Heavy Static from the State Department

From yesterday's Daily Press Briefing by John Kirby, Spokesperson, Washington, DC on October 14, 2015 [and now the video] :

QUESTION: All right. And then the visit to Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif by Israelis, is that – does the Administration consider that to be visits to there – does the Administration consider that to be incitement?

MR KIRBY: I’m not going to be able to characterize every single act with terminology. What the Secretary has said and stands by is that we want to see the status quo restored, the status quo arrangement there on Haram al-Sharif and the Temple Mount, and for both sides to take actions to de-escalate the tensions. So incitement can take many forms. Again, I’m not going to – I’m not going to go through a laundry list of what is or what isn’t. I mean, the Secretary spoke specifically about incitement yesterday, and we recognize that incitement can go both ways here. But it’s the – whether it’s action or rhetoric, it’s things that encourage others to continue this cycle of violence, it’s just not helpful and not going to get us to what we really want to see there.

QUESTION: Is it the Administration’s position that the status quo at the Temple Mount has been broken?

MR KIRBY: Well, certainly, the status quo has not been observed, which has led to a lot of the violence.

That is wrong.

A lie.  A misrepresentation of the truth.

A bald-faced lie.  This is so deeply mistaken, it’s hard to know where it’s coming from.

Well, if he was referring to the Jews it is.

If he was referring to the Muslims, then he is correct.

They have built at least three new mosques within the compound since 1967.

They have instituted many new administrative procedures.

They have dumped hundreds of tons of dirt outside the site containing arachaeological artifacts.

They have defaced, destroyed or covered up Jewish historical remains.

They have instituted the introduction of gangs of ruffians to harrass and attack Jewish visitors.

"Restored"?  Israel has not altered it.

Now, what exactly did Kirby mean?

And it went on:

QUESTION: I just have one really quick one. Just four days ago the prime minister’s office said that Kerry – and I’m quoting here – “clarified that the U.S. is aware of the fact that it is Israel’s policy to maintain the status quo” on the Temple Mount “and not to change it.” That’s from the Israeli side. That’s a readout from the Israeli side. I understand you’re saying that there have been breaches of that, but it is your understanding that the Israeli policy is not to change the policy or --

MR KIRBY: I’m not – it’s not my place to characterize Israeli policy. I can only tell you what our policy is and what we’d like to see....

...QUESTION: So I just have two extremely brief ones, so we can move on after that. You said in answer to my question on the status quo whether – at the Temple Mount whether it’s been broken or not, you said that it has not been observed and that is what has led to – I think. I’ll go back and look at the transcript, but I think you said it had not been – it was not – has not been observed and that is what has led to a great deal of the violence. That certainly sounds like you’re affixing some kind of blame to Israel if this is, in fact, what the Administration believes has led to the violence – the visits by – visit by Israelis to --

MR KIRBY: Well, it’s not about believing it, Matt. I mean, you just looked at what’s been happening in that – on Haram al-Sharif and the Temple Mount recently. I mean, just if we’re looking at this in acute – through an acute lens, I mean, the activity there, the status quo not being observed, has led to violence. There’s – that’s indisputable. That’s not a belief; that’s a fact.

QUESTION: Okay. But that --

MR KIRBY: Now, but it’s not about – but it’s not about affixing blame on one side or the other. There’s a status quo there. There’s a status quo --

QUESTION: It certainly sounds like it, no?

MR KIRBY: No, there’s a status quo there that we want to see restored, and the status quo has worked in the past in keeping things calm.

UPDATE

John Kirby ‏@statedeptspox Clarification from today's briefing: I did not intend to suggest that status quo at Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif has been broken.

EOZ, now.   PJ Media

Is Kerry Snarking Israel?

I hope Sec'y John Kerry isn't snarking Israel in his words:

I just want to make three general points.
First, as much as we oppose the actions of terrorists, we do not agree with governments that use those crimes as a pretext for prohibiting religious activities that are in fact nonviolent and legitimate. Those who misuse the terms “terrorist” and “extremist” are not fooling anybody, and trying to dictate an artificial conformity of religious expression is not a prescription for harmony. It is a prescription for frustration, anger, and rebellion. And we have learned time and again that if citizens are denied the rights to practice and express their beliefs peacefully, they are far more likely to explore other and more often than not dangerous alternatives.

From the Report on Religious Freedom

The government limited Jewish religious observance at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, though some Jewish groups sought to either legally overturn this policy or modify it to permit Jewish prayer, actions that were at times followed by a violent response from Muslim worshippers....

