Har HaBayit Closed Again

Har HaBayit is once again the scene of riots and calamity. Today was set as the day to commemorate Moses Maimonides' visit to the Temple Mount 843 years ago. This has been marked in the past by Jews ascending Har HaBayit.

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Islamist leaders are using incitement over the Temple Mount to spark Mahmoud Abbas' third intifada, which he threatened in June to unleash. Islamic clerics in eastern Jerusalem and members of the northern branch of the so-called Islamic Movement have once again been making calls to Muslims to defend the Al-Aqsa pimple.

While Jews are restricted by the Muslim Waqf to only ascend Har HaBayit for a three hour window on a typical day, while it was Israel who foolishly gave authority to the Muslims to administer the daily affairs of our holiest place (Israel's greatest act of chillul HaShem, the price for which the nation is still paying), it is the Jews the Muslims say that are inciting the tensions. An anonymous member of the Southern Islamic Movement said:

"It seems like the extremists don't want to have quiet in Jerusalem or on the Temple Mount. These sorts of things used to happen once every year, or once every two years, but now the provocations have become more frequent."

This coming from people who had piled stones on the Temple Mount to hurl down on Jewish worshippers at the Kotel, and then demanded that Muslims come to defend the Al-Aqsa pimple. Yes, it's those provocative Jews that are the problem. And what did the Jewish provocateurs do this time? A group called Eretz Yisrael Shelanu organized a conference to mark the Rambam's visit to the Temple Mount, "calling Jews to properly arise to the Temple Mount." Several nationalist MKs and rabbis were to be in attendance.

No formal plan or scheduling of a visit to Har HaBayit was made or publicized.

Violence ensued today when dozens of young Muslims began hurling rocks from the Temple Mount. Police had to enter the compound twice at this writing to deal with this, using stun grenades to disperse the rock throwers. Today's second round of violence broke out while Israeli police were talking with Waqf officials in an attempt to get protestors from earlier clashes to come out of the mosque where they holed themselves up, and leave the area peacefully.

The first round of violence was sparked while police were escorting a group of tourists to the Temple Mount. Several Muslims were caught on camera preparing to cause trouble, including pouring oil on the ground to prevent security forces and tourists from entering. Upon discovering this, police entered the compound and were pelted with stones and a fire bomb. Twelve were arrested.

This is going to continue until the Jewish people claim sovereignty over Har HaBayit, which was given to them in the miracle of 1967. If history has taught us anything, you cannot appease forces that are dedicated to killing you. The Torah says that even on Shabbat, one must take up arms to drive enemies from your fields, even if they are merely going after the straw and stubble. When the Jewish people fail to do this they get stones and firebombs thrown at them from their holiest site.

Apparently the Temple Mount has been closed...again, according to Arutz 7.

When is Israel finally going to have real Jewish leadership? When the Jewish people stand up and make it so.