Hagai Segal - Pro-Prayer

Here's excerpts from Hagai Segal's Let us pray on Temple Mount

Time has come to end the discrimination, allow Jews to pray at Jerusalem holy site

The day the Old City was conquered was the happiest day in the sovereign State of Israel...Regrettably, it was also a day of historical failure: Instead of celebrating on Temple Mount, the paratroopers ran to the Western Wall.

They simply got confused. That generation was still closely attached to the memory of the Diaspora, where the Kotel served as a symbolic substitute for Temple Mount...People forgot that while the Kotel is the closest thing to the real thing, it is not the thing itself. Our ancient forefathers clung to the Western Wall in the past for lack of any other choice.

However, we now have a choice...There is no longer any genuine obstacle preventing us from connecting to the site of our Temple.  All we have is a rabbinical obstacle. The Chief Rabbinate...immediately after the war banned entry to Temple Mount.
...With all due respect, this is a baseless ruling. There is no genuine Jewish Law reason to prevent Jews from entering most areas of Temple Mount. The fact is that important rabbis visit the Mount themselves. The problem is that Israeli governments chose the extremist rabbis’ ruling in this case.

...For 44 years now, police officers have been deployed at the entrance to Temple Mount; their mission is not only to prevent the construction of the Temple, but even mere Jewish prayer. Only Muslims are allowed to express their religious feelings there.

If you are a kippah-wearing Jew, the police officers will put you through a lengthy act of humiliation at the entrance to the Mount. Later they will keep a close eye on you to ensure you don’t mutter some Psalms.

On the occasion of Jerusalem Day let’s all pray, outside the Mount for the time being, that this discrimination will end by the next Jerusalem Day.

^