Sacrilege in Al-Aqsa Mosque

"We are working to restore calm, on the Temple Mount and across Israel."

"Alongside that, we are preparing for any scenario and the security forces are ready for any task [n responding to violent Palestinian confrontations and possible attacks]."

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett

 

The Abrahamic trio of Judaism, Christianity and Islam focus on the ancient city of Jerusalem in their historical antecedents where Jews and Christians and Muslims venerate sites sacred to their religious traditions. This year, the traditional holy week holidays of Passover, Easter and Ramadan fall close to each other on the calendar. In the order of precedence, Passover celebrates an ancient memory of freedom from exile in Egypt, predating by millennia the much later celebration of a Jewish sage arising from the dead, and much later still, introspection on the Prophet's revelation of the Koran.

When Jordan took it upon itself to occupy the Old City of Jerusalem, it banished Jews from their ancient habitation, and, until the war of 1967 which freed Jerusalem entirely from its control, no Jews were permitted to access the most sacred site in Judaism. Israel has made every effort possible to accommodate the religious and cultural traditions of the faiths that erupted from the tradition of Judaism. Faiths which from antiquity to the present have never given full respectful due to their progenitor religion. 

In the peace accord signed between Israel and Jordan, it was agreed that Jordan would continue to have authority through its Waqf over the Islamic holy site--third in its pantheon of sacred places, after Mecca and Medina--while Israel would retain the responsibility of maintaining public order. Islam's Jerusalem holy site is the Noble Sanctuary, built directly over the ruins of the infinitely older two Temples of Solomon. Jordan's refusal to allow Jews entry to their most sacred site lives on in Palestinian rage over Israeli Jews accessing the site though they are forbidden to pray on the Temple Mount to appease Islam's sense of sole entitlement.

 

During Friday prayers, mosques throughout the world, including in Jerusalem often incite the faithful to acts of civic disruption, targeting Israel and Jews for violence. In Israel that takes the form of 'resistance' to the 'occupation' of Jews in the Jewish state that has not been averse to sharing its national state with people of other ethnic origins, cultures, traditions and religions. Israel is established on a small proportion of its original Judean heritage. Jews are held by Arab Muslims to be 'occupying' land sacred to Islam whose presence must be eradicated.

 

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

This weekend, yet again, as on so many other occasions, violence erupted on the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary, where Palestinian men and women gathered at the Al Aqsa Mosque to protest Israel permitting Jews to be present on the Temple Mount for Passover. What other country in the world must pacify a minority population by disallowing the country's indigenous majority to pray in their most holy of sanctuaries? Only Israel, only Jews.

 

In Friday's rioting where Palestinian mobs threw rocks and incendiary devices at Israeli security forces, there to maintain order and peace for worshippers of two religions, two ethnic groups, two cultures, two traditions, 150 Palestinians sustained injuries as they clashed with Israel riot police attempting to restore order that would allow peaceful Israeli-Palestinian citizens to access the mosque and pray peacefully in celebration of Ramadan. Palestinian rioters sustained injuries incurred by rubber bullets, stun grenades and being beaten with police batons according to the Palestine Red Crescent.

 

This, at a time of particularly high alert following a number of deadly Arab street attacks on Jews throughout the country in the past two weeks. Israeli police described hundreds of Palestinians hurling firecrackers and rocks at their forces. And nor did they spare the Jewish prayer section of the Old City's Western Wall raining rocks down on the Jewish faithful, following morning Ramadan prayers. For a religion that celebrates itself as one of peace, it is beyond peculiar that Ramadan, a time of peaceful introspection, all too often results in violent riots perpetrated against Jews.

 

Hundreds of rioting Palestinians were detained. And the Foreign Ministry of the Palestinian Authority in reference to the violence that took place in the holy compound stated it "holds Israel fully and directly responsible for this crime and its consequences", when the crime was committed by Palestinians and Israel had no other option but to restore order while bringing the rioters under control as a 'consequence' of their violent actions. Strange how skewed perspectives can be. Yet a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insisted that immediate intervention take place in the international community to "stop Israeli aggression against Al Aqsa Mosque and prevent things from going out of control".

 

Sacrilege in Al-Aqsa Mosque