The activist for Jewish worship on the Temple Mount, Arnon Segal, tells Israel National News about the new lobby that was recently established calling ffor the democratic right for Jews to freely ascend the Temple Mount, what is expected from Erdogan after his return to power and why he is overall optimistic.
Segal described the re-establishment of the lobby for Jewish freedom on the Temple Mount: "What is different is that there is currently a right-wing government and a new Knesset that can actually change things. We saw in Homesh (a town in Samaria recently re-recognized after being delegitimized by the Disengagement Law) that they are returning and re-establishing the resettlement, this raises hopes that maybe even on the Temple Mount things will finally change for the better."
Segal describes the absurd situation prevailing on the Temple Mount and says: "What is needed in the mountain is freedom at all levels. Movement, worship, it does not make sense that at the single entrance gate Jews are discriminated against and forced to gather in defined groups and not to deviate from the route outlined for them."
"We are not trying to confront the police. God forbid. The problem is that the police and the authorities alienate themselves from the law and alienate themselves from the Jewish dream of generations. They do not allow what is required in a democratic country - freedom of worship and equal access, so that a person of faith can come to this place without interference, pray and fulfill his religious obligations which are also his rights in democracies".
"I saw tonight on the Mount demonstrations of support for Erdogan and calls for the extermination of Jews. We did not see this in Turkey but in the capital of Israel. We created an ex-territory on the Temple Mount. There is no Jewish control and there is no law. We are going back 100 years and more to the Ottoman days. It is our duty to show that this will not be allowed," Segal insists.
Segal ends on an optimistic note and says: "I believe that there will be freedom of worship for Jews on the Temple Mount. If it weren't for that optimism, I wouldn't be here. We are seeing an increase in Jewish visits to the Temple Mount. The popular change, on the ground, the fact that more and more Jews are going up to the Mount in purity and demanding the fulfillment of their religious duties and their democratic rights, brings us closer to the moment when it will be genuinely possible to visit normally again."