...The government continued to control access to the site referred to as Haram al-Sharif by Muslims (containing the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque) and the Temple Mount by Jews (who recognize it as the foundation of the first and second Jewish temples). The location has been under Israeli control since 1967 when Israel captured the eastern sector of the city (the Israeli government formally annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, and Israel applies its laws in East Jerusalem). The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, a Jordanian-funded and administered Islamic trust and charitable organization, continued to administer the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. The government continued to prevent non-Muslim worship and prayer at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, although it ensured limited access to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif to everyone regardless of religious belief. This policy has repeatedly been upheld by the Supreme Court and was enforced by the police, who cite security concerns. The government instead directed Jewish worshippers to the Western Wall, the place of worship nearest the holiest site in Judaism. The Waqf restricted non-Muslims from entering the Dome of the Rock shrine and al-Aqsa Mosque and prohibited non-Muslim religious symbols from being worn on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif (a practice enforced by the Israeli National Police).

The Israeli National Police (INP) was responsible for security at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, with police stationed both inside the site and outside each entrance. The INP conducted routine patrols on the outdoor plaza, regulated traffic in and out of the site, screened non-Muslims for religious paraphernalia, and generally prohibited them from praying publicly on the site. Israeli police had exclusive control of the Mughrabi Gate entrance – the only entrance through which non-Muslims could enter the site – and in general allowed visitors through the gate during set visiting hours, although the INP sometimes restricted this access, citing security concerns.

Citing security concerns, the Israeli government restricted access to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount by Muslims from Jerusalem and the West Bank, frequently barring entry of male, and sometimes female, residents under the age of 50. The Israeli government in November stated the INP had imposed age restrictions 76 times until that point in the year, compared with 12 times in 2013 and three times in 2012. According to media reports, the Israeli government provided Muslims from Gaza very occasional access to the site, including permitting entry to 1,500 Muslim Gazans over 60 during Eid al-Adha on October 5, 6, and 7, and 200 Gazans on Fridays in December – primarily Muslims over 60. Israeli security authorities frequently restricted Muslim residents of Jerusalem from entering the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount site for Friday prayer, and imposed age restrictions on male prayer on several days during Ramadan, including every Friday and on the Night of Destiny (Laylat al Qadr). On several days in August, Israeli police prohibited all Muslim women regardless of age from visiting the site during non-Muslim visiting hours. Israeli authorities cited altercations between specific groups of female worshippers and Jewish tourists attempting to break the injunction against non-Muslim prayer on site as a reason for these temporary blanket bans. Authorities infrequently closed the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif entirely, often after skirmishes at the site between Palestinians and Israeli police. Following the October 29 shooting of an Israeli-American activist and a subsequent shootout in the Abu Tor neighborhood of East Jerusalem during which police killed the attacker during an arrest attempt, the INP on October 30, denied entry to the Temple Mount /Haram al-Sharif for all Muslims for a full day. Waqf officials described the closure as unprecedented since 1967, although some reports indicate the site was also completely closed to Muslims in 2000. On November 14, the government lifted all age restrictions on Muslims seeking to enter the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.

A wide range of Muslim officials, including representatives of the Waqf, objected to Israeli-imposed access restrictions for Muslim worshippers to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, and opposed calls from some Israeli groups to divide visiting hours between Muslims and non-Muslims and to allow non-Muslim prayer there. Waqf officials complained that Israeli police violated status quo agreements regarding control of access to the site, as the INP did not fully coordinate with the Waqf its decisions to allow non-Muslim visitors onto the site. Waqf employees were stationed inside each gate and on the plaza. They could object to the presence of particular persons, such as individuals dressed immodestly or causing disturbances, but they lacked the authority to remove persons from the site.Israeli authorities in some instances barred specific individuals from the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif site, most frequently Jerusalem Islamic Waqf employees, and also barred Jewish activists who had repeatedly violated rules against non-Muslim prayer on the site, including members of Knesset (MKs). Israeli authorities banned all non-Muslim visitors to the site for the last two weeks of Ramadan, citing security concerns. Israeli reinforcement of the ramp leading to the Mughrabi Gate of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, as well as excavations in the immediate vicinity, continued during the year despite calls from the Islamic Waqf to coordinate any excavation or construction and concerns that the excavations could destabilize the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. Israeli authorities briefly constructed a second ramp on the site in August, before removing it a few weeks later after criticism from the Waqf and Jordanian officials.

