Ben Gvir and the Temple Mount: A Crisis Or A Visit?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (2nd from left) visits the Temple Mount on January 3, 2023. (Youtube screenshot; used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law) This happened despite threats from the Hamas, terror group, who think they rule over the land.  

Gvir did it again.  He dared to visit the Temple Mount.  National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, center, visits the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, May 21, 2023. (Courtesy: Minhelet Har Habayit)

Threshing floor in today's Jerusalem on Temple Mount that was the beginning of Solomon's Temple and where it stood

Within the amazing city of Jerusalem is the Temple Mount with more history than you probably care to read about.  It was on this spot, which was a threshing floor, that Jews read about.  "”So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. Then David built there an altar to Adonai, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So Adonai was moved by prayer of entreaty for the land, and restrained the plague from Israel. (2 Samuel 24:18-25)

"King David bought that land fair and square, under the instruction of God, and it was on that site the first temple was built (Mount Moriah). And then after that, the second temple. And today, the Dome of the Rock stands in its place."  The Muslims are said to have built their Mosque over the Jewish 2nd Temple of Solomon.  There lies the problem.  The Muslims won't allow any archaeological moves to find out what lies under the mosque. Evidently they are afraid it is true.                      

The Temple Mount is revered by Jews as the historic location of the two Jewish Temples, making it Judaism’s holiest site. It is also the third-holiest for Muslims, who refer to it as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound or the Noble Sanctuary. Muslim rock throwers in picture happen too often, trying to harm Jews.  

Ever since 1967's war of an all-Muslim attack on Israel, and Israel winning against the many Muslim countries  in 6 days, the Jews of Israel have been able to visit all of Jerusalem  but are not allowed by the Jordanians to pray on the Temple Mount!  The Temple Mount is revered by Jews as the historic location of the two Jewish Temples, making it Judaism’s holiest site. It is also the third-holiest for Muslims, who refer to it as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound or the Noble Sanctuary.

At the end of the war, Moshe Dayan allowed Jordan the right of policing the Temple Mount since they had several mosques there.  He could have gone the other way and barred them but he was as gracious as a general could be.  

Abdullah el-Tell and Moshe Dayan reach cease-fire agreement, Jerusalem, 30 November 1948.  In March 1948, El Tell was promoted to the rank of Major commanding the 6th Regiment of the Arab Legion, stationed in Jericho. In early May his regiment was involved in an attack on the three Jewish colonies at Kfar Etzion which dominated the road between Hebron and Bethlehem. His commander in-chief, Glubb Pasha, ordered him to withdraw his troops. 

On 12 May, however, El Tell told one of his officers in Hebron, Captain Hikmet Muhair, to radio Glubb's headquarters saying that his convoy was under fire from the Kfar Etzion. This resulted in the 6th Regiment receiving orders to attack. The Jewish positions had been holding off attacks from local irregulars but could not resist El Tell's troops who were backed with armoured cars. 127 Jewish prisoners were murdered after they had surrendered while 320 Jews were taken to the prisoner of war camp at Mafraq.  Abdullah was  nasty guy who wanted to be a big-shot, competing with his boss.

Moshe Dayan wasn't head of security but was the Chief of the General Staff from 53 to 58; and also Minister of Defense from 67 to 74.  

Yet the Muslims have not given an inch.  They won't allow the Jews any rights there.  That's why Jews pray at the Western Wall instead. We have a new generation of Jews who are asking why Israel allows this to happen that they cannot visit this part of the mount when it's in Jerusalem, their capital city.  

 Besides that, the rabbis have said that Jews cannot be there praying anyway for we are not sure of where the spot is that was sacred to the high priest where other Jews could not be: the  "Holy of Holies, Hebrew Qodesh Ha-qadashim, also called Devir, the innermost and most sacred area of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem, accessible only to the Israelite high priest." So we've had rabbis and Muslims keeping Jews away from the site of the 2nd Temple's existence.  It's said that if those enforcers see a Jew moving his lips, he's in trouble.  All this, yet Christians are allowed these privileges. 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir b: May 6, 1976 who is 47 years old,  visits the Temple Mount, January 3, 2023. (Courtesy Minhelet Har Habayit)  Ben Gvir had been long accused of being a provocateur, having previously led several visits to the Temple Mount as activist and member of Knesset, contentious marches through Jerusalem's Old City Muslim Quarter, and set up an office in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood which witnessed several evictions of Palestinians. On 3 January 2023, he visited the Temple Mount where the al-Aqsa Mosque is located, spurring an international wave of criticism that labelled his visit purposely provocative. As a lawyer, he is known for defending Jewish radicals on trial in Israel.

Ben Gvir, the national security minister of Israel,  says ‘government will not surrender to Hamas’ after terror group warned against his visit; Likud denies Netanyahu asked far-right leader to postpone his visit.  He said, "“The Israeli government won’t capitulate to a murderous organization, to a repugnant terrorist group,” Ben Gvir said in the course of his visit, referring to Hamas threats. “The Temple Mount is the most important place for the people of Israel. The Temple Mount is open to all — Muslims, Christians and, yes, Jews too. Jews too. There won’t be racist discrimination in a government in which I am a member. Jews will ascend to the Temple Mount.” The United States also sided with Hamas, criticizing Ben Gvir for being there and using politics in a sacred religious place, intimidating that it was a crass thing to do.  They had a point, but their own politics didn't hide it very well.  

"All of the threats from Hamas don’t matter. We are in charge in Jerusalem and in all of the Land of Israel,” he declared, referring to the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian terror group that has threatened Israel with action if the so-called status quo on the Temple Mount is changed," he stated.  He seems fearless, believing in facing the enemy and charging head on.  He is determined to let the enemy know that Israel is in charge here..  He might have had a meeting of the minds with Jordan first explaining the feeling, especially now with the Abrahamic Accords in place, but this has been his personality and way of solving problems.  Netanyahu doesn't want to lose the government, either, and Gvir holds a few of the strings.  

Palestinian Authority presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh called Ben-Gvir’s visit a “blatant attack” on the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called it “a provocative step that is condemned, and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation.” Neighboring Egypt, which like Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel, also issued a condemnation.  

They don't like to hear it, but it's the truth. Israel had to fight the battles of 1947-1949, 1956, 1967, 1982 to prove that they have created Israel which includes all of Jerusalem. My personal feeling is the Gvir is like the man who needs lessons in making love.  There are ways of making it a most pleasant experience. Dayan would have been great!  

Resource:

https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/the-temple-was-built-on-a-threshing-floor/ 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Holy-of-Holies

Prayers: -Not In Hands Of the People, Only Politicians As it Stands

 Nadene Goldfoot                                       

         Al-Aqsa Mosque or El Aksa, the mosque built in the Temple area of Jerusalem by the caliph abd el-Malik (8th century) to mark the site of the legendary flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Jerusalem on his flying horse.  The Dome and Al-Aqsa Mosque are both located on the Temple Mount, the site of Solomon's Temple and its successors.

The Mosque sits over the site of a Roman temple that is over the 2nd Temple that is the building over the 1st Temple of Solomon. 

It is also said that the Mosque of Omar sits over the Temple.  The Ayyubid Mosque of Omar is an Islamic place of worship in Jerusalem. It is located opposite to the southern courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Muristan area of the Christian Quarter. That's not on the Temple Mount.  

The plaza is dominated by three monumental structures from the early Umayyad period – the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the Dome of the Chain – and four minarets,  Dome of the Chain is an Islamic free-standing domed building located adjacently east of the Dome of the Rock in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is one of many small buildings that can be found scattered around the Temple Mount. Its exact historical use and significance are under scholarly debate.           

                 Aeriel view of Temple Mount-Dome of Rock 

The Roman Temple sits over Solomon's Temple, king of the Jews.

Solomon's Temple sits where God instructed David to build an altar at Araunah's threshing floor, so David purchased the location from Araunah for a fair price, even though Araunah offered it to him freely.  (This seems to be a theme running through the Torah of outsiders offering land for free but Jews refusing the gift and paying for it.) The point being, I imagine is to never be beholding and owing favors to these people).  

