Pandora's box that nobody can close"
What Mamo didn't mention is what stands in the temple's place now: The Dome of the Rock and
Al-Aqsa Mosque, which are among the holiest sites in Islam.
Today, heavily armed guards ensure that only Muslims are allowed inside the complex. But that hasn't stopped Jewish activists, like Melissa Jane Kronfeld, from leading groups up the Temple Mount five days every week."There's one true God, and it started here," she said, before falling to her knees and bowing where the First Temple, or the Temple of Solomon, was built in 957 BCE. The Second Temple, or Temple of Herod, was a reconstructed version of the first, built in the 6th century BCE, according to scripture.
"It's so important for the Jews to return and rebuild the temple," said New York native Kronfeld, who founded the High on the Har organization to lead the tours. "It's not about taking anything from our Muslim brothers and sisters. It's not about the destruction of Islamic holy sites. It's about preserving this place and being guardians over the house of God for all people."
But she makes no secret about what she wants to happen to the Dome of the Rock. "I believe it's going to go, 100%. The whole thing is going to go to build a temple," she said, insisting that the shrine and its golden dome should be preserved, but relocated.
It's a suggestion that many fear, if acted upon, could make the current war even bloodier, and see it spread rapidly beyond the Gaza Strip.
"Everyone says that the building,
the Third Temple, is what will bring the war, it would destabilize the Middle East," she said. "The Middle East seems pretty destabilized right now, and the war, if I'm not mistaken, is already here."
To be clear, Kronfeld's dream of seeing a Third Temple constructed on the site is just that, a dream, and it is not shared by the Israeli government or by the vast majority of Israelis or Jews. But the suggestion has been more than enough to incite numerous Islamist groups.
Hamas dubbed its Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel "the Al-Aqsa Wave," and the group's emblem features the Dome of the Rock behind two crossed swords. While most Muslims do not support Hamas' violence, they do share its unwavering devotion to sacred ground, says Mustafa Abu Sway, the Imam Al-Ghazali Chair at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. "Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to all Muslims," he said. "So, you will find reactions from Indonesia to Toronto to New York. Today there are 2 billion Muslims worldwide."
He told CBS News that removing Al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock was "unimaginable," and warned that it would be "opening a Pandora's box that nobody can close."
U.S. evangelicals, the cows, and the second coming
Jewish activists have not been deterred by Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre or the ongoing war in Gaza. Some have been using the conflict as a backdrop to promote their cause in the United States.
At the recent National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance in Washington, D.C., Mamo spoke of
his heifers and his hopes for
a Third Jewish Temple. The gathering was convened by U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who gave a keynote prayer before a who's-who of evangelical leaders and congresspeople spoke. Many American evangelicals believe
the red heifers will usher the second coming of Christ.
"We're going to accept the Messiah, and we need the Messiah to come," Byron Stinson, a Texan who helped bring the cows to Israel, said at the gathering. "
For me, the red heifer is red for the blood of Jesus Christ. That's why it's red."
Back at his settlement in the West Bank, Mamo told CBS News the heifers need only pass a final purity test. The ceremony that he hopes will resurrect the temple and usher in the Messiah could take place any day. He said he understands why Hamas could be outraged.
"But I cannot understand, even if they are right, why they have to
slaughter and rape people to win their war," he said. "Terrorists have been attacking us before we ever dreamed of these cows," he reflects. "They don't need them as an excuse to kill."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-war-hamas-red-heifers-from-texas-jerusalem-jewish-temple-al-aqsa/
