Temple Mount Update | Eliyahu Yossian's 1st pilgrimage
as Shofar sounds at the gates of the Temple Mount
Temple Mount Update | The Status Quo Illusion
Status quo? Over the years, Muslims have closed the Chain and Cotton Gates to Jews, restricted their visiting hours and days on the Mount, threatened, harassed, and antagonized them until a defined and limited route was established for them, and they were banned from entering the mosques.
Under this "fake status quo," Jordan has evolved from an employer paying the salaries of Waqf personnel on the Mount to a senior partner with Israel in its management. Enforcement of planning and construction laws on the Mount has ceased, archaeological supervision and enforcement of antiquities laws have been severely undermined, and the restoration of the Mount's southern and eastern walls has been entrusted to professionals from the Muslim side.
Even the ban on flag-raising on the Mount has become a joke over the years and is only enforced on Israeli flags. In contrast, flags of Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hizb ut-Tahrir have been frequently raised there. Finally, Muslims have turned the lies of "Al-Aqsa is in danger" into a production line of terror, while bearing the name of Allah in vain and desecrating His sanctities, both theirs and ours.
For seven years now, Jews have been praying in a minyan on the eastern side of the Mount. These are quiet prayers, under police supervision and approval, without external Jewish symbols such as tallit, tefillin, or Torah scrolls. Compared to the series of substantial changes that Muslims have introduced on the Mount over the years, and from the outset - such quiet, non-provocative prayer is the least the Jewish side can ask for and should not be infringed upon.
Until Itamar Ben-Gvir began behaving like a bull in a china shop on the Mount, and until
the prostrations began there, the Muslim side had come to terms with this change, just as the Jewish side had come to terms with the series of changes that the Muslim side had introduced on the Mount.
Those who seek to turn back the clock on the Jewish side must know that the Muslim side will also be required to do so, and the changes they have made on the Mount are many times greater. Those demanding an end to Jewish prayers on the Mount should consider a parallel demand regarding Muslim prayers in the Al-Marwani and Ancient Al-Aqsa mosques, which were also not part of the reality on the Mount in 1967.
Therefore, on the Temple Mount, we shouldn't be talking about the fake status quo, but mainly about common sense and honesty, and act there with sensitivity and determination.