In a First, Jews Ascend Temple Mount Without Muslim Supervision - by Deborah Danan -
For the first time in decades, Jews ascended the Temple Mount on Monday and prayed without fear of being arrested by Muslim religious authority officials who have kept away from the site in protest over the metal detectors installed after Friday's terror attack.
Police granted Jewish and other non-Muslim visitors permission to visit the holy site three days after Arab-Israeli gunmen attacked a group of policemen, killing two.
Officials from the Jordanian Islamic Waqf that administers the site and the Al-Aqsa mosque within have refused to ascend the Mount and urged other Muslims to stay away to protest the metal detectors that Israel installed at the entrance since the site's reopening on Sunday.
Jews took advantage of the lack of Waqf officials and recited the mourner's Kaddish for the murdered Druze police officers at the site.
Jews are banned from praying at the Temple Mount - Judaism's holiest site - in accordance with the status quo that was established following Israel's capture of the site in 1967. In April, Jewish visitors were arrested by Muslim officials for openly praying at the flashpoint site.
Arnon Segal, a reporter for Makor Rishon newspaper and an activist for Jewish rights to the Temple Mount, wrote on his Facebook page, "We're back, thank God. With more Jews on the Mountain, freedom of worship and service to God, tomorrow our smile will be even more beautiful."
Despite Israeli assurances that the status quo will remain intact, the Waqf sees the installation of metal detectors and security cameras as an affront. The added security measures, which also work to protect Muslim worshippers, came in direct response to Friday's deadly terrorist attack in which three Israeli Arab assailants managed to get weapons onto the Mount.
On Sunday, protests erupted outside the site with the Waqf calling on Muslims in the city "to reject and boycott all the Israeli aggression measures, including changing the historical status quo including imposing the metal detectors."
Education Minister Naftali Bennett said the Muslim reaction to the security measures was "a tempest in a teacup."
He pointed out to Israel Radio on Monday that all Jewish visitors to the Western Wall and Muslim visitors to the Kaaba in Mecca were made to pass through metal detectors.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Channel 2 that the bolstered security measures at the site were now an imperative. "Live fire from inside the Temple Mount crosses every red line," he said.
Tension on the Temple Mount! - A.V. Rauf -
Jerusalem has seen two temples built on the Temple Mount. The first was built by King Solomon close to 3,000 years ago. It was destroyed by the armies of Nebudchadnezzar in 586 B.C. The second temple was built under Zerubbabel during the years 520-516 B.C. This was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Since that time there has been a deep longing amongst many observant Jews both out in the Diaspora and back in the land of Israel to see the temple rebuilt once again.
Avid Bible Prophecy students are fully aware of the fact that the coming Third Temple has major prophetic and eschatological implications that culminate in the end of the Church Age and the beginning of the Tribulation period.
Once a year, on the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, Jews fast, cry and mourn for the destruction of their Holy Temple. They long for the rebuilding of an edifice that was destroyed 2,000 years ago.
At the present time the construction of the Third Temple is quite impossible from a political standpoint. The Temple Mount area is currently under strict Islamic control. But the prophetic scriptures indicate that the temple will indeed be rebuilt.
At some point there will be a new peace on the Temple Mount. And in this peace the Third Temple will be constructed. However, this peace may come after a future war in the Middle East ignites. Will it be Psalm 83? Will it be Jeremiah 49:34-39?? Will it be the destruction of Syria mentioned in Isaiah 17. Or will it be Ezekiel 38-39??
The Bible repeatedly describes the Temple as the spiritual center of the world and the source for peace and prosperity.
Over the past decade there has been a growing "Movement" to rebuild the temple in Israel today with thousands of Jews working to rebuild the temple. According to a poll taken last year in a leading newspaper Ha'aretz, one third of Israelis believe that Israel should erect the Temple on the Temple Mount. Just last year, Israel's Housing Minister called publicly for the rebuilding of the Temple, "We've built many little, little temples," MK Uri Ariel said, referring to synagogues, "but we need to build a real Temple on the Temple Mount."
Schools throughout Israel are diligently studying the laws of the temple and Jews of all backgrounds visit the Temple Mount each month. The Jerusalem Post quoted Sarit Berko, a non-observant Israeli who came to the Western Wall to observe the 9th of Av from her home in Tel Aviv, an annual pilgrimage she has made since the Six Day War in 1967. "During Passover, most Jews say 'Next year in Jerusalem'," explained Berko, "As an Israeli I pray, 'Next year may the Third Temple be built and last for eternity.'
