Legal expert Attorney Nati Rom has just come from the Temple Mount where he explains the situation on the ground in terms of Jews being able to visit the holy site.
“We have approximately 10 gates to the Temple Mount and, unfortunately, [in] nine of them in a racist act, the Israeli authorities don’t allow Jews to go to the Temple Mount through them, only from one gate. Visitors who are not Muslims are allowed to go only from one gate. This reminds us of very dark times and places. This is racism,” Rom says.
When asked what he’s seeing on the scene, if the police ask who is Jewish and who is not, he explains the process.
“When you walk in, a policeman will tell you if you are Jewish you are not allowed to go in,” he says.
After the recent Muslim riots on the Temple Mount in the last week, non-Muslim tourists are not allowed in either, he notes.
“Only if you are Muslim, you can go, This is racism. It’s against every international law, it’s against human rights, freedom of religion and it’s against the Israeli law of holy places and holy sites in Israel. You should protect freedom of religion for all the religions in Israel, and this is a criminal act that unfortunately the prime minister and the minister of police and the police are doing against Jews today in Israel. It’s very sad.”
We heard government representatives saying that this is the procedure that happens every Ramadan.
Rom doesn’t agree with their explanation.
“It’s against human rights. In the 21st century in a democratic state like Israel, how come you don’t allow one kind of person to go in. We heard about that years ago in South Africa. This is apartheid against Jewish people,” he says.
What about people who say it’s dangerous, that when Jewish come in the Muslims get angry and start to riot.
“The right answer would be, of course, to eliminate the threat, not the guys who are the victims of this,” he says. “In the capital of Israel, when you don’t allow the Jewish people, against your own law, to go in, this is a disgrace.”
He rebukes the hundreds of human rights organizations who are registered in Israel and international activists for not speaking out in support of what he says is discrimination against Jews on the Temple Mount.
“When it’s discrimination against Jewish people, nobody will say anything,” he says.
In terms of the current rules, Jews are only allowed to go in for a tour and aren’t allowed to even whisper a prayer or do anything resembling a bow.
“It’s really crazy. You can’t do any practice of religion, you cannot take books with you, you cannot whisper. I have clients who are arrested because they whisper or put their hand on their eyes to say Shema Yisrael,” he says. “And by the way, there are no charges against them because it’s against the law to charge them. You cannot charge a Jew who is quietly trying to whisper or to speak with G-d. So they are using terms like 'disturber of the peace'. I recommend to clients to do it very quietly in the corner, and yet they are arrested. This is discrimination, this is racism.”
He adds that Jews in Israel need a “grassroots movement from every believer in the Bible, everybody who believes in human rights needs to make his voice heard.”
“We need to say this is discrimination. We cannot allow that to be the situation here in Israel, especially under a parliament with a prime minister with a kippah on his head who said to CNN that of course every Jew can pray on the Temple Mount. But now that he’s prime minister it’s not happening. We need to do whatever it is in our power to stop this discrimination.”