Restoring Justice and Sanity on the Temple Mount
Restoring Justice and Sanity on the Temple Mount

The horrific shooting of Yehuda Glick, Executive Director of LIBAH, and one of Israel’s foremost activists on behalf of Jewish civil rights for access and prayer on the Temple Mount, is shocking but not surprising.

The orientation of the Police, treating Jewish visitors as un-indicted criminals, while allowing for brazen, aggressive and threatening behavior by Arab men and women on the Mount, has created the background for inevitable violence and bloodshed.

Indeed at a LIBAH executive meeting in Jerusalem hours before the shooting, Yehuda expressed to us his belief that such violence was inevitable. “You can see the hatred in their (Arab) eyes, and they are allowed to get closer and closer to the Jews visiting the Mount. It is just a question of time before something happens.”

Well, now it has, and predictably, Arabs are dancing in the street and handing out candies for this wonderful act of jihad, martyrdom and resistance to the occupation.

The real question is what do we now do about it? If this is “the status quo that must be maintained at all costs,” then by extension, the entire Zionist enterprise is at risk. If champions of Jewish rights to Judaism’s holiest site are shot, without consequences regarding the access to it, then we have clearly telegraphed our unwillingness to honor that which should be dearest to us.

Arabs know the centrality of the Temple Mount better than do Jews. Our refusal to fight for it speaks volumes to them about our eventual willingness not to stand up for the other facets of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.

We now have the opportunity to honor Yehuda’s courage and convictions by clearly and cleanly changing the dynamic on the Temple Mount.

I suggest we keep the Mount closed to everyone for a week. At the end of the week, the Mount will be re-opened with a new modus operandus of alternating times that worshippers may enter. Arabs can enter only on Fridays, Mondays and Wednesdays; Jews on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays. On Sunday, the Mount will be closed to everyone or be open to non Jews and non Muslims only.

This concept of shared use has worked well at The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, a site as contentious as the Temple Mount.

The inevitable complaints of the Jordanians and the Waqf must be addressed clearly and unapologetically as our acting in the interests of all the parties to the issue, each of which holds strong and unrepentant demands for access to the Temple Mount.

The unwillingness to be pro-active, creative and fair to both sides will only ratchet up the potential for violence on the Temple Mount.

The monstrous assassination attempt on Yehuda Glick should be a jarring wake up call for Israeli society, from the very top down, to finally address this overriding issue.

The author is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Israel Independence Fund and LIBAH the Initiative for Jewish Civil and Religious Rights on the Temple Mount.