But Rabbi...

In a report at the JPost, they have a statement of Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz which I find mindboggling.

Here it is:-

"One thing is clear," said Rabinovitz after explaining that according to Jewish law it is forbidden to go up to the Temple Mount, "Arabs will not dictate to us when to go up to the Temple Mount."

???

But Rabbi, you are opposed to any ascent, any time, anywhere. We are not fools.

You explain:

[Since 1967] "the majority of rabbis, including the heads of religious Zionism, among them Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook and Rabbi Avraham Shapira, ruled that it was forbidden to go up to the Temple Mount...The reason we are not allowed to go up is because the Temple Mount is our Holy of Holies, and we have not merited being able to purify ourselves as we need to. We hope to go up there. But the time has not come."

But what has that to do with you seemingly telling off Arabs? You think they tell us at any time that we can go up and enter?

And, as the paper points out, it really isn't a Halachic issue, as I noted earlier (and see this too), but that

many rabbis, including Rabinovitz, believe that the Jewish people is still in a state of spiritual exile imposed by God. Therefore, it is still too early to rebuild the Temple or to renew the ancient traditions surrounding it, such as purifying ourselves through a ritual.

That's what we call hashkafa, outlook, but the figurative cat gets out of the bag:

Rabinovitz also voiced concern that while technically there might be some places one is permitted to enter after immersion in a mikve (ritual bath) and wearing cloth shoes, uneducated Jews might get the impression it is permitted to go up without any preparation. Therefore, he said, it is preferable to issue a sweeping prohibition.

So, Halachically it is possible to ascend to certain portions withinn the current Muslim compound. And what then does a non-Jew understand from all this?

MK Ibrahim Sarsur (United Arab List-Ta'al), head of the southern faction of the Islamic Movement, lauded Rabinovitz for his comments.

"The majority of streams within Orthodox Judaism prohibit going up to what the Jews call the Temple Mount," said Sarsur. "I accept the Jewish [belief] that God will be the one who builds the Third Temple and that He will send it down from the heavens on the wings of angels. If all Jews obeyed their rabbis, Jerusalem would be a much quieter place. It is good that Rabbi Rabinovitz made his comments. It should be a message to all extremist Jewish elements who want to destroy al-Aksa and build the Third Temple in its place."

Sometimes, I guess, it is really quite simple:

he who yields up his rights, loses them forever.