How did we become traffic cops on the Temple Mount? - by Nadav Shragai

Israel devotes so much time to worrying about Muslim interests on the Temple Mount while virtually ignoring its own national interests at Judaism's holiest site.

Nadav Shragai..
Israel Hayom..
02 August '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/weve-become-traffic-cops-on-the-temple-mount/

The flood of reports, articles, and analyses about the Saudi blogger who was ousted from the Temple Mount exposed – not for the first time – an Israeli syndrome that gets little attention – the amount of attention we devote to the interests, status, rights, and feelings of Muslim players on the Temple Mount, compared to the little we focus on what the Temple Mount is to us – our own interests, goals, and feelings there. Sometimes we don't even take ourselves into account.

For years, pundits, politicians and experts have been putting out plans that get shelved and laying out scenarios that mainly address the interests and conduct of the Arab Muslims, who want to gain a foothold on the Temple Mount, but spend little time on the Jewish-Israeli discourse about the Mount. The various plans from research institutes and political officials in Israel and abroad almost always only focus on the status the Muslims would have on the Mount. Israel and the Jews are barely taken note of.

For 52 years, Israel has been enslaved to the status quo on the Temple Mount, but for years that status quo has changed dramatically, mostly to the benefit of the Muslim side. Israel just "puts out fires" or manages the conflict about links to the compound, but has never assembled a long-term policy about the area.


When, for example, did the government last address the question of what the Temple Mount is for the Jewish state and what the state's goals there are, if any? When did we last ask ourselves if the type of Israeli sovereignty that exists on the Mount, which is often virtual, is going to remain that way for eternity? Or, 50 years from now, will we be satisfied with a division that leaves the Western Wall to the Jews and the Temple Mount to the Muslims? Whether under any future peace plan, if there is one, will Israel maintain the prohibition against Jews praying on the Mount? (Motta Gur and Mapam leader Yaakov Hazan, for example, saw Jewish prayer on the Mount as inappropriate.) We also haven't asked whether we will continue to be satisfied with tens of thousands of Jewish visitors to the Mount per year, or whether Israel might have an interest in increasing the number of visitors there and allowing in at least the same number who visit the nearby City of David.

These are important questions that could have different answers, but no one is even asking them, and assuming that what has always been is what will continue to be. But is that assumption correct? In the past 20 years, more and more Jews are asking to visit the Temple Mount, and they're no longer a small bunch of Temple Mount devotees. Even the rabbinical prohibition against Jews visiting the Temple Mount has faded away. Hundreds of rabbis now allow Jews to visit the Mount.

At the same time, the blood libel "Al-Aqsa is in danger" has grown and become a rallying cry for violence and bloodshed. It inspires many of the terrorists who have been operating among us in recent years. Alongside the total denial of any Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as the location of the Temple, the Muslims are also damaging many archaeological remains and taking over more and more ground while putting up four additional mosques.

For years, the government, the police, the Shin Bet security agency, and the Mossad have been busy "managing the conflict" on the Mount, maintaining security there and preventing Muslim and Jewish acts of terrorism. In doing so, they give weight to the interests of the many Muslim players on the Mount who are fighting for hegemony: the Palestinians vs. the Jordanians. The Jordanians vs. the Saudis. The Turks backing the Palestinians. The Jordanians against the Turks. The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement vs. the Waqf, and vice versa.

Reams of analyses have been written about the Muslims' conduct, interest, and motives on the Temple Mount, but what about Israel? Does it even have any particular interest or direction there, or is directing traffic enough?

It could be that the debate about what Israel wants on the Temple Mount should be carried on behind closed doors – at the National Security Council, for example – but everyone concerned should take part in it. That includes rabbis, the Temple Mount movements, archaeologists, and leaders in the defense and security establishment, as well as politicians. Continuing to evade these questions is a show of disrespect to the Jewish state and its holiest place.