Many Jewish leaders continued to promote the view that Jewish law prohibited Jews from entering the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, a view strongly supported by the ultra-Orthodox or Haredi community. Increasing numbers of the “national religious” community, however, supported ascending to the site. Some prominent members of the ruling coalition in the Knesset called for reversing the policy of banning non-Muslim prayer at the site, and the Knesset’s Interior Committee held hearings to discuss the issue and press the INP to allow Jewish visitors to pray there. These discussions intensified following the October 29 attack on a Jewish activist (and U.S. citizen) well known for advocating Jewish prayer at the site. Some Israeli officials, including cabinet members, visited the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif and issued statements asserting Israeli control over it. For example, on September 24, Minister of Housing and Construction Uri Ariel visited the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif and stated, “the sovereignty over the Temple Mount is in our hands and we must strengthen it.” Some coalition members of the Knesset (MKs) and Israeli NGOs, such as the Temple Institute and Temple Mount Faithful, called on the Israeli government to implement a time-sharing plan at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif that would set aside certain hours for Jewish worship, similar to one used at the Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. The Ministry of Tourism also reportedly was considering a plan to open another gate to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif to non-Muslims – a move condemned by Muslim leaders as a change from the status quo at the site. Despite an Israeli High Court ruling stating that “Jews, even though their right to the Temple Mount exists and stands historically, are not permitted to currently actualize their right to perform public prayer on the Temple Mount,” the government considered international agreements with Jordan restricting Jewish prayer at the site to remain authoritative. The prime minister reiterated repeatedly his support for maintaining the status quo arrangement at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif – as did Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino – and following the October attack on a Jewish activist, specifically called on Knesset members and Israeli officials to avoid inflaming tensions through provocative actions such as visits to the site. MK Moshe Feiglin, however, visited the site several times following the attack, and the attorney general, on November 25, upheld the right of MKs to visit the site according to the visitation rules for members of the non-Muslim public.

Despite Israeli government prohibitions against non-Muslim worship at the site, some Jewish groups escorted by Israeli police performed religious acts such as prayers and prostration. The police then acted to prevent Jewish persons from praying and arrested those who did. Waqf officials criticized the visits. In some instances the visits sparked violence between Palestinians at the site who responded to the visits of Jews by directing violence – usually rocks and firecrackers – at the visitors and at the Israeli police, sometimes leading to clashes with the police. Jewish visits to the site increased compared to 2013, particularly during Jewish holidays in September and October. During this period, Israeli police at times imposed restrictions on Muslim and non-Muslim access to the site, for example on September 24, limiting access to Muslims under age 50. In several instances Israeli police prevented non-Muslim access to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif in anticipation of clashes. Israeli police also temporarily denied Muslims access to the site on at least one day during September to accommodate Jewish visits. Clashes sometimes occurred in areas of the Old City and East Jerusalem where Muslim worshippers who had been denied entry to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif had gathered to pray, such as on the last Friday of Ramadan when worshippers from Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz neighborhood, blocked from the Old City by Israeli police, prayed in the street, and then clashed with police after the conclusion of prayers. Following the U.S. Secretary of State’s November engagement with Palestinian, Jordanian, and Israeli leaders in Amman, all sides took significant steps to reduce tensions, and the government facilitated freer access for Muslims to the site...

and

Although many Orthodox rabbis continued to discourage Jewish visits to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount site, other prominent rabbis reiterated their view that entering the site was permissible, and Jewish proponents of accessing and performing religious rituals at the site were increasingly vocal. For example, groups such as the Temple Mount Faithful and the Temple Institute regularly called for increased Jewish access and prayer at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, as well as the construction of a Third Jewish Temple on the site. The Temple Institute in August began a crowdfunding campaign to finance architectural plans for the Third Temple, and a promotional video on its website depicted the Third Temple built atop the al-Aqsa Mosque site. The northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, a political and religious group opposed to participation in local or national governance, frequently called on members to “defend” al-Aqsa mosque and spoke of the religious site as “under attack.” Multiple reports indicated tens of members of the movement may have received funding to remain present at the site to counter violations of the status quo. 

^

Temple Mount? But It Used to be the Kotel

So, the Temple Mount is what really bothers the Muslims, yes?

And they will allow us the pray at the Western Wall, the Kotel Maaravi, yes?

