One of the
wonderful things about the Jewish mind and the Jewish community is the ability
to debate, to see things from various perspectives. As the old joke goes, get two Jews in the
room and you’ll have three different opinions.
The Talmud demonstrates that whilst we value debate for debate’s sake,
we do not expect conformation, but after an often loud, vigorous argument, we
will sit down together as friends and break bread and drink together. However, the argument will be on the
merits. When it descends to ad hominem
attacks and vulgarity, it becomes a troubling toxic attack.
This is why
I was troubled to read Steven Berkoff’s comments about the Temple Mount and to
see examples on campuses of people glorifying terrorism, all whilst
misconstruing the facts and forgetting the innocent Israelis who have lost
their lives in the current wave of terror.
With regard
to the facts, and the history, whilst freedom of religion has not always been
respected in Jerusalem under previous authorities, most recently the British
Mandate and before that the Ottoman Empire, Israel's official policy, as
clarified in its Declaration of Independence, protects freedom of religion and
worship for all faiths. Israel places the utmost importance on facilitating
worship by Muslims and Christians in their respective holy sites, including in
Jerusalem. Moreover, Jewish holy sites (among them the Western Wall), are open
to visitors of all faiths, as are the Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. In the
past year alone, over 3,500,000 Muslims have worshipped on the Temple Mount,
while only 12,000 Jews and 200,000 Christians have visited it, while being
prohibited from praying.
Since Jerusalem's
reunification in 1967, non-Muslims (Israelis and tourists) are allowed to visit
the Temple Mount at fixed times, but do not enter the al-Aqsa Mosque itself:
they may visit other parts of the site and walk around the large open spaces.
Jews and other non-Muslims are not permitted to pray on the Temple Mount. This has been the case since Israeli Minister
of Defense Moshe Dayan delineated the status quo after the Six Day War. Recently, Prime Minister Netanyahu has
reiterated that this will remain the law, and has enforced that on the small
marginal minority of Jews who try to ascend to the Temple Mount to pray there.
It is a pity
that friends such as Berkoff choose to buy into the incitement which has been
irresponsibly promulgated by Palestinian leaders and media, sanctimoniously asking
us to “leave the Palestinians alone in the own spiritual territory” without
having researched the facts. Whereas any
attempts by Jews to pray on the Mount have been consistently prevented by
Israeli authorities, as have any attempts to change the status quo or disturb
the public order, radical Islamists have deliberately desecrated, damaged and
endangered a site holy to Muslims and to Jews, turning it into a battle field,
using stones, Molotov cocktails and explosive devices.
This
incitement has instigated terrorists over recent months to go on knifing,
shooting and car-ramming rampages against Israelis, murdering 22 Israeli Jews
and Arabs (at time of writing) across the country, all in the name of an
imagined threat to the al-Aqsa mosque. All this while Israeli forces risk their
lives to protect the rights of Muslims to worship on the Mount and prevent
others from doing so.
Berkoff writes that the Temple Mount has never been sacred to Jews in recent
memory. This is simply not true.
What is true is that in the name of
preserving the rights of all religions, and respecting Muslim sensibilities.
Israel has preserved and will continue to preserve the status quo in the face
of Palestinian violence and incitement.
Rony Yedidia-Clein is the Embassy's Minister-Counsellor for Public Diplomacy