Tisha B'Av Ban on Jewish Entry to Temple Mount Politically Motivated

By Moshe Feiglin

On Tisha B'Av morning Israel's Police prevented the entry of hundreds of Jews, including Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin and MK Shuli Mualem into the Temple Mount. The police were ordered to do so after the Jordanian regime explicitly demanded this ban starting the day before Tisha B'Av.

By surrendering to the Jordanian demand to close the Temple Mount to Jews, the Prime Minister has shown that exile mentality motivates his actions and that he is incapable of leading the Nation of Israel as a free nation. For the PM, the destruction of the Temple and the loss of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem is a permanent condition that need not be changed. By choosing to evade responsibility for his decision, forcing the police to shoulder it, instead, the PM has also humiliated the Israeli police force. Clearly, the police do not prohibit Jews from entering the Temple Mount due to security considerations, but rather, due to political considerations. The political echelon attempts to hide the nakedness of its abandonment of Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount with the police fig leaf. 

The police could have blocked entry to the Moslem rioters and allowed Jews to enter their holiest site on this most significant day. Instead, they acquiesced to the directive to announce that there was a security problem, providing cover for a political decision.