In an interview with the Arabic-language channel Hala TV, Prime Minister Yair Lapid embraced wholeheartedly the Arab terminology regarding the Temple Mount––the site of two Jewish temples––when he announced: “We are not changing the status quo at Al Aqsa.”
Lapid is notorious for not being the brightest candle in the Menorah, and if you check, you’ll find numerous YouTube clips featuring him claiming the astronomer Copernicus was an ancient Greek (he was an early Renaissance-era Pole), and insisting Rosinante was Don Quixote’s lover (it was his horse). So, he probably wasn’t even aware of his faux pas. But when the Arabs say “Al Aqsa,” they don’t refer to the mosque at the edge of the sacred compound, they mean the entire compound, and so, right off the bat, Shulamit Lapid’s slower child erased 3,000 years of Jewish history and didn’t even know it.
“We will secure the religious rights of Muslims in Al Aqsa,” Lapid continued. “It’s our duty as a government to offer the freedom of worship to any Muslim who wants to pray in Al Aqsa,” adding that his government maintains ongoing communication with Jordan and the Jordanian Waqf agency that runs the site, to make sure Muslims are not denied their God-given rights of worship.
As to Jews, remember them? “We permit the entry of Jews, but we don’t permit Jewish prayers on the Temple Mount (he got it right this time – DI). They ascend and are under supervision to make sure the status quo is not broken.”
“The status quo will not be broken,” he concluded resolutely.
Indeed, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Internal Security Minister Omer Barlev have made very similar statements. But coming from the prime minister with such clarity, it is obvious that this not-very-bright man, who has been getting by on his looks and theatrical skills, should not be in office.
It’s also true that under his predecessor, and, hopefully, replacement, Benjamin Netanyahu, the same status quo was being claimed, but Netanyahu’s Justice Minister Amir Ohana maintained a wink and nudge enforcement policy whereby Jews were allowed to hold afternoon minyanim on the Temple Mount and police turned a blind eye.
Remember all of the above come November 1.
