Christian leader: 'Our Jewish friends should be more assertive about Temple Mount'

John Enarson Director of Christian Relations at the Cry For Zion organization, spoke with Rabbi Pesach Wolicki on the Arutz Sheva and Israel365 special coverage of the beginning of the second Trump Administration and the hope for change on the Temple Mount.

John Enarson Director of Christian Relations at the Cry For Zion organization, spoke with Rabbi Pesach Wolicki on the Arutz Sheva and Israel365 special coverage of the beginning of the second Trump Administration this week.

Earlier this week, Enarson and other Christian leaders ascended the Temple Mount to pray for newly-inaugurated US President Donald Trump.

"It was a very exciting day yesterday," Enarson said. "Several Jewish rabbis were going up to the House of Prayer in Jerusalem on Mount Zion to pray for Trump because it was his inauguration day. And we as Christian representatives and leaders wanted to be there to stand together with them and to pray for Trump."

He noted that Evangelical Christians in the US pushed for America's recognition of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people during the first Trump Administration. "And so now we are praying and hoping for blessings over Trump during this term. But also, we were now praying that he would now recognize the Temple Mount as the heart of the Jewish capital. Because that was a big exemption last time when they dedicated the embassy. He read - clearly a script from the US State Department - saying this doesn't apply to the Temple Mount. Well, clearly it's the most Jewish site in the whole city, in the whole country. So why not?"

When asked what his organization's messaging plan is with the new administration, Enarson stated that he believes it is important to "get the ear" of Trump's nominee for US Ambassador to Israel, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Huckabee "understands Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem," he said. "He's been invested in this topic for a long time. And I think he understands, too, the situation on the Temple Mount and that clearly, right now, it's an absurd situation for peace in the region of letting the status be in limbo like it was with Jerusalem. That should also be taken off the table."

Enarson believes that just as Trump proved the "apocalyptic doomsayers" wrong when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, they would be proven wrong if Trump recognized Jewish rights on the Temple Mount as well.

He agreed that it is necessary to speak with Trump about the discrimination against Jews on the Temple Mount where they are not even allowed to pray, but he believes it is vital for Jews to be assertive about their rights at Judaism's holiest site. "The flag of Israel should naturally fly in the heart of the capital. Of course, you should be able to pray here. It's clear discrimination, just like water fountains in the south of America in the 60s. This is so classically an issue that should be strongly put forward. So I think if Israel can do that, Trump would respond."