The Temple is such a central theme in the Bible that one third of all its commandments deal with laws carried out in it. In the near future it will be rebuilt and part of it will be given over to the gentiles:
Revelation 11:1-2--And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. 2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Forty and two months is equivalent to 3.5 years which in itself is half of seven, or quite possibly midway through the last seven years of history prior to the Return (NOT THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH) of the Lord Jesus Christ. These seven years have been referred to by many scholars as the Tribulation.
The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has announced that it has finished building an altar that can be utilized for Temple service. The altar, which took several years to build, can be operational at little more than a moment's notice, reported Matzav Haruach magazine.
Furthermore, the third Temple's sacred vessels, the menorah, showbread table and incense altar are completed. The architectural design is also done. It is also being reported that the third Temple will be a mix of steel, stone and composite materials conforming to the Law. The architectural plans only need to be executed.
A Biblical description of the preparation of the temple can be found in Zechariah Chapters 1-4. Interestingly enough, the fourth chapter reads right into the advent of the two witnesses of Revelation Chapter 11--See Below:
Breaking Update! More Tension on the Temple Mount!!
The Islamic Waqf's jurisdiction over the Temple Mount is officially over and Israel will now work to reestablish Jewish sovereignty over the holy site, according to Knesset Member Ari Dichter.
"Israel is the sovereign on the Temple Mount, period. The fact that the Waqf became a sovereign on the Temple Mount ended last Friday," declared Dichter, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and former head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), on Israeli public radio, Israel National News reported.
"The question of our policy [at the Temple Mount] may not be clear to the Palestinians, but it is very clear to us... The Mount will remain under the control of the Israel Police."
If Israel does indeed take back control of the Temple Mount, then the rebuildng of the Third Temple would not be far off The Mount has not been under lasting Jewish control for thousands of years. Devoted Jews have been praying for the rebuilding ofthe Third temple for the past two thousand years.
However, A Waqf statement released on Monday urged Muslims "to reject and boycott all the Israeli aggression measures, including changing the historical status quo including imposing the metal detectors."
Furthermore, this just occurred on the Temple Mount: Just a few days after last Friday's incident on the Temple Mount, Tuesday night's clashes marked the third straight day that rioters engaged in violent tactics, with the agitators reportedly lobbing Molotov cocktails and rocks at Israeli police forces near the Lions Gate, which happens to be a main access point to the Temple Mount. It is being reported that at least 34 people were injured and almost half of them requiring hospitalization.
The Muslim worshipers are now protesting the Israeli government's decision to install metal detectors at the entrances to the Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism and a site holy to Islam.
Protest leaders, including top Palestinian officials, are stating that the metal detectors are part of an Israeli conspiracy to hamper Muslim worship at the Temple Mount.
Again, it is worth mentioning that this can escalate to a war. Somehere a peacemaker is awaiting to enforce a covenant of peace if this gets really out of hand. Daniel 9:27???
The Temple Institute is committed to preparing all the necessary clothing and tools for the re-built Holy Temple in Jerusalem. In addition, the institute operates an educational center for visitors and a preparatory training program for members of the Aaronic priesthood who wish to be ready to serve as soon as the Temple is rebuilt.
Events continue to escalate on the Temple Mount following the murder of two Israeli guards on the Temple Mount just last week.
The Temple Mount was closed Friday after three Arab Israeli terrorists emerged from the compound and opened fire at a group of police officers just outside, killing two of them.
On Sunday, the site was opened to Muslims only, and on Monday, it was opened to non-Muslim visitors as well.
Under the status quo, established after Israel captured the site in 1967, the site is managed by an Islamic foundation under the auspices of Jordan - the Waqf - and Israel controls access.
Jews are allowed to visit, but not pray, at the site - the holiest place in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam.
Pay close attention because here is where this gets very interesting:
The current ruling Fatah party of Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas re-broadcast his call for violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosue in 2014. The broadcast was in response to the closure of the Temple Mount following the terrorist attack in which two police officers were murdered Friday morning. Palestinian Media Watch reported that Fatah posted the video on its official Facebook page. In it, Abbas calls on Arabs to use violence to prevent Jews from ascending the Temple Mount.
"We must all carry out Ribat [religious conflict] in the Al-Aqsa Mosque... We have to prevent them, in any way whatsoever, from entering the Sanctuary... They have no right to enter it. They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them. Let us stand before them with chests bared to protect our holy places," Abbas says in the video.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/1xkdh4V54ew
In addition, last week the country of Jordan also condemned the violence in Jerusalem but also demanded that Israel "immediately" reopen the Temple Mount compound for Muslim worshipers.
Jordan's Government Spokesman Mohammed Momani said in a statement quoted by the Jordanian news agency Petra that Jordan rejects any violation against the right of Muslims to perform their religious rituals in their holy shrines.
