By Alan Caruba
The Palestinians never lose an
opportunity or excuse to kill Jews. What is feared is a new intifada or holy war
in Israel, specifically in Jerusalem, where attacks on its civilians and
soldiers have been occurring. The present grievance has to do with the
Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism, but one that was taken over by
Muslims when they invaded in 638 A.D.
Muslims have a habit of either
destroying the places of worship of Jews and Christians or converting them to
mosques. In the case of the Temple Mount, known to Arabs as Masjid al Aksa, the
Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik, around 688 A.D., built the Dome of the Rock, a
mosque. The site, Mount Moriah, had been holy to Jews for 3,000 years as the
place where Abraham offered his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice when his faith was
tested by God.
As recorded in 2 Chronicles 3:1 “Then
Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. It
was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David,
his father.”
And then Mohammad came along with a
fanciful story. As recorded in the Koran, Sura Al-Isra 17:1. “Glory be to Him
who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Sanctuary to the
farthest Sanctuary, whose precincts We did bless…” According to Mohammed, one night he was
transported from Mecca to Jerusalem, escorted by the angel Gabriel. From the
future site of al-Aksa, he ascended to Heaven where he met the great prophets
before returning to Mecca. Suffice to say the “Night journey” became a sacred
event for Muslims and al-Aksa, when built, a sacred
mosque.
Apparently anything in Islam is
justification enough to kill any “unbeliever” and Jews have been on the top of
that list since it was created by Mohammed, largely because the Jews of his time
refused to abandon their faith and accept him as a
prophet.
When Israel became a sovereign Jewish
state in 1948, it was immediately attacked by its Arab neighbors and has had to
fight several wars since then. It has never been free from attacks, the latest
being those by Hamas from Gaza that provoked a military operation to stop their
ceaseless rocketing.
In the wake of the first war the
Jordanians retained control over the Mount Moriah, refusing entry to the area.
The Israelis conquered the whole of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War and
liberated the Temple Mount. It was the first time since the destruction of the
Second Temple by the Romans that they had control.
Currently, the Israelis allow Jews to
enter the Temple Mount on a restrictive basis, but they are barred from praying
there!
Prayer is forbidden because the
Israelis have not wanted to offend Muslims. Meanwhile the Palestine Authority
president, Mahmoud Abbas, has accused Israel of launching a religious war when
Israelis responded to attacks by Palestinians on their civilians and soldiers as
a way to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death. Abbas has had
years in which to find a way toward peace with Israel, but never
has.
Access to the Temple Mount has been a
topic of discussion among Israelis for whom the site is as holy as that of the
Muslims. Attacks on Jewish activists and others have increased, reflecting the
Muslim resistance to any policy of tolerance that might permit Jews to pray
there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on record that Israel will not
change its policy, but prominent Israeli political figures have made trips to
the plaza of the Temple Mount to protest the
regulation.
For all those in the West who speak of
the necessity to extend tolerance to Islam and try to accommodate the demands of
Muslims, it would be wise to look at what is happening in Israel, a holy land
for three thousand years to Jews, then for two thousand years to Christians, and
then to Muslims who arrived on the scene 1,400 years ago and who are engaged in
a holy war to dominate the whole of the world.
These days, when not fighting each
other throughout the Middle East, Muslims are committing atrocities around the
world, killing innocent people with abandon in the name of their holy war and
while they do Jews and Christians are forbidden to pray on the Temple
Mount.
© Alan Caruba, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment