Even though Israel is a Jewish state, Jews are restricted from visiting the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. This restriction is supposedly for political and security reasons – in other words, the Muslims here find the idea of Jews on the Temple Mount highly objectionable, and their feelings on the matter invariably manifest themselves in violence.
Case in point: today, Tisha B’v, in which Jews commemorating historical tragedies including the destruction of the First and Second Temples, made a pilgrimage to this holiest of places.
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Posted by ?????? on Sunday, July 26, 2015
Entrance to the mosque (Photo: Police Spokesman’s Unit)[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_78567" align="aligncenter" width="550"]
Inside the mosque[/caption]
As the Jerusalem Post reported:
On Sunday morning, the masked Palestinian youths took up arms and set up barricades on the Temple Mount to attack police and Jewish visitors during Tisha Be’Av, Judaism’s annual day of mourning.
The rioting took place as tens of thousands of Jews fasted and made a pilgrimage to the Western Wall amid oppressive heat to mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples that once sat atop the contested holy site.
According to Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, officers entered the compound shortly after 7:30 a.m., after receiving intelligence that a large group of masked Palestinian youths barricaded themselves overnight in al-Aksa Mosque to attack Jewish visitors on Sunday morning.
“The police were attacked immediately upon entering the Temple Mount compound by Palestinians armed with rocks, firebombs, fireworks and metal pipes,” said Rosenfeld, adding that four officers were lightly wounded during the confrontation.
Now I ask you all: is this acceptable behavior?
Leaving aside the fact the Temple Mount is so important to Jews.
Leaving aside the fact today we mourned our Temples.
Leaving aside the fact the Jewish visitors were not “provoking” the Muslims beyond merely being there.
Is throwing rocks, firebombs and other projectiles honoring a holy site?
As we Jews pray:
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill].
I suspect in the case of these “rioters”, they are more concerned with what they are holding in their right hands than the holiness of Jerusalem.