Israeli officials were angered by Jordan's statement, saying on Friday evening they rejected it.
"Instead of condemning the attack, Jordan chose to attack Israel, which protects the worshipers and preserves freedom of worship in the area," the statement said, according to Israeli media outlets.
"Israel will not tolerate any ham to the holy sites and it maintains the status quo in them. It would be appropriate for all the parties involved, including Jordan, to maintain restraint and prevent an escalation," it added.
Jordan is one of two Arab countries, the other being Egypt, to have signed a peace treaty with Israel.
Events like these can be looked upon as trigger points that can escalate to war.
Just how will this Middle East peace be achieved? What will have happened to suddenly change the political landscape in the Middle East and thus open the way to allow the temple to be rebuilt? A new "prince" will have come into power. But who will this man be? And in whose name will he come? Will he turn out to be the peacemaker or power broker spoken of by the prophet Daniel? Shall we come face to face with the long awaited peacemaker of Daniel 9:27:
Daniel 9:27-And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
This future seven year covenant will be different. The final solution of the "Road Map to Peace" will be on the front pages of our newspapers and News websites on Fox and CNN cable news. This seven year peace deal or covenant will kick off the final seven year history of this world spawning earthshaking political events of Biblical proportions.
When this covenant is signed and confirmed there will be major international consequences. Great and awesome events will start to happen as the Holy God of Israel resumes His determined covenant dealings with the nation of Israel and the rest of the world.
Zechariah 12:1-11-The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. 4 In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God. 6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
It is of a surety that we are living in the very season of the Lord's return, and have been for quite some time. As Jesus Christ taught in the Gospels, the prophetic birth pangs that are so prevalent globally speaking, in so many different prophetic spheres, are becoming more pronounced and stronger with each passing day.
As we approach the end of the Church Age, all the prophetic pieces are falling into their Biblically ordained end-time places and this is exactly what we are witness to in all other areas of Biblical eschatalogy or end-time prophecy.
A recent Blockbuster Summer movie was released with a sub title called "HOMECOMING" and interestingly enough a soundtrack that played in the opening scenes contained the following words:
"Can't you hear me knockin' on your window"
"Can't you hear me knockin' on your door"
"Can't you hear me knockin', ahh, are you safe asleep?...."
Revelation 3:20-22: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Song of Solomon 2:10-13-My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Can you hear HIM Knockin'??
Trump and The Third Temple - Enoch Lavendar -
NOTE: Originally posted February 13, 2017
The Jewish Temple Mount movement are excited over the recent election of Donald Trump. They know very well that rebuilding the Jewish temple in today's world would be a dangerous and politically incorrect task.
In their view, if there is any modern political leader with the guts and determination to stand behind such a project, it could be President Trump.
Biblically, many Christians affirm that the Jewish temple will be rebuilt at some point in the End Times.
Could President Trump's strong pro-Israel stand be the game changer which could help lay the groundwork? What role would President Putin play in the mix?
The Cyrus Mandate
A number of Christian leaders have been comparing Trump to the Biblical King Cyrus. They point out that King Cyrus was a leader called and appointed by God.
Despite the fact that this Persian King did not know the God of Israel, God appointed him by name with the mandate to fulfil God's divine purposes concerning the nation of Israel.
President Trump, like King Cyrus, appears an unlikely champion for God's purposes. Despite the controversies swirling around him, Trump has though already taken action to re-align America with important Biblical values (such as pro-life) as well as making an unusually firm stand alongside the nation of Israel.
While several Christian bible teachers have pointed out similarities with Cyrus, few have raised the point that a primary part of Cyrus' divine calling was to order the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem (Isaiah 44:28, Ezra 1:2).
If President Trump really has a similar calling to King Cyrus, could it be that God would use this real estate developer turned President to facilitate the greatest property development of modern time - the rebuilding of the Temple?
A Letter from the Sanhedrin
Key figures in Israel's Temple Mount movement certainly are optimistic that Trump's victory could be the catalyst needed to bring their dream to reality.
Within days of the election victory, long time Temple Mount advocate and now prominent member of the Israeli Knesset Rabbi Yehudah Glick, issued a public call inviting Trump to visit the Temple Mount.
This call was followed days later by an open letter from the re-convened Jewish Sanhedrin. The open letter addressed BOTH Russian President Putin and the new US President Trump - asking them both to fulfill the Cyrus mandate of enabling the rebuilding of the Temple.
Rabbi Hillel Weiss, who serves as spokesman for the Sanhedrin, explained that Donald Trump's rise to power had 'made the eternal Jewish dream a very real possibility'.
Trump's strong stand in support of the Jewish claim to Jerusalem and the West Bank (Biblically known as Judea and Samaria) has led to the Sanhedrin to the belief that he could also support full Israeli rights to the Temple Mount.
Compared to President Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin might seem like an even more unlikely Cyrus. Many would instead view him as a potential 'Gog' - one of Israel's great End Time enemies.
The Sanhedrin however are basing their letter to Putin on unverified positive reports concerning Putin's attitude to the Temple Mount. Visiting the Western Wall in 2012, Putin allegedly disclosed that he was personally praying for the rebuilding of the Temple.
On this basis, the Sanhedrin decided to write to both Putin and Trump - inviting them both to fulfil the Cyrus mandate.
The optimism of the Sanhedrin is palpable. Rabbi Weiss explains: "We are poised to rebuild the Temple.
The political conditions today, in which the two most important national leaders in the world support the Jewish right to Jerusalem as their spiritual inheritance, is historically unprecedented".
Cyrus or the Anti-Christ
While the Sanhedrin is looking for a Cyrus type figure to arise to help support the building of the Third Temple, many Christians tend to link the rebuilding of the Temple not with a Cyrus but rather with the anti-Christ himself.
The Scriptures appear clear that the coming anti-Christ will defile the temple, but we shouldn't necessarily equate foreign leaders who facilitate the rebuilding with the coming anti-Christ.
In his day, King Cyrus helped build a temple in Jerusalem at divine instruction, which was later defiled by Antiochus and then frequented by Jesus the Messiah.
Could it be that God will likewise in the End Times raise up a new Cyrus figure that will help facilitate the rebuilding of the temple - which will later be defiled before the Messiah finally returns to take His rightful place in the Temple?
Trump's got the numbers
Jewish leaders have pointed out that the gematria (numerical value) of Donald Trump's name equals that of the phrase 'Meshiach Ben David' (Messiah, Son of David). These same rabbis are quick to point out that they do not believe that Trump is the Messiah (just as well!).
They view the gematria of Trump's name as an indication of him playing a role in the 'redemptive process' - a role in preparing the conditions for the Messiah's arrival. What could prepare the way for the Messiah more than the rebuilding of the Temple?
It is interesting in this context to also consider Michael Snyder's calculations that Trump was born 700 days before Israel became a nation, won the election on Prime Minister Netanyahu's 7th year, 7th month and 7th day in office, and served his first full day in the White House at the age of 70 years, 7 months and 7 days old.
While we should be careful of reading too much into these numbers, it would seem that God Himself has had His hand on the unusual rise of Donald Trump and if so would have a particular purpose for his presidency.
Could these Jewish leaders be right that Trump could have a Cyrus call on his life?
Summary
There is great excitement within the Temple Movement in Israel that the time might be drawing near for the long desired rebuilding of the House of God.
While the Sanhedrin is obviously excited about the rise of Trump and rumours of Putin being supportive, it is still early days, and we have no definite statements from either leader to support these assumptions.
As believers we should none-the-less be watching these developments, praying for God's prophesied purposes to be accomplished, and checking our own spiritual lives to make sure that we are ready to meet the soon coming King.
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Four Outrageous Temple Mount Lies Being Pushed by Muslim Leaders - by Aaron Klein - http://www.breitbart.com
The Temple Mount, one of the most sensitive sites in the world, has been utilized by Arab states and Muslim leaders over the past few days to spew wild accusations against Israel following events triggered by last Friday's deadly Palestinian terrorist attack at the site.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and is considered holy to Islam.
Below, in no particular order, are four major lies about the Temple Mount being propagated by Arab states and Muslim leaders:
1 - Metal detectors are part of an Israeli conspiracy against the Al Aqsa Mosque.
For four consecutive days, Muslim rioters here have engaged in violent clashes targeting Israeli security forces in Jerusalem's Old City near a main entrance to the Temple Mount. The Muslim worshipers are purportedly protesting the Israeli government's decision to install metal detectors at the entrances to the Mount.
Protest leaders, including top Palestinian officials, claim the metal detectors are part of an Israeli conspiracy to hamper Muslim worship at the Temple Mount.
The activists and Palestinian officials fail to note that Israel's new security measures were put into place in direct response to the murderous Palestinian terrorist attack at the Mount last Friday in which three assailants somehow smuggled weapons onto the site. Two Israeli police officers were killed in the attack.
The placement of metal detectors constitutes a sensible security response to a terrorist attack at the Mount, and it will protect all visitors, including Muslim worshipers. The conspiracy-mongering activists ignore that metal detectors have been in place for years for Jewish and Christian worshipers accessing the Western Wall.
The Palestinians have a history of using the Temple Mount to fuel violence against Israel. Riots broke out on the Mount in October 1990, ushering in the First Intifada, and the Second Intifada kicked off in September 2000 after the Palestinians used a visit to the Temple Mount by Ariel Sharon as a pretense to launch an orchestrated terrorist campaign after bolting U.S.-brokered talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state.
2 - Israel is trying to shut down Muslim worship at the Temple Mount.
This distorted charge has been propagated by Arab states and Mideast Muslim leaders after Israel temporarily closed the Temple Mount last Friday in direct response to the attack. The Mount was reopened on Sunday following the rare closure.
As Breitbart Jerusalem reported, in their condemnations of Israel for temporarily closing the Temple Mount, major Arab states and local Muslim leaders failed to mention the deadly Palestinian terrorist attack at the Mount that prompted Israel to enforce the closure for national security reasons in the first place.
Mount preachers are notorious for using Friday night sermons to incite against Israel - especially with false claims of Israeli threats to the Al Aqsa Mosque - and there was fear that the services could have been used to instigate further violence on the Mount.
Also, Israel temporarily closed the Mount while it investigated how the three gunmen managed to smuggle weapons onto the site, and while the Jewish state put additional security layers - notably, the metal detectors - in place to ensure against future attacks.
Accompanied by the Waqf, the site's Islamic custodians, Israel also used the few days the site was closed to conduct necessary security sweeps of the Mount. According to reports, dozens of additional weapons were found at the site.
The charge that Israel is hampering Muslim access to the Temple Mount is laughable and contradicted by facts on the ground. Israel allows the Jordanian-controlled Waqf to serve as custodian of the Temple Mount and grants Muslim worshippers access to the site 24 hours per day, seven days a week with the exception of rare instances of security threats.
It is actually Jewish and Christian visitors who are restricted by the Waqf from visiting the Mount except on small tours for about two hours per day. The Waqf does not allow non-Muslims to pray on the Mount or bring holy objects to the site; whereas Muslim prayer is entirely unrestricted. Waqf representatives closely monitor non-Muslim visitors to the site and are known to boot those engaging in prayer.
3 and 4 - The Temple Mount is only holy to Muslims and the Jewish Temples never existed.
The shocking denial of Jewish ties to the Temple Mount are mainstream within Palestinian society.
Rejecting archeological evidence, the historical record and accepted fact, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview earlier this week that the Temple Mount is "a holy place for Muslims only, and no one but the Muslims have any religious or historical right there."
Also earlier this week, Maher al-Sousi, a lecturer at the Islamic University of Gaza, claimed that the Jewish Temples were never located on the Temple Mount and that Jews have no right to the holiest site in Judaism.
In a Breitbart Jerusalem interview last year, Khaled Elkhaldi, a professor at Gaza's Islamic University, completely denied Jewish ties to the Temple Mount.
In 2007, this reporter conducted an exclusive video interview with Waqf official and chief Palestinian cleric Taysir Tamimi, who used the occasion to claim the Jewish Temples "never existed" and the Western Wall was really a hitching post for Muhammad's horse.
Excavations near the Mount routinely uncover archaeological evidence further tying Jews to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. For example, discoveries at the City of David, an archeological site just outside the Mount, have unearthed the core of ancient Jerusalem, including Hezekiah's Tunnel, evidence of the Gihon Spring, Jewish Temple artifacts, Temple purifying pools and more.
Not only are these Muslim scholars' claims about the lack of evidence tying Jews to the Temple Mount false, the Islamic scholar glossed over the Palestinians' own complicity in disposing of Jewish Temple artifacts further solidifying Jewish ties to the site.
As I previously reported:
In 1997, the Waqf conducted a large dig on the Temple Mount during construction of a massive mosque at an area referred to as Solomon's Stables. The Wafq at the time disposed of truckloads of dirt containing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods.
After the media reported the disposals, Israeli authorities froze the construction permit given to the Waqf and the dirt was transferred to Israeli archaeologists for analysis. The Israeli authorities found scores of Jewish Temple relics in the nearly disposed dirt, including coins with Hebrew writing referencing the Temple, part of a Hasmonean lamp, several other Second Temple lamps, Temple-period pottery with Jewish markings, a marble pillar shaft, and other Temple-period artifacts.
The Waqf was widely accused of attempting to hide evidence of the existence of the Jewish Temples.
And in 2007, I personally reported from the site of an unusual dig on the Temple Mount in which the Waqf utilized heavy machinery to dig in one of the most sensitive archaeological compounds in the world and were once again caught red-handed destroying Temple-era antiquities.
