The terror group Hamas encouraged Palestinians to protest Israel’s closure of the Temple Mount compound. This, after a Palestinian threw a fire bomb at an Israeli police station located on the Temple Mount. Hamas, the Palestinian Authority along with Jordanian and Turkish officials claim Israel is stoking a religious conflict amid concerns over increasing tensions at the sensitive holy site.
The truth is, Israel doesn’t wish to prevent Jewish people or Muslims or Christians from worshiping in Jerusalem. They don’t control the Church of the Holy Sepulcher or the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock is, but Israel does however have the right to ensure these places are safe places of worship. In fact, about a year or so ago, Israel went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and told them you need to fix up what’s going on in the church, in the worship area because it’s starting to fall apart and you could hurt your worshipers.
So, Israel actually demanded that they close down, fix the church, and then people could come back in. They weren’t trying to prevent people from worshiping. They were trying to make the place a safe place for everybody. The same goes for the Temple Mount. They’re not trying to prevent Muslims from worshiping. Palestinians should not be throwing fire bombs on the Temple Mount, period. So they want to make sure the place is safe for all worshipers. So really let me turn the tables here. Hamas, the Palestinian Authority along with Jordanian and Turkish leaders are doing more to stoke religious conflict in the Middle East than Israel ever could.
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