Closure of the Temple Mount and the EU Boycott

By Moshe Feiglin

On Tisha B’Av the Prime Minister made a dramatic announcement. He declared that Israel would not allow foreigners to interfere with our borders. This may have sounded sweet to local ears, but on the very same day, the PM proved just the opposite.

On Tisha B’Av morning, hundreds of Jews, among them three Knesset Members, attempted to enter the Temple Mount. They were denied access. On the following day, Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin made a second attempt to enter the Mount, but was turned away. When MK Yariv Levin asked about this fiasco in the Knesset plenum, Minister of Internal Security Yitzchak Aharonovitz answered, as usual, that there is no change on the Mount, anyone who wishes to enter can do so, every day Jewish visitors enter the Mount with no problem and that the closure of the Mount to visitors, including Knesset Members, was the decision of the local Commander due to security considerations.

I am sorry to say this, but Minister Aharonovitz knowingly lied to the Knesset. (Video of the heated exchange between Moshe Feigln and minister Aharonovitz here). Everyone who is involved with the Temple Mount knows that since the Prime Minister acquiesced to the demands of the Moslem wakf to deny me access to the Temple Mount, police control of the holy site has rapidly deteriorated. The Temple Mount has become a staging ground for a vicious struggle. Cries of “Kill the Jews!” have become routine there. Jews are consistently distanced from the Mount and Israel’s Police project unprecedented spinelessness, fear and defeatism in the face of the burgeoning brazenness of the Moslem wakf.

The police did not close the Mount to the many Jews who wished to be there on Tisha B’Av due to security considerations. The police have all the means at their disposal - if they so choose – to disperse the Arab rioters within minutes and to make it possible for the Jews to visit their holiest site. But, as it is wont to do, Israel’s Police adopted the role of security fig leaf for the Prime Minister, who is giving the sovereignty on the holy Mount to Jordan and the Moslem wakf – while talking mightily about not allowing foreigners to interfere in Israel’s sovereignty.

Aharonovitz claimed that the Mount was closed as per the decision of the local commander due to security considerations. But unfortunately for his version of events, there is a reliable side in this story. The following is the news report by the Jordan News Agency:

http://www.petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nws_NewsDetails.aspx?lang=2&site_id=1&NewsID=118275
16/07/2013 13:04:17Israeli police prevent Jewish extremists from entering Al Aqsa compound due to demand by Jordan
Ramallah, July 16 (Petra) –

Following the pressure exerted by Jordanian government on the Israeli authorities, the Israeli police on Tuesday closed the Mughrabi Gate, one of Al Aqsa Mosque’s doors, and prevented Jewish extremists from entering it.

Director of the Islamic Waqf in occupied Jerusalem, Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib told Petra that the Israeli police closed the gate and prevented extremists and foreign tourists from entering Al-Aqsa compound today, "the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple," after Jordanian pressure and intervention by the Department of Islamic Waqf and Jordanian ambassador in Tel Aviv Walid Obeidat.

He confirmed that the ban came as a result of the intensive communications undertaken by Jordan to prevent the desecration of Al Aqsa during the holy month of Ramadan. Al-Khatib praised the vital Jordanian role in protecting Jerusalem and the holy sites.

He also denounced the provocative practices indulged in by the extremist groups during the last few days in the form of several raids carried out on the anniversary of the so-called "destruction of the Temple."

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said that the extremist groups toured at the gates of Al Aqsa, especially al-Asbat and al-Hadid, and performed biblical rituals.
This report has been verified by additional sources and really, is nothing new. There is nothing new about the PM using the police, AG or the courts to implement a political decision to cede the sovereignty on the Temple Mount to the Moslems - without the authorization of the Knesset. This is how issues surrounding the Temple Mount have been disposed of since it was liberated. PM Netanyahu has simply expanded the practice.

The capitulation on the Temple Mount leads to the construction halt in Jerusalem. In other words, the organs close to the heart become infected with the same illness: the loss of sovereignty syndrome. In this manner, our existential legitimacy in the entire Land is crumbling before our eyes.

What do we expect of the European Union? For 46 years we have been saying that the Land of Israel is theirs – not ours. We hurried to give the heart of Jerusalem and the Nation, the Temple Mount – to the Moslem wakf. We refused to declare Israel’s sovereignty in Judea, Samaria and Gaza; we recognized another, conveniently invented, “nation” as indigenous to the Land; we recognized its terrorist liberation movement and armed it with Israeli weapons; we vowed to retreat in order to enable the establishment of a state for this make-believe “nation” in the heart of Biblical Israel; we expelled and destroyed entire Jewish communities; we committed ourselves to the two-state principle. But in the past twenty years, not one of our leaders - at any level - has said that this is our Land. No ifs ands and buts – this is simply our Land. This straightforward phrase, banal and trivial – simply does not exist in the lexicon of Israel’s political and military leadership.

So why are we surprised that the Europeans are tired of the entire subject? It took them 46 years to be convinced that we are serious; that this really is not our Land; that we are nothing more than foreign conquerors in Palestine. Perhaps the Arabs are not nice, they think, but they are very, very right. After all, Israel’s Left and Right have both bowed down to their claims and recognized the justice of their cause. Rabin shook the hand of their murderous leader, while Netanyahu hugged him with both his hands. So what can we expect? That after we have admitted that we are the problem, the Europeans will allow us to continue to threaten world peace?

We no longer have anywhere to run from the scales of justice. When you do not put your weight on one side of the scale, the other side is heavier. You can be prettier, nicer, more European – and even a peace seeker. But if you have abandoned your side of the scale, the other side will always win.

We lost the justice of our cause when we gave the Temple Mount to the Moslems. The only way to restore our justice is to remove the Moslem wakf from the Mount and to empower our holiest site as the center of holiness and exclusive sovereignty of Israel.