So (G-d)Adonai sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, so that 70,000 men of the people died from Dan to Beersheba. When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Adonai relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, 

“Enough! Now withdraw your hand.” The angel of Adonai was then by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” (2 Samuel 24:15-16)                              

”So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. Then David built there an altar to Adonai, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So Adonai was moved by prayer of entreaty for the land, and restrained the plague from Israel. (2 Samuel 24:18-25)

King David bought that land fair and square, under the instruction of God, and it was on that site the first temple was built. And then after that, the second one. And today, the Al Aqsa Mosque stands in its place.

Prayer has come to the political side of life in Israel in that Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  Two reasons keep them from doing so.  

To pray:  1. Man's appeal to G-d: a.  a request, b: in thanksgiving

a. Please G-d, don't let my child die from Covid  b. Thank you G-d, for allowing him to live through this vile virus by getting the vaccine when called for.  It's the pestilence again !  

1. The rabbis feel that they would be standing on the Holy of Holies, an inner santum, the area in the First and Second Temple that was exclusively set aside for the High Priest, chief official in the Temple, Aaron's descendants,  and contained the Ark of the Covenant.  It had a raised floor and was windowless.  A small cedar altar overlaid with gold stood at the entrance to the holy of holies.  Of course, since its destruction in 70 CE, a Roman Temple has stood over it,  the Al Aqsa Mosque. 

 Today the Temple Mount, a walled compound within the Old City of Jerusalem, is the site of two  structures: the Dome of the Rock to the north and the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the south. In the southwest stands the Western Wall—a remnant of the Second Temple and the holiest site in Judaism.

Jews were not able to visit the area since 1948 when Jordan kept the land until they lost it in the 1967 War when they and many other Muslims nations attack Israel and lost.  Jews have been allowed to pray at Herod's Wall, also called the Wailing Wall or Western Wall or in Hebrew, Kotel which is down below the Temple Mount.   

         Terrorist Muslims attacking visitors on mosque grounds

2. Jordan does not allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.  If they are even seeing moving their lips in prayer, they can be arrested.  The  government officially allows non-Muslims to visit the site for several hours each morning on the condition that they not pray there. Though no Israeli law explicitly bars Jewish prayer there, Jewish visitors who attempt to pray there have historically been removed or reprimanded by the police.

The Masjid al-Aqsa of Jerusalem is linked in the Quran to the story of the night journey of Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem.  This is their reason of why it's a site of constant conflict.  

But recently the government has quietly allowed increasing numbers of Jews to pray there, a shift that could aggravate the instability in East Jerusalem and potentially lead to religious conflict. This is according to the NY Times.  There is religious conflict now, but not from praying!  

During Ramadan, it has become the custom of youthful Muslims to enter the several mosques on the Mount and from there, attack passing people, tourists and Jews visiting the Mount, with rocks or whatever.  Jordan's religious leadership is responsible for the Temple Mount ever since Moshe Dayan at the end of the 1967 Six Days War give them the responsibility.  In a phone call on Monday, King Abdullah was quoted as saying the cornerstone of peace was a comprehensive Arab Israeli settlement based on a two-state solution whereby a Palestinian state would emerge alongside Israel.  He's using this to push for a 2-State Solution.

He's one to talk,  His country is made up of Palestinians and very few whose ancestors came with Abdullah I.  We already have a Palestine called "Jordan."  The Queen is even a Palestinian. 

            Fatah (P.A.) and Hamas leaders in a rare moment

              Ismail Haniyeh :   The Hamas Gang

 The problem is, the world will not admit it because it is under the rule of a king who has the direct ancestor-ship to Mohammad and who has nothing to do with the P.A, run by Abbas and his henchmen, and Hamas of Gaza, the terrorists.  There you are, one people (Palestinians and 2 or 3 governments-Jordan, PA, Hamas).  The problem lies in Abdullah II wanting nothing to do with anymore Palestinians in his country!  He already had to fight one war with them when they almost took over Jordan.  "Black September (Arabic: أيلول الأسود; Aylūl Al-Aswad), also known as the Jordanian Civil War of September 1970, was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, ..."  

