inbow over the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives
inbow over the Temple Mount and the Mount of OlivesYonadev Horowitz
When Israeli Member of Knesset Itamar Ben-Gvir recently ascended to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and received condemnation from the United State for doing so, the outrage from everyday Israelis was evident.

Please take a moment and imagine the reaction if President Biden would have come out and condemned Muslims for praying in Mecca. The public outrage worldwide would be unimaginable. Every Jewish leader from Manhattan to Tel Aviv would have denounced Biden and called for his resignation.

On the other hand, when Biden blasts Jews for exercising their freedom of religion there is no outrage, there are no calls for resignation. In fact, the opposite happens, as Jewish groups such as J Street and their allies rush to support Biden’s decision and offer their own criticism of Ben-Gvir. The J Streeters of the world see Ben-Gvir's actions and statements as backward and disgusting.

This is a mere symptom of the horrible pandemic of modern Jews not knowing what authentic Judaism is when they see it. In the Torah, G-d tells the Jewish People that when they are exiled they will start serving the idols of foreign deities. However, Jews did not start bowing down to idols when they were exiled, in fact many gave up their lives rather than do so. The rabbis of the Talmudic era gave the following explanation for the prediction: Instead of idols, the Jewish People bow down to the nations that “host” them in the exile.

Tragically, fear of what the United States will say now comes before the Will of G-d.

Israelis as well as Jews in the exile treat Westernism as if it were their Bible and throw away the yoke of Heaven, and by doing so favor an idol that stands for the rejection of authentic Jewish morality and promotes the weakness and submissiveness of Jews.

This fight against the disease of Westernism will continue and Ben-Gvir will continue to be at the center of it. He is the first Israeli leader in decades to represent the idea that Israel must not listen religiously to everything that the United States government has to say.

As Rabbi Meir Kahane often declared: countries do not have allies, they have interests.

There are times when America’s interests are not Israel’s interests. This time this disconnect happened on the Temple Mount and it most likely will not be the last time our Holy Mount is the subject of such a disagreement. After all, the Temple Mount is at the center of all of Jewish thought, Jewish history, Jewish law, and Jewish independence. That is exactly why Muslims reacted the way they have to Ben-Gvir's visit.

Joe Ben Malin is a high school student. He currently attends yeshiva in America.