a count by The Associated Press. Palestinians have killed 10 people on the Israeli side during that time.
Speakers at the meeting condemned Israel’s “unilateral measures” in Jerusalem and the West Bank in statements, including home demolitions and expanding settlements.
They also condemned visits by Israeli officials to the city’s contested holy site, which is sacred to both Jews and Muslims and has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest….
The officials also voiced support for Jordan’s role as custodian of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. The mosque is built on a hilltop in Jerusalem’s Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity….
Calling Jerusalem “the backbone of the Palestinian cause,” el-Sissi warned of dire repercussions of any Israeli move to change the status quo of the holy site, saying they would “negatively impact” future negotiations to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He said such measures would impede the long-sought after two-state solution to the conflict, which would leave “both parties and the whole Middle East with difficult and grave options.”
El-Sissi, whose country was the first Arab nation to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, called on the international community to “reinforce the two-state solution and create conducive conditions for the resumption of the peace process.”
King Abdullah II also called for Israel to cease its violations and incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“The region cannot live in peace, stability, and prosperity without any progress made on the Palestinian cause,” he warned.
Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, the secretary-general of the pan-Arab organization, also warned that attempts to partition the Al-Aqsa Mosque and obliterate its Arab and Islamic identity “would fuel endless unrest and violence.”
Abbas, the Palestinian president, said his administration would resort to the United Nations and its agencies and demand a resolution to protect the two-state solution to the conflict….
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Israel should tell its Arab neighbors – particularly the Saudis and Emiratis – that they don’t get Israel’s support against Iran unless and until they abort such Arab League antics against Israel. After all, in the 1980s, when Lt Col Oliver North was doing his Arms-for-Hostages deal w/ Iran, it was Israel that was the go-between b/w the US and Iran, since the entire Arab bloc was considered the enemy. Israel could threaten to abrogate the Abraham Accords if the Emiratis, Bahreinis, Sudanese and Moroccans violate the spirit of that agreement