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Jews Must Demand Rights to Temple Mount
By David Ben-Ariel
During a 1995 Root and Branch lecture in Jerusalem, Professor Nahum Rakover, author and then Deputy Attorney General of Israel, publicly agreed with me that it isn't illegal for Christians or Jews to pray upon the Temple Mount, even though it is forcibly prevented by the police.
I had expressed the frustration we (the Temple Mount Faithful and thankfully, now, many others) feel when we follow the law, receive the necessary police permits for our legal demonstrations, and even obtain written Supreme Court approval of our actions, only to be denied "freedom of access" to our most holy site, the Temple Mount, and to be harshly treated with contempt for even trying to exercise our democratic rights!
I asked Deputy Attorney General Rakover why the Israeli government was, in effect, encouraging folks to act outside of the law (which they know we've never done, unlike other groups who feel why bother wasting your time trying to reason with corrupt officials), as well as rewarding militant Muslims for their terrorist threats of riots and violence (if Israel were to actually uphold their 1967 law that guarantees - in writing - "freedom of access" to the Temple Mount) and bizarrely punishing law-abiding people by denying them entry to the Temple Mount. Why not remove the threat? Isn't that logical? Isn't that legal?
Professor Nahum Rakover basically said that we're in this situation today because NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE WANT TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT to that religious site - the Temple Mount!
Why should Israel change the status quo when they're not under any pressure to do so? It's been said politicians don't see the light until they feel the heat. Shame on us! As I've written in a letter published in the Jerusalem Post, the Temple Mount isn't in our hands, because it's not in our hearts and minds.
I was later unjustly deported for highlighting the plight of the Temple Mount under Nazi-Muslim occupation within an article published throughout Jerusalem and Israel, calling for the restoration of the Temple Mount as the Temple Mount - a House of Prayer for All Peoples - which the High Court of Israel dismissed as dangerous ideas.
Why should Jews continue to pray at the Western Wall, a site designated by the Turks for Jewish worship instead of the Temple Mount, and continue to submit to such a Gentile decree rather than obey the biblical command to ascend the Temple Mount?
Why obey men over God? Isn't that idolatry? Isn't that immoral? Isn't God Israel's King, Israel's only Husband? Who are the nations to dictate what God's wife should do?
Why are Jews gathering at the pitiful Western Wall to mourn the destruction of the Temple? Do something constructive and DEMAND Jewish legal and biblical rights to the Temple Mount.
Thankfully, the Third Temple is coming soon!
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June 27, 1967
1. The Holy Places shall be protected from desecration and any other violation and from anything likely to violate the freedom of access of the members of the different religions to the places sacred to them or their feelings with regard to those places.
2. a. Whosoever desecrates or otherwise violates a Holy Place shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of seven years.
b. Whosoever does anything likely to violate the freedom of access of the members of the different religions to the places sacred to them or their feelings with regard to those places shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of five years.
3. This Law shall add to, and not derogate from, any other law.
4. The Minister of Religious Affairs is charged with the implementation of this Law, and he may, after consultation with, or upon the proposal of, representatives of the religions concerned and with the consent of the Minister of Justice make regulations as to any matter relating to such implementation.
5. This Law shall come into force on the date of its adoption by the Knesset.
Levi Eshkol
Prime Minister
Zerach Warhaftig
Minister of Religious Affairs
Shneur Zalman Shazar
President of the State
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
Something's missing. Rome is synonymous with the Vatican, Mecca with the Kaaba, and Jerusalem's known for its Western Wall. But why should we stand before the wall, letting it obstruct our vision, when we could be praying in a Temple? Why should Jews continue to bow before an illegitimate Gentile decree that tells them where to pray? (Isaiah 10:1).
The Turks designated the Wall as an alternative "holy" site since Muslims had stolen the Temple Mount! If we rightly refused to accept Uganda as a Jewish "homeland," why should Jews settle for anything less than a Temple for worship?
That basically, is the gist of the message our demonstrations seek to send. The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement doesn't only protest the ongoing Muslim occupation of our Temple Mount, but proclaims that this unnatural set of circumstances will come to an end. We're confident that Muslim rule on the Temple Mount will soon be history, just as surely as the Berlin Wall fell and Eastern Europe came out from under the Russian heel!
The restoration of Jews from all over the world to their ancient homeland is only the first step towards the redemption of our land and lives. Israel, for the most part, is an empty, secular state. It's about as Jewish as America is Christian! The fact that the Temple Mount is still without a Temple stands as an indictment against Israel! God will hold Israel's political and religious leaders responsible!
Jerusalem's known as the heart of Israel, the crown of the "Jewish" State. The Temple Mount is the crown jewel. This historic Jewish treasure is a "diamond in the rough." It awaits our craftsmen's tender loving care to bring it to the brilliant perfection it deserves (Psalms 50:2).
We protest that this responsibility hasn't been fulfilled yet, but we proclaim that these things could change overnight. The world was caught off guard by the rapid succession of events that shook Europe and the former USSR. The "experts" were exposed as ignorant for not expecting it.
Nobody needs to be surprised when inevitable events rock Jerusalem, and they feel its aftershocks worldwide. They've been foretold. What's presently missing in Israel will be found when we're filled with our historic mission and accomplish our intended purpose: the restoration of the sacrifices and the construction of the Third Temple!
Shamefully, today's leaders reflect a ghetto-mentality and expose the sorry state of Israel and Jewish affairs! They're starved for this world's affection, afraid to be different, and too willing to sacrifice our unique identity! God condemns those kapos of compromise who would rather sell-out than take an unpopular stand!
Even though it's not politically correct, and goes against our democratic grain, and could result in a backlash - Hanukkah represents those who are willing, if and when necessary, to risk the wrath of others to insure the triumph of good over evil, of light over darkness, and right over wrong.
In this particular case, the light of what's good and right was the brilliant example of those faithful few Jews who held their head high (sick and tired of being beaten down) and publicly chose to reject alien ideas and destroy imposed idols.
The Maccabees weren't overly concerned with a suicidal fear of world opinion, but mightily expressed their faith in God. They didn't flirt with "foreign affairs," or engage in self-destructive interfaith orgies. They kept the faith and cleansed the Temple Mount of its spiritual filth.
World Jewry continues to celebrate Hanukkah to this day, but in the spirit of hypocrisy! We're more like the cowering Hellenists who assimilated, rather than the courageous Maccabees who fought to remain true to themselves!
Thank Heavens, there are a growing number in Israel who want to see Jerusalem restored as our spiritual center, and our lives rededicated to biblical ideals, not humanist ideas.
Pray for Jerusalem's peace and the rekindling of Israel's light!
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
