The office of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Sunday issued the following statement: “Contrary to publications, Minister Ben Gvir did not go up to the Temple Mount this morning, but came to the holiday prayer at the Western Wall Plaza. The minister visited the pilgrims at the entrance to the Temple Mount, met hundreds of Jews who came to pray in the compound, and was impressed that his policy was being followed.”
His policy, as the government official responsible for the Israel Police and the Border Guard, is to allow Jews to ascend to the holiest site in Judaism, and pray.
The minister’s office had to issue the clarification after Arab media exploded with this kind of news (in this case, Jordan’s Roya News):
“Roya’s correspondent reported that Israeli Occupation’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, stormed the Al-Buraq Wall area in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The incursion took place on the fourth day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
“Meanwhile, hundreds of settlers entered the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the early morning hours under heavy protection from Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).
“One settler blew a shofar (a traditional Jewish horn), while others performed the so-called “epic prostration” within the mosque’s courtyards.”
The Roya story reflects the latest expansion in Arab perception of just who owns what in Jerusalem. The Al-Buraq Wall, which the Jordanian outlet describes as part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, is none other than the Western Wall. Buraq is a supernatural animal, a winged horse, which Muhamed rode – in a dream – on his travel from Mecca to Jerusalem one night in 621 CE. He tied his Buraq to the Western Wall and went up to the Temple Mount – in his dream. Up there, he prayed at the edge of the mountaintop – the edge in Arabic means Al-Aksa, or “the furthest mosque.”
But politics and territorial disputes being what they are, the Muslims have first changed the name of the Temple Mount compound from the traditional “Bayt al-Maqdis,” the holy house in Hebrew, to the Al Aqsa compound, which includes the whole thing. So from a tiny niche at the very edge of the mountaintop, this became the name of the whole thing.
Now, how can a mosque named after being at the very edge of the site include the whole place? Turns out it doesn’t include only the Temple Mount area, home of two Jewish temples, but also King Herod’s supporting wall, a.k.a. the Western Wall.
But you already know that Islam is the most expansionist and colonialist religion ever made up by an illiterate security guard. These are the two terms that describe Islam’s understanding of the world:
There’s Dar al-Islam, meaning “House of peace,” referring to any community or country where Islam dominates.
And there’s Dar al-Harb, meaning “House of war,” referring to any place where Islam is yet to dominate, but will get there as part of its ongoing war to take over the planet.
With that in mind, it’s hilarious to read the constant references of Arab news outlets to Israeli Jews, many of who have abandoned their homes and possessions in foreign lands to settle in their historic homeland, as colonialists.
WAFA reported Sunday morning: “Hundreds of Israeli colonists stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound this morning during the fourth day of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, supported by a significant presence of Israeli forces. Local sources reported that over 434 colonists broke into the mosque, performing religious rituals, while one colonist blew a shofar in the compound.”
Now, everyone knows that the Jewish visitors didn’t even get close to the Al Aqsa Mosque, but what the PA official news outlet meant was that everything up on the mountaintop is part of the mosque.
And God knows we’ll continue to receive these packs of lies every day until the Israeli government does storm the Temple Mount, sets up a synagogue where it is halachically permissible, and limits Muslim visits to Fridays from 9 to 11 AM.
I’m just saying.