________________

UPDATE

Zionism Iso Facto Aggression Detrimental to Moslem Welfare and Directly or Indirectly Ousting Moslem, December 15, 1931

Zionism is ipso facto aggression and detrimental to Moslem welfare and is directly or indirectly ousting Moslems from the control of their land and their Holy Places, says a resolution adopted to-day by the Moslem Conference meeting here.

and

Moslems Trying to Revive Wailing Wall Issue: Shaukat Ali Wants to Call All-moslem Conference in Jerusalem, September 7, 1931

An attempt by the Moslem side to revive the controversy about the Wailing Wall (of which the League of Nations Council has just said that it hopes that it has been ended by the decision of its Wailing Wall Commission) seems to be foreshadowed by a report current here to-day that Shaukat Ali, the Indian Moslem leader, who has been spending this week in Jerusalem, wants to call an All-Moslem Conference in Jerusalem for the day commemorating Mohamed’s tethering of his steed Al Buraq (after which the Moslems call the Wailing Wall) at a spot near the Wailing Wall, before his miraculous flight to heaven. Al-Buraq Day, according to the Moslem calendar, occurs on December 7th.

^

We Warned Them

“We have identified a group of women that is being paid to go to the Temple Mount and commit provocative acts. This group has been barred from the Old City."

That was the acting national police commissioner Bentzi Sau speaking at a special session of the Knesset Interior Committee on Tuesday.

Below, in its Hebrew original, is a letter sent to Jerusalem's then police commandant on June 20th. In the year 2013.  Besides myself, it is also signed by Yehudah Glick, Aviad Visouli, Chaim Odem, Prof. Hillel Weiss and several others - all veteran Temple Mount activists.

The letter warns the police of the phenomenon of what I termed the Wicked Witches of the Waqf but who refer to themselves as the Mouribatat (the men are the Mouribatoun).  We suggested several security entrenching steps including

a.  strengthening the police/borderpolice unit at the Temple Mount;

b.  additional checking measures at all the gates like those at the Mohgrabi Gate;

c.  punishing miscreants by refusing them entry;

d.  a clear message of warning to the Waqf;

e.  proper security measures for all visitors.


Did the police take our suggestions into consideration?  Perhaps.  Did they apply them?

No.

The letter:

We warned them.

^

One Family's Story of Arab Terror

On Friday, August 17, 1929, Yisrael Lev, a student at the Slobodka Yeshiva in Hebron

did not feel well and left for Jerusalem to seek medical assistance.  That day, one of his fellow students was hacked to death and the following day, many more including dozens of Hebron's Jewish community were similarly slaughtered.

He remained Haredi but an Israeli flag flew on his balcony every Independence Day.

His two daughters served in the IDF.  One, Tzippora, married Zev Roich.  The new couple had four children.

Tzipora's granddaughter, Naama nee Armoni, was murdered by Arab terrorists during the Succot holiday as was her husband, Rabbi Eitam Henkin.


(h/t - Haggai Huberman)

^

Shiloh Lone Wolf

In these terrible days of murder and terror, is it possible to put "lone wolf" and "Shiloh" together and laugh?

And the answer is: yes.

Here -

With the meal offered on a “donation only” basis, no one was counting the hundreds of people served fried fish Saturday, Oct. 10, at the American Legion Hall. However, a spokesman for the sponsoring Lone Wolf No Club declared it a successful fundraiser for the Shiloh Christian Children’s Ranch.“It was a very good event,” Donnie McLeod said of the motorcycle club’s fifth annual fish fry for Shiloh, estimating nearly 300 people were there during the evening, both inside and outside, where a children’s bounce house and other entertainment was provided.This was the first year the benefit fish fry was at the American Legion Hall, McLeod said. “It turned out real good, and we are very happy with it. Our goal is to make as much as we can for the Shiloh Christian Children’s Ranch,” he said.He voiced appreciation for the donated use of the American Legion Hall.Mary Novaro, another Lone Wolf member, said, the proceeds will be given to Shiloh for Christmas gifts for the children.“We are all about helping out,” she added. “It’s all about other people.”As he helped fry the 200 pounds of donated fish, club member Mark Kilby reported the cooks were also preparing fried potatoes, 115 hamburgers, 120 hot dogs, baked beans, cole slaw and onion rings. Kilby was not working too hard, he said, because “Many hands make light work.”He explained some of the Lone Wolf’s 176 members brought side dishes and desserts. “We have wonderful members, “ he said. The oldest is 93 and the youngest is 5 weeks old. The children are called wolf “cub” members.Kilby invited the public to join the Lone Wolf No Club, which meets at 7 p.m. every other Tuesday at the American Legion. The next meeting will be on Oct. 20. “You don’t have to have a bike to join,” he noted.Entertainment at the fish fry featured two bands, Rock N Roll Revival and Abbey Normal.Additional fundraising events included a 50-50 drawing, live auction, dessert auction and silent auction. “All the proceeds will be given to the Shiloh Christian Christian Children’s Ranch at Clarence,” McLeod said.

