Stand for Israel

"A view of the Dome of the Rock sitting on top of the Temple Mount, with the new city of Jerusalem spreading behind it."

A coalition of Israeli organizations is calling on Jewish and gentile lovers of Israel to participate in next month’s first annual Temple Mount Awareness Day, set for Wednesday, March 16.

Jewish tradition identifies the Temple Mount as “Mt. Moriah,” the holiest spot in the world: It was there that both the first and second Temples stood; there where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son, Isaac; and is considered the spot where God’s Presence Dwells in this world.

The Mount is holy to Christians not only because of the Jewish roots of Christianity, but also because of the significant role the Temple played in the life of Jesus.

It is holy to Muslims not only because Muslim tradition incorporates the holy sites of other religions (and turns them into Islamic sites), but also because the Koran records that Mohamed ascended to heaven from there. The surface of the Mount–which was plowed down following the destruction of the second Temple in 70 A.D.–is now occupied by two Islamic shrines: The familiar gold-topped “Dome of the Rock” and the Al-Aksa Mosque, the black compound on the Mount’s southern end.

Although Israel regained control of the Temple Mount when Jerusalem was reunified following the Six-Day War, Israel immediately ceded effective power over it to the Islamic Waqf, the Muslim religious land trust. Since then, many Israelis charge, the Waqf has done all it can to undermine Jewish claims to the site and has imposed ludicrous restrictions on them (see this post about a bride arrested the day before her wedding for the “crime” of praying on the Mount).

The group organizing the Awareness Day–which is comprised mostly of organizations on the right–wants to raise awareness about the facts that “non-Moslems are denied the right to pray in groups, and even as individuals” and that Jews are especially subject to “constant degradation,” including being followed and harassed by police and Waqf guards when they attempt visits.

Organizers also want to call on the Prime Minister’s Office to include the Temple Mount among those sites of historical, cultural and religious significance to the Jewish people that will receive government protection and funds for the improvement of access, upkeep, and beautification of the sites.

Further, they want to condemn the Waqf for:

• Illegal digs causing unparalleled destruction of archeological evidence of the Holy Temple and the historical Jewish presence on the Mount.
• Endless incitement against the Jewish State and Nation from within the Mosques.
• Physical attacks against Jews on the Mount and down below at the Western Wall

For more information, go here or visit the group’s facebook page here (be sure you’re logged into your facebook account when you click the link).