The Palestinians are great at creating TV News, and this "event" was not different. The 3000 extra Police were shown as storm troopers, the people evacuated from the Kotel were "religious zealots" and the Palestinian rioters were "youths". This last part was true, because in every riot these terrorists put their young upfront; it looks better on TV when they die.
And whaddayaknow, the world is already starting to condemn the Jewish state.
When you see all of this "rioting" it kind of hard to believe that until recent times Jews were allowed to go up and pray at the Mount. And as recently as 150 years ago Islam's "Third Holiest Site" Was treated link a Slum Zone. Here's a quick look at the Mount's history after the second Temple.Jpost: The dig, which is taking place dozens of meters outside the holy site ahead of the construction of a new bridge to the Mughrabi Gate, has spurred Muslim calls for violence and a new infatda
Also on Friday morning, Arab countries appealed to the United Nations Security Council to put a stop to the excavation work.
Representatives of the countries called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to conduct a debate on the issue next week, Israel Radio reported.
In an effort to soothe tensions, Israel was considering broadcasting real-time, 24-hour video from the site to allay Muslim concerns of damage to the holy site, the Antiquities Authority said Thursday.
The proposal, which was the brainchild of lawmaker Israel Hasson, was quickly rejected by Islamic officials as "ridiculous."
Meanwhile, about one hundred Israeli Arabs demonstrated at the site Thursday, answering a call by the Islamic Movement in Israel which has been leading the protest against the dig.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) issued a statement Thursday critical of the renovation and calling on Israel "to suspend any action that could endanger the spirit of mutual respect until such time as the will to dialogue prevails once again."
70 CE 2nd Temple destroyed
135 CE Bar Kochba revolt and attempt to build 3rd temple quelled. Romans change the name of the country to Palestinia
330 CE "Traveler of Bordeaux" visits Jerusalem and relates Jews praying on Temple Mount.
330-640 CE The Temple Mount becomes a garbage dump (that where the name Dung Gate comes from). This is done because the Christians try to teach the Jews that the covenant is over. When I visited Jerusalem, my guide told me that during this time Jews were only allowed up on the mount once a year: Tisha B'av.
362 CE Pope Julian authorizes Jews build third Temple, work destroyed by a fire or earthquake or both.
440 CE Hieronymus describes Jews mourning on top of Temple Mount.
680-700 CE Old wooden El Aksa Mosque constructed, 700 CE, and Dome of the Rock by Abd el-Malik, 684-690 CE.
940 CE Karaite scribe Salomon ben Yerucham writes of synagogues within Temple Mount courtyard.
1030 CE Rabbi Shlomo ben Yehuda describes Jewish custom of encircling Temple Mount.
1099-1187 Crusaders take Jerusalem/ Violent conquest of Holy Land in the name of Christianity. Many Jews and Moslems murdered. Jews sold into slavery and banished from Jerusalem. Dome of the Rock reconsecrated as "Temple Domini" and El Aksa as "Temple Salomonis."
1100 CE Rabbi Avraham bar Chaya writes of synagogues on Temple Mount.
1165 CE Maimonides visits Jerusalem and prays on Temple Mount.
1187 CE Moslems Retake Jerusalem. Dome of the Rock and El Aksa restored to Islam. Icons removed. 1190, walls overlaid with marble inscriptions added in Arabic. Non-Moslems no longer permitted on Mount.
1188-1867 CE Jerusalem deteriorates. Described by visitors as a wasteland:
Nothing there [Jerusalem] to be seen but a little of the old walls which is yet remaining and all the rest is grass, moss and weeds. [English pilgrim in 1590]
The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is of a body of population. [British consul in 1857]
There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent [valley of Jezreel] -- not for 30 miles in either direction... One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings. ... For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee ... Nazareth is forlorn ... Jericho lies a moldering ruin ... Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation... untenanted by any living creature... A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds ... a silent, mournful expanse ... a desolation ... We never saw a human being on the whole route ... Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil had almost deserted the country ... Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery Palestine must be the prince. The hills barren and dull, the valleys unsightly deserts [inhabited by] swarms of beggars with ghastly sores and malformations. Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes ... desolate and unlovely ... [Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1867]
1866 CE Jews once again become the Majority in Jerusalem.
1967 CE Six Day War: Jews Retake (and Give back) Temple Mount.
History is important. We learn about people's true intentions from history. Today we had Palestinians throwing their kids to the front lines of a riot. The public-TV face of the riot was to "protect a Holy Site" that until 150 years ago a dump with a Mosque. It is interesting that the Temple Mount didn't become important enough to Islam, until Jews became the Majority in Jerusalem.
This isn’t about a Mosque on a Hill. It's about keeping any other faith from having a legacy to the land. Moslems in Israel pray five times a day facing Mecca, when they do that their butts are facing their supposed "third most holy site" on top of the Temple Mount. Three times a day Jews in Israel face the temple mount to pray, begging Hashem to rebuild the Holy Temple on top. For us there is no other place even close to its status of Holiness.
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