Missouri.


^ 

One Last Chance for Abbas. Really?

David Horovitz writes in his Times of Israel and sums up a failed policy but insists it can be somehow saved:

There is an almost surreal aspect to this particular eruption of conflict: Israel has been plunged into a terror war because of a false assertion that it intends to allow Jewish prayer at the holiest place in Judaism. This rather begs the question of why Israel would not allow Jewish prayer at the holiest place in Judaism, which it captured and liberated, to a great outpouring of Jewish emotion in the 1967 war.

The answer? Utilizing the rabbinical halachic consensus that forbids Jews from setting foot on the Temple Mount for fear of desecrating the site of the Holy of Holies, Israel’s defense minister 48 years ago, Moshe Dayan, took the pragmatic decision not to fully realize renewed Jewish sovereignty at the Temple Mount, and therefore not to risk a religious confrontation with the Muslim world. Instead, Israel opted to bar Jewish prayer there and to permit the Jordanian-run Waqf authority to continue to administer the Muslim holy places. That Israeli forbearance has all too evidently been misunderstood and misrepresented among many Palestinians as evidence that the Jewish state has no genuine attachment to the Mount. That Israeli forbearance is now rewarded with violence.

Just as Israel must acknowledge and respect the Muslim attachment to the Haram al-Sharif — as its policies since 1967 have done — so, too, the Palestinians must acknowledge and respect the Jewish attachment to the Temple Mount. Arafat emphatically failed to do so. Abbas now has what may be one last chance.

And how?  By continuing to presume the Arabs-who-call-themselves-Palestinians will change their 48 year old pattern of thought and behavior, itself based on a previous pattern of "Al-Aqsa is in danger".

That's what written at the Third Arab Congress in 1920

And the theme of the 1931 Jerusalem Al-Aqsa Congress.

One last chance for Abbas?

Really?

^

Posters

^

'Dwell in the City'

What do you think is the city this Quran verse refers to?

7:161 -

And [mention, O Muhammad], when it was said to them, "Dwell in this city and eat from it wherever you will 

Context:

7:159And among the people of Moses is a community which guides by truth and by it establishes justice.
7:160And We divided them into twelve descendant tribes [as distinct] nations. And We inspired to Moses when his people implored him for water, "Strike with your staff the stone," and there gushed forth from it twelve springs. Every people knew its watering place. And We shaded them with clouds and sent down upon them manna and quails, [saying], "Eat from the good things with which We have provided you." And they wronged Us not, but they were [only] wronging themselves.
7:161And [mention, O Muhammad], when it was said to them, "Dwell in this city and eat from it wherever you will and say, 'Relieve us of our burdens,' and enter the gate bowing humbly; We will [then] forgive you your sins. We will increase the doers of good [in goodness and reward]."

___________

Input (thanks DR):

161. And (remember) when it was said to them: "Dwell in this town (Jerusalem) 

and "the soundest", Jerusalem.



Mohsin Khan (thanks EP): 

And (remember) when it was said to them: "Dwell in this town (Jerusalem) 

And from Dr. AT, scholar of Arabic literature:

"אסכנוא הד'ה אלקריה"

הפרשנות המוסלמית המסורתית אומרת שהעיר היא "בית אלמקדס", בית המקדש, כלומר ירושלים. למעשה נראה שהכוונה היא לארץ ישראל כולה. צריך לזכור שירושלים נחשבה למייצגת את הארץ כולה, וגם הכינוי בית אלמקדס בספרות המוסלמית והערבית יהודית מתייחס לפעמים לארץ ישראל כולה.

Jerusalem.



^

NYTimes "Dig" Contra the Temple Mount

In this article, the NYTimes takes on the Jewish Temples and the Temple Mount.  Entitled "Historical Certainty Proves Elusive at Jerusalem’s Holiest Place", Rick Gladstone poses a question (see below for the paper's correction) 

"which many books and scholarly treatises have never definitively answered...whether the 37-acre site, home to Islam’s sacred Dome of the Rock shrine and Al Aqsa Mosque, was also the precise location of two ancient Jewish temples, one built on the remains of the other, and both long since gone."

