They didn’t pray at Al-Aqsa - Jews are forbidden from going near the mosque itself, unless there are extreme circumstances relating to safety. They stay on a path which goes around the perimeter.
Jews are forbidden to walk on the exact site where the Temple stood. We don’t know for sure exactly where that is, but there are areas where we know the Temple did not stand, so those are the areas that people walk on.
Yesterday was Tisha b’Av, which marks the date of the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem. Jews wanted to go pray on the Temple Mount to mark the day.
There was no intention to start a war.
It’s absolutely ridiculous that Jews can’t easily access the holiest site in our religion, and armed escorts are needed for it.
I laugh at one line in the article - “The statement called on Israel, ‘as the occupying power, to immediately lift the restrictions’ imposed on access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
I agree, all restrictions should be lifted. Non-Muslims should absolutely be granted full access to the Temple Mount!
Muslims consider the compound holy. The actions of the settlers, escorted by armed police, disrupts the existing status quo. But of course you knew all that and are just trying to spread misinformation.
While that’s not an unreasonable opinion, it’s also not unreasonable to require sustained demonstration of folks from different faiths being able to peacefully coexist and worship in close proximity as a prerequisite to such a change.
I believe that today, radicals on one side have harsh feelings regarding an active mosque being on the site of the former temple, while radicals on another side would have a harsh reaction to addressing those concerns.
Jews consider it holy as well. Jews are not trying to destroy Al-Aqsa for the most part (I’m sure there are some extremists who would, as there are extremists in every group). Yet Muslims have been using that claim for decades.
Why should only Muslims be able to worship there? Why not Jews? As I said, Jews are not going into either mosque on the Temple Mount - they stay around the sides.
There are other sites which are holy to Jews and Muslims - notable in Chevron, at the Cave of the Patriarchs. Somehow, Jews and Muslims are able to both pray there.
This discussion reminds me of a conversation that I had some years ago with an archaeologist who was showing us some of his dig sites in Jerusalem. I asked him how a particular site was determined to be a Jewish, Christian or Muslim site. He just smiled and said that was determined by how deep he dug.
The amount of bullshit these people spew on a daily basis is truly impressive.
Basically, they let the settlers attack and kill the natives with impunity, but if those same natives try to defend themselves…they are the problem.
This is one of the reasons Israel is despised globally.
Their sheer hipocrisy is truly mind-bending.
You’re talking about FA here.
He will excuse and rationalise any behavior as long as its coming from his side of the debacle, irrespective of what the actual situation is.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are actively trying to create a serious conflict. The goal is to use the current extremist situation in Israel (which works in their favour) before the elections.
The additional dimension is that their entire society is so far gone that this type of religious conflict would pay dividends for them electorally.
The entire country is probably a write-off at this point. No chance they come back from what they have done (and are doing). So why not go even more extreme? Those two (Smotrich and Ben-Gvir) probably don’t care either way that Israel is a global pariah at this point in time.