Local Arabs did not always deny the reality of Jewish ties to the Temple Mount. A 1925 official guide book to the Temple Mount by the Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem stated the Mount was the site of Solomon's Temple. The book, titled, "Guide Book to Al-Haram Al-Sharif," states on page four, "Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord.'"
Jordan's intel tags Hezbollah for Temple Mt. terror -
The Israeli police Thursday, July 20, released a video tape recording the movements of the terrorists heading for the murderous attack they committed on Temple Mount six days ago, when they shot dead two Israeli border guard police officers.
The film shows not three but four men who carefully stepped away from each other before entering the Al Aqsa Mosque. There, the three gunmen were handed their weapons by the fourth confederate, who made his escape among the crowds of worshippers exiting the mosque.
The police published the video Thursday ahead of Muslim Friday prayers - which brings tens of thousands of worshippers to Al Aqsa - as a reminder that the crime committed was a terrorist attack staged by Muslims at Islam's third most sacred site - not the metal detectors which Israel installed for its safety. To drown this truth out, the Palestinians and Waqf officials have been raising a worldwide uproar over those detectors, as though nothing else happened to make them necessary.
The investigation going forward has established that the terrorists were far from amateurs. They acted coolly, with professional precision and were clearly highly trained and familiar with the terrain. It was a skilled terrorist cell that assaulted a shrine holy to three world faiths.
Even the absence of any claim of responsibility for the attack is a clue, especially since none of Israel's investigators, be they police, security authorities or intelligence agencies, have so far thrown any light on the identity of the hand behind that cell.
However, debkafile's intelligence and counterterrorism sources report that Jordanian and Saudi intelligence services have come to the conclusion that the attack was the work of a Hezbollah-run cell on orders from Iran. One of Hezbollah's signatures is the absence of any claim of responsibility.
On July 18, 2012, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus carrying Israeli tourists at the Bulgarian resort of Burgas, killing five Israelis and the Bulgarian driver and injuring 32. No organization has ever claimed this attack. Israeli intelligence uncovered evidence that it was orchestrated by Hezbollah, but was never able to lay hands on the perpetrators.
The difference this time was that the three gunmen on Temple Mount had no intention of committing suicide. They did not expect the Israel police detail to react quickly enough to gun them down, but had meant to elude pursuit by fleeing to safety into Al Aqsa mosque. There they planned either to escape through ancient subterranean tunnels leading outside the Old City walls, or barricade themselves inside the cavernous mosque for a long shootout with Israel police.
Jordanian intelligence circles suspect that the Temple Mount attack was linked to the US-Russian deal for ceasefire zones in southwest Syria right up to the borders of Jordan and Israel. Both governments have demanded the exclusion of Iranian and Hezbollah forces from those zones.
Tehran found an answer to this demand by demonstrating that its Lebanese proxy is capable of reaching deep inside Israel without recourse to external territory, because Hezbollah not only maintains a presence in Daraa and the Syrian Golan, but has planted terrorist networks inside Israel and Jordan. The pro-Iranian terror group has long been suspected of recruiting networks in some Israeli Arab communities. By striking Temple Mount, Iran and Hezbollah targeted both Israel and Jordan, which claims religious custodianship of its mosques.
Temple Mount terror puts the lie to Palestinian rage - By Eli Lake - http://www.jewishworldreview.com
For years, the most delicate dispute in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the status of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Al Aqsa Mosque sits on the spot from which Muslims believe Mohammed ascended to heaven. At its base are the remains of the outer wall of the second Jewish Temple.
This is why last Friday's terror attack on this sacred ground is so important.
It's hard to think of a worse debasement of a holy place than for armed gunmen in the middle of a shooting spree to flee to it for sanctuary. Add to this the fact the Jerusalem police now say there were guns hidden in the Temple Mount complex at the time.
All of this challenges a prevailing Palestinian narrative about the Al Aqsa Mosque: that Jews are a threat to its preservation. You hear it in the speeches of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, in which he falsely claims Jewish settlers are building tunnels underneath the Temple Mount. He complains of "dirty feet" stepping on this holy ground.
When former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in 2000, Palestinians were so angered that it sparked the second intifada. Later that year, Yasser Arafat formed a militia called Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade to kill Jews at random in the name of reclaiming the holy site.
Now it should be said that Al Aqsa Mosque, believed to be built in 690, has endured the crusades, British colonization and Israeli statehood. In the 1980s, a group of Jewish terrorists plotted to blow it up, but they never followed through. When Israel won the land that includes the Temple Mount in the 1967 Six-Day War, it decided to allow a religious trust called the Jordanian Waqf to remain the administrators of the site.