His theme is 

Many historians have said independent scientific verification of such a reference is problematic

and

The sources for the first temple are solely biblical, and no substantial archaeological remains have been verified

Gladstone, Reporter and Editor on the paper's Foreign Desk  recently reported on migrants to Greece and Binyamin Netanyahu at the UN but doesn't seem to have any specific acquaintance with archaeology.

Matthew J. Adams, Dorot director of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem appears and is quoted saying, "We just don’t have enough primary source data, textual or archaeological, to say where it was with any confidence...“It’s also an academically complex question.”. Rivka Gonen's boomk is noted.  Wendy Pullan is quoted saying "The sources for the first temple are solely biblical, and no substantial archaeological remains have been verified". Jane Cahill, who was a senior staff archaeologist for Hebrew University’s City of David Archaeological Project, says “nobody knows exactly” where the temples once stood, although “pretty powerful circumstantial evidence” suggests they were on the site.  Kent Bramlett of La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif. offers that historical records of the Roman committed destruction are “pretty overwhelming” in supporting the existence of the second temple in the immediate vicinity of the Dome of the Rock.

Unnamed archaeologists 

agree that the religious body of evidence, corroborated by other historical accounts and artifacts that have been recovered from the site or nearby, supports the narrative that the Dome of the Rock was built on or close to the place where the Jewish temples once stood.

Of course, the main problem* is excavations and the article informs us that the

Waqf has never permitted invasive archaeological work that could possibly yield proof of either temple.

and that

Because there have been no organized excavations there, and not likely to be, circumstantial evidence is probably all we’re going to have

Gaby Barkay and Tzachi Dvira are missing.  Eilat Mazar is missing.  Dan Bahat, too.  Even a Google search could have enriched the piece.  It is not clear if he consulted with anyone at the Rockefeller Museum or reviewed the works of Robert Hamilton and his 1949 "The structural history of the Aqsa Mosque: a record of archaeological gleanings from the repairs of 1938-1942" or Jon Seligman's article in this collection.  And so many more academic articles that would provide a more balanced picture. And where is the purposeful destruction of Jewish artifacts by the Waqf?

Another dig at Jewish history and Zionism.

UPDATE:

Don't forget, in the dirt tossed out 20 yrs ago Gaby Barkay has been finding 1st Temple remains. and Muhmammed's flight on a winged horse to a place that there couldn't have been a mosque prior to 630 is taken at face value to justify the Dome of the Rock & Al-Aqsa?

A good book. A good article.

(note: I have added some material after a first posting)

___________

*   A note I received:  NYT Article conflates Islamic holiness of Aqsa mosque with Dome of the rock. Of course there's no mention of the doubt that Mohammed or his horse ever visited Jerusalem.


P.S.

From Martin Kramer:

In fact, Muslims originally regarded the site as holy precisely because the temples once stood there. To claim otherwise is extremist incitement, of which there’s already plenty to go around.

Other blog posts

Satlow, that is Dr. Michael Satlow, a professor of religious studies and Judaic studies at Brown University and on that Satlow piece.

Elder

Washington Examiner

At Twitter.

Liel Leibowitz writes

To be fair, Gladstone’s ignorance is all-embracing. 

Jonathan Tobin.
__________________

And now they are backtracking:

Correction: October 9, 2015

An earlier version of this article misstated the question that many books and scholarly treatises have never definitively answered concerning the two ancient Jewish temples. The question is where precisely on the 37-acre Temple Mount site the temples had once stood, not whether the temples had ever existed there.

And not the first time Gladstone had to be corrected.


And now from CAMERA

Would the Times Question the Muslim Narrative?
Finally, it should be noted that Muslim attachment to the Temple Mount site is due to the presence there of the al-Aqsa – or "furthest" – Mosque, reputed to be the site of Prophet Mohammed's night journey to heaven. However, as many scholars have pointed out, the first version of the al-Aqsa Mosque was built by the Caliph Omar after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 637, well after Mohammed's death in 632. Thus the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is unlikely to be associated with Mohammed's night journey. Furthermore, nowhere is Jerusalem even mentioned in the Quran.
Recall that the Times quoted Wendy Pullan saying that "the sources for the first temple are solely biblical, and no substantial archaeological remains have been verified." So, using exactly the same logic, will the Times publish an article saying that the "sources for Mohammed's presence in Jerusalem are solely Quranic, and no substantial archaeological remains have been verified"? Will the Times publish an article questioning more generally the entire Muslim narrative of Jerusalem?