What do you think would happen if a Palestine was created tomorrow right next door to Israel, them sharing one border?  With their present attitude, they would be over it and attacking and killing  Jews left and right.  There is no sense or assurances of maintaining peace.  The PA and Hamas would fight over leadership, causing bloodshed.  Israel would be ruined, in ruins, such as Ukraine looks right now.  Not me.  I'm not for this.  The Muslims don't even stop their own young adults from hiding in the mosques and attacking people outside of it.  This brought harm to the mosques !  How special a place is it to these younger Muslims?  They've already lost their holiness.  

"Both his Majesty and President Biden stressed the importance of continued coordination and work on all levels to prevent a repeat of attacks on the city of Jerusalem and its holy sites and its people that would derail the chances of achieving peace and push towards more tensions," Petra state news agency said.

"The confrontations since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that have coincided with Passover have raised religious passions amid international concerns about a slide back into a wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Jordan and fellow Arab states accused Israel in a meeting on Thursday in Amman of restricting the right of worship of Muslims while allowing ultra-nationalist Jews under police protection to enter the mosque compound.

Israel, which denies it was responsible for the escalation in violence, said on Thursday it was enforcing a long-standing ban on Jewish prayer at the compound of Al-Aqsa mosque, rejecting an Arab League accusation that it was allowing such worship to take place.

As in previous years, Israel halted Jewish visits during the final days of Ramadan.

Al-Aqsa sits atop the Old City plateau of East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move that has not received international recognition. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of their hoped-for future state.  It's not to be.  Jerusalem is one city, not to be divided.  Frankly, I'm not sure if its the Mosque of Omar or the Al Aqsa mosque that is over our 2nd Temple.  

Israel is not be divided, but the Temple Mount can be controlled.  Rabbis do not want Jews praying there possibly over the holy spot, and Muslims do not want Jews praying near their mosques.  To save a life, we can certainly abide by present rules.  That's not a problem.  Who is going to control the stone-throwing hateful-minded Muslims?  Not Abdullah or Biden.  They're not going to stand guard over the Mount.  It's really the duty of the parents of those breaking the law.  Who's going to watch over them?  

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Jordan's King Agreed With U.S. Biden on Need to Defuse Jerusalem Tension - State Media

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/world/middleeast/israel-temple-mount-prayer.html#:~:text=The%20government%20officially%20allows%20non,or%20reprimanded%20by%20the%20police.

Update on the War of Hamas Driven to Turn Israel Into "Hell"

 Nadene Goldfoot                                       

 I just heard ABC News on TV say that this war of Hamas in Gaza and Israel was over the Israeli treatment of Palestinians.  That's rot!  They've been treated just like all Israelis as long as they're not trying to kill anyone, and that Hamas has been doing daily by shooting rockets into Israel.  This is a well-planned attack, egged on by Turkey and Iran.  You don't suddenly have a stash of rockets and missiles that they have and are thrusting upon  what turns out to be all of Israel and not just the usual border towns of Sederot and Ashkelon.  The whole country is being hit.

Update: 12:48pm 630 rockets were fired at Israel last night around 8pm, but just now the number has doubled to 1200 and not stopping:  

Update: 5/13/2021:  12;27pm  over 1500 rockets have now been fired into Israel that are able to hit all of Israel including Tel Aviv.  7 Israelis have died, one 5 year old child by pieces of rocket that came threw the window.  

Update: 5/14/2021  7:48am: Fighting between Israel and Hamas escalated in what has become the heaviest flare-up since the 2014 Gaza war. At least 119 people were killed in the Strip and eight in Israel, in the most intensive aerial exchanges for years. For Israelis who have 15 seconds to get to a bomb shelter after a siren warns, and a bomb shelter, this is what has kept the death casualties down for them...because of being attacked so often, they are prepared-G-d willing.Up to now, spending 