Now we have an atrocity that threatened the mosque's worshippers. The real threat to the Mosque on Friday did not come from Jewish settlers, but from Israeli Arabs. So it's important to examine the response from Palestinian leaders.
Let's start with Abbas. He was forceful in his condemnation of the act, noting that there is no room for violence in such a holy place. Other members of his party, Fatah, were also quick to denounce. And Ayman Odeh, the head of Israel's largest Arab political party, condemned all armed struggle from Israeli Arabs against Israel in the wake of the attack.
That's pretty good. But by Monday the old patterns emerged. Fatah called this week for a "day of rage." Was this to protest the gunmen who entered the noble sanctuary or those mourning their deaths? No. This protest is aimed at Israel for erecting metal detectors at the entrance of the Temple Mount compound after the shootings.
The most telling response, however, came from Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group that rules Gaza. A spokesman for the group, Sami Abu Zuhi, said on Friday the attack "was a natural response to Israeli terrorism and their defilement of the Al Aqsa mosque."
Now there are many things one can say about Hamas. They are killers, of course. They are also fanatics. Hamas favors the imposition of Islamic law on the people of Gaza. The group was responsible for changing the tenor of the Palestinian national liberation movement in the 1980s and 1990s, from largely an anti-colonialist struggle to a kind of holy war to reclaim Jerusalem.
In light of the group's response to shootings at the mosque, let's add a new descriptor: frauds. Yes, how can any thinking person take the professed pieties of Hamas leaders seriously if they rail against "defilement" of the site yet praises gunmen who fled to it in a shooting spree?
As Martin Kramer, a historian at Shalem College in Jerusalem, told me this week, the attack at the Temple Mount broke a taboo. "The usual Islamist claim is the danger to the mosque and the shrine is from Jews," he said. "Here there was an actual conspiracy to smuggle weapons into this holy place and Hamas does not condemn it, they praise it. Who poses the greater danger to Al Aqsa?"
It's an excellent question. The answer is that the greater danger to one of Islam's holiest place these days comes from the Palestinian fanatics who claim to be fighting for its reclamation.
World Looks Breathlessly to Temple Mount as Portal for Messianic Change Swings Open - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz -
"Thus said Hashem: I have returned to Tzion, and I will dwell in Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim will be called the City of Faithfulness, and the mount of God of Hosts the Holy Mount." Zechariah 8:3 (The Israel Bible�)
This week, for the first time since the Second Temple stood in all its glory, Jews were able to walk the Temple Mount freely as Muslim authority fell away from the site, allowing both Jews and Christians to heed the call to prayer on the Mountain of God and opening up the gates of redemption.
Jews inadvertently became the main presence on the Mount, something that has not happened since the destruction of the Second Temple 2,000 years ago, as a result of the misguided actions of Arab leadership following a horrifying terror attack at the Temple Mount last Friday.
The global prophetic implications of the major shift on this holiest of sites, emphasized MK Yehudah Glick, an advocate of universal prayer on the Temple Mount, cannot be denied.
"This was an enormous gamechanger," he told Breaking Israel News. "Everything is part of the geula (redemption) process, but the things that happen on the Temple Mount are especially so.
"If we want to bring world peace, we have to start there."
The unprecedented situation on the Temple Mount came about in the wake of an attack that bloodied the holy stones of the Mount. Three Palestinian terrorists killed two Israeli Druze policemen near the Temple Mount before being chased into the compound itself and neutralized.
The Israeli government responded to the attack by closing the Temple Mount to Muslims for the first time in decades. (The Temple Mount was also closed to Jewish visitors, which is standard operating procedure after Arab violence.) Two days later, the Temple Mount reopened with increased security measures in place for Muslims, including metal detectors of the type that have always been used to check Jewish visitors to the site. Until this recent attack, Muslims accessed the Temple Mount without undergoing any security checks.
The Islamic Waqf, a Jordanian trust which controls the Temple Mount, immediately and furiously rejected the use of the detectors, calling the security measure "Israeli aggression". Jerusalem Mufti Amin al-Husseini called for a Muslim boycott of the site and inter-Arab scuffles broke out as Waqf strongmen prevented Muslims from ascending.
The sudden lack of Waqf guards and large crowds of Muslim visitors on the Temple Mount led to an unusual situation. For the first time in decades, Jews were unencumbered by Waqf guards preventing them from praying. Though the Israeli police were still ordered to stop non-Muslim prayer, many Jews were inspired to seize the rare opportunity to speak a holy word on the holy mountain. The experiences, they shared, were breathtaking.
Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel, co-founder of the Land of Israel Network, was driven by the call to prayer. Early Wednesday morning, he began his preparations by bathing in a mikveh (ritual bath), noting that the day was especially significant because Jews are now in the three weeks of austerity leading up to Tisha B'Av (the Ninth of Av), a fast day commemorating the destruction of the Temples.
When he arrived at the Temple Mount, he saw the site was teeming with Israeli police ready to cope with the threat of the hostile Muslim crowds surrounding it. Despite the tense situation, Rabbi Gimpel was moved by the clear atmosphere of holiness and felt compelled to prostrate himself on the stones as was required in the days of the Temple. The Israeli police followed orders and carried Rabbi Gimpel from the site.
Nevertheless, Rabbi Gimpel was inspired. "Something monumental is happening there right now," Rabbi Gimpel told Breaking Israel News. "The Palestinians changed the status quo by killing Israeli policemen, but now, it is the time for us to do our part. Every Israeli is looking towards the Temple, waiting to see what happens."
He described the awe he felt at being able to fulfill the ancient commandment of prostrating oneself before the presence of God.
"Bowing down on the stones is a Torah commandment, precisely like in Temple times, and in a way we aren't able to do when the Waqf guards are here," Rabbi Gimpel said.
"I couldn't resist. I felt like every prayer, every mitzvah (Torah commandment) done at the Temple Mount opened the door to geula just a little more."
As Rabbi Gimpel pointed out, the potential of the situation to open up the Temple Mount to the Jews is enormous. This became clear when Knesset Member Avi Dichter (Likud) on Tuesday declared Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount.
"Israel is the sovereign on the Temple Mount, period. The fact that the Waqf became a sovereign on the Temple Mount ended last Friday," announced Dichter, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and former head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), on Israeli public radio.
But it is not only Jews who have a stake in how this situation is resolved. Jane Kiel, originally from Denmark but now known as the blogger Jerusalem Jane, is a Christian advocate for the Holy City and a frequent visitor to the Temple Mount. Her videos document the disrespect shown by Muslims visitors, who have barbecues, play soccer, pile garbage, and even urinate openly at the site.
Jane was anticipating the opportunity to ascend the Temple Mount on Monday without these disturbing elements.
"It was a total experience of awe," she told Breaking Israel News. "This is way this holy place is supposed to be. I didn't feel any fear or hatred or anger. For the first time, I felt what a House of Prayer was really like."
She managed to recite the Shema (Jewish prayer accepting the yoke of heaven) despite the Israeli police monitoring the site.
Jane was so moved by the experience she returned on Tuesday. But this time as she arrived at the security gates, a Waqf guard who had been monitoring the entrance approached her and told her she was not permitted to enter. This is the fourth time she has been removed from the Temple Mount as a result of her role as a Christian advocate for Jewish prayer.
"This is not just a Jewish battle," Jane said. "I am a Christian trying to wake up Christians to act. They should be outraged. They should make the Temple Mount their first stop when they come to Israel. This is really a battle over whether or not the Bible is true."
Perhaps the most touching testimony to Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount was the video of Aedan Sarah O'Connor, a Jewish Canadian student studying in Israel. O'Connor ascended on Monday and posted a video of herself reciting the Shema at the site to Facebook. Her video has already garnered over 27,000 views, attesting to the fact that Jews praying on the Temple Mount is of vital interest to so many.
"This is my homeland, and no one can stop me from praying at my holiest site," she proclaimed.
"I want everyone to be able to be able to pray here peacefully," O'Connor told Breaking Israel News. "The only way to ensure that all holy sites, Jewish Christian and Muslim, remain open to all people is to have them under Israeli sovereignty. The Waqf objects to metal detectors. It can't be any clearer that they want the Temple Mount to be a battlefield and not a place of prayer."
As a result of the Jewish prayers, Jerusalem police closed the Temple Mount to non-Muslims on Wednesday, though it was reopened later in the day. Police chief Yoram Halevi said in a statement, "The Israeli Police operates within a series of balances to uphold the law and the rules of the site and won't allow anyone to violate the law in any way."
Politically, the current situation is tenuous. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that while he does not intend to change the status quo, which forbids non-Muslims from praying, neither will he remove the metal detectors, creating an uncertain reality on the ground.
Many worldwide are praying hard that as a result of this monumental shift, Jewish sovereignty will be established on the Mount once and for all. It is certain that if Israel retains control over the holy site, an indescribably enormous step will have been taken towards the fulfillment of the Temple's prophesied role as a place a peace, which is unlikely to happen under Muslim rule.
"Without any compromise, the Temple Mount has to be a universal House of Prayer," said Rabbi Yehudah Glick, "and cannot be a place of violence."
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