Don't hold your breath.

and

 the Times quotes an academic Temple skeptic:

The Times is either unaware or keeps from readers that Pullan is not some disinterested scholar. She is an anti-Israel activist who has signed her name to petitions supporting boycotts of Israel based on its supposed "breaches of international law."

"The sources for the first temple are solely biblical, and no substantial archaeological remains have been verified," said Wendy Pullan, senior lecturer in the history and philosophy of architecture at the University of Cambridge, in the book "The Struggle for Jerusalem's Holy Places."

And I'm adding Paleo-Judaism who writes that the article has "bogus historical assertions...irresponsible journalism. The two questions are not hard to mix up: one is a real question and the other is made-up Palestinian propaganda. They should have known better."

And this -

I have just received an e-mail from Joseph I. Lauer indicating that Jodi Magness, one of the specialists quoted in the article, has written to the Times protesting and correcting the misrepresentation of scholarship in this article. Her letter will be published by the Times.** 

____________________________

** Jodi Magness' response letter:

To the Editor:

I am one of the specialists interviewed for “Historical Certainty Proves Elusive at Jerusalem’s Holiest Place” (news article, Oct. 9).

The question of the existence and location of two successive temples on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is not nearly as contested as the article suggests.

Literary sources leave little doubt that there were two successive ancient temples in Jerusalem dedicated to the God of Israel (the first destroyed in 586 B.C., and the second in 70 A.D.) These sources and archaeological remains indicate that both temples stood somewhere on the Temple Mount.

The only real question is the precise location of the temple(s) on the Temple Mount. The site of the Dome of the Rock is the most likely spot for various reasons, despite the lack of archaeological evidence or excavations. I know of no credible scholars who question the existence of the two temples or who deny that they stood somewhere on the Temple Mount.

JODI MAGNESS
Chapel Hill, N.C.

The writer is a professor specializing in early Judaism at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

And Ari Lamm thinks the reporter made

a fairly substantial mistake, with rather obvious implications. And it is difficult for me to conceive of a scenario in which a reporter could speak to experts of this caliber and come away with even the slightest impression that anyone credible doubts that the temples stood somewhere on the Temple Mount. My suspicion is that bias in favor of casting every dispute in the region as a case of he-said-she-said did play a role in encouraging this interpretation—one which happens to promote, on pseudo-scientific grounds, the total erasure of Jewish identity from this space... the Times has committed a double sin against history. By making scholars appear to cast doubt on the presence of Jewish temples on the Temple Mount, the newspaper is not just entirely mischaracterizing their views. It also makes it seem as though the ongoing Palestinian campaign to erase the Jewish historical connection to the Temple Mount is grounded in respectable scholarly argument, rather than in politics and prejudice.

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Contra The Coalition of Nay-Sayers

The entrance into the current Temple Mount compound (not to be confused with the original halachic boundaries of a 500 cubit square that was sanctified) is, admittedly, a religious problem.  But over the years, and recently, more pronouncedly, the more rigid haredi sector (but not exclusively; there is Rabbi Aviner)  opposed to entrance adds a theological-political element: the act simply upsets the Muslims so much that it is a cause for them to murder Jews, making those who promote entrance therein guilty of shared responsibility for deaths of Jews.

For example, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, a senior Edah Hareidit rabbi, declared this week that the tragedies hang on those who ascend:

הבוקר (הושענא רבא) אחרי התפילה אמר הראב"ד למקורביו כי "הפיגועים הם בעוון עליית יהודים להר הבית".

the terror attacks result from the sin of Jews ascending to the Temple Mount.

Even Al-Monitor reported that 

Three months ago, the ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne’eman newspaper published a scathing editorial that combined halachic arguments with diplomatic considerations as grounds for opposing such visits. The editorial called Jews who insist on visiting the site “wild weeds,” and said, “They make it a point to throw a match into an oil well that could bury the Middle East in smoking ashes.” Surprisingly, the newspaper’s editorial...reflects claims of the Israeli left, which argues that going up to the site is an act of political provocation...

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, chief rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites, also takes an unequivocal position opposing visits to the Temple Mount.

