Zo Artzeinu leader Moshe Feiglin was sentenced today to six months on probation and a 3,000-shekel fine for leading a group attempting to pray on the Temple Mount several months ago. Feiglin, who represented himself at the trial, asked what law he had violated by attempting to pray on the Mount. The police admitted that there was no law forbidding Jewish prayer or entry to Judaism\'s holiest site, but that \"that was the order they had received that day.\" Feiglin wanted to know who gave the order, and the answer finally came that it had originated all the way at the top, with Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki. Feiglin then demanded that Aharonishki be summoned to court to explain why he gave the order, but the judge refused. At that point, Feiglin said he would no longer cooperate in the proceedings.
Asked afterwards whether he doesn\'t think that the struggle to enter the Temple Mount has already played itself out, Feiglin said, \"On the contrary, we haven\'t done enough in this struggle, and I definitely blame also myself. The fact that I only have one conviction for trying to enter the Mount is a failure on my part. We have to try to do it again, and with G-d\'s help I will do it again.\" He attempted to minimize the issue of the actual violence during the incident, such as who pushed first and the like - he said that he did not even bring witnesses to testify that he did not act violently - and instead tried to concentrate only on the issue of the elementary right to pray on the Temple Mount.
Asked afterwards whether he doesn\'t think that the struggle to enter the Temple Mount has already played itself out, Feiglin said, \"On the contrary, we haven\'t done enough in this struggle, and I definitely blame also myself. The fact that I only have one conviction for trying to enter the Mount is a failure on my part. We have to try to do it again, and with G-d\'s help I will do it again.\" He attempted to minimize the issue of the actual violence during the incident, such as who pushed first and the like - he said that he did not even bring witnesses to testify that he did not act violently - and instead tried to concentrate only on the issue of the elementary right to pray on the Temple Mount.