Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz of the Western Wall and Holy Places said Tuesday that archaeological digs outside the wall cannot harm the Temple Mount. Disturbances by Muslims were expected Tuesday over reports that the Muslim Waqf Authority had caught the Israel Antiquities Authority secretly conducting digs near the wall.
Rabbi Rabinowitz noted that the stones that comprise the wall weigh thousands of tons and beside the physical impossibility of digging through them, to do so is prohibited by Jewish law. He said any claim about archaeological digs threatening the mosques on the Temple Mount are lies intended to needlessly inflame emotions in the area. He added that while digs in the Old City demonstrate Jewish roots in the area, they are not intended to do so at the expense of other religious groups. He added that the dig that the antiquities authority worked on was completion of a discovery by a British archaeologist in the 19th century.