Already in 2008, we read of Haredi Rabbis demanding the renewal of the ban on Jews entering the Temple Mount.  A year ago, Yated Ne’eman, called for the government to close the site to Jewish visitors, labeling Jewish visitation to the spot as provocative and contrary to Jewish law.

“They are laying out a red carpet for terrorists which will only become redder with blood as the tensions are intensified. These [people] will not be satisfied

One response to this rabbinical attitude has been that there is a status quo that prohibits prayer and not to be present within, even as 'tourists', not only would be a fatal error (but then again, there are several who are happy the Arabs control the compound and so prevent Jews from entering and are not at all interested in the issue of political sovereignty) but would endanger Jews down below at the Western Wall.  They would be struck by rocks coming down from above and soon enough, pressure will increase on Jewish residency within the Old City walls.

My thinking is that the only way we can counter Arab delegitimization and denial of Jewish history is to be there.  Take this attitude:

Arab-Israeli MK: Jews Have No Connection to Temple Mount

...In an interview Friday in a Hebrew-language publication, Joint Arab List MK Hanin Zoabi said, “The name is al-Aqsa, not the Temple Mount, and there is nothing there for Jews...the Temple Mount, which is adjacent to the Western Wall, is “a place for Muslims only, according to all the agreements signed after the occupation of Jerusalem, and the agreements between Jordan and Israel.

...When a reporter asked if she acknowledges that Judaism’s first and second temples once stood on the site, Zoabi said the temple “is not part of the political reality in which we live.”  She added that “the existence of the temple is not verified scientifically.”

Abbas' UN speech last month was noted by Jonathan Halevy

On Sept. 30, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas gave a speech to the UN General Assembly in which he outlined the unilateral steps he intends to take to achieve Palestinian sovereignty in the territories and east Jerusalem without reaching a peace agreement with Israel.
Abbas’ speech revealed his basic stance, which includes unequivocal support for terror, a racist attitude toward the Jewish people, an entrenched hatred for Israel, and a will to destroy it.
"Palestine is the land of holiness and peace, the birthplace of Jesus the emissary of love and the place of Muhammad’s ascent to heaven," Abbas said. He pointedly refrained from mentioning that the land is also holy to the Jewish people whose history has been entwined with it for millennia.

My conclusion is that a Jewish presence, not of soldiers or policemen, be a constant, accepted and recognized reality at the Temple Mount.  If the halacha recognized exceptions to the rule of ritual purity, for example,

There was a place in the upper storey [of the Temple]which was...entered only once in seven years, to [inspect it] and find out what is necessary for its repair...It is a mitzvah for [those who enter] to be ritually pure. If no [capable craftsman] who are ritually pure can be found, impure [craftsmen] may enter...All those who enter to repair the Temple should be lowered down inside crates [from the upper floor]. If no crates are available or if it is impossible [to make arrangements for them to enter] using crates, they may enter through the [usual] entrances.

then our current dilemma can also be similarly treated. 

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A Statement of Post-Modern Moral Relativism

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New Category: Guilt by proximity

As in guilt by proximity walking:

The latest attack took place just after the end of the Jewish Sabbath close to Lion's Gate in the Old City. The victims are said to have been passing near the entrance of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, en-route to the Western Wall.

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But 'Temple' Is Mentioned in the Quran

This 

is taken from this Quranic verse, Surah 17:7:

[And said], "If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, [you do it] to yourselves." Then when the final promise came, [We sent your enemies] to sadden your faces and to enter the temple in Jerusalem, as they entered it the first time, and to destroy what they had taken over with [total] destruction.

Do you think it would look good on a T-shirt to be worn by Jews visiting the Temple Mount?

________

P.S.

Bayt al-Muqaddas, (and also referred to as Masjid al-Aqsa, (“The Farthest Mosque”)), it refers to a sanctuary in Jerusalem covering several acres, including the two buildings - the Dome of the Rock and Masjid `Umar - within its enclave.

Muqaddas = Mikdash

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They Don't Want to Divide

This social media account has announced an Islamist rally on the Temple Mount tomorrow against the idea that in order to reach a semblance of fairness, toleration and religious understanding it would be a good idea to divide the Mount at certain times so that Jews could properly respect their holy site, what is termed a temporal and spatial division at Al-Aqsa compound:

Another cartoon

Notice the Dome of the Rock on the banner of the Islamic Jihad:

But since the arrangement works well at the Machpela Cave of the Patriarchs, it does have a possibility.  I even have suggested locations for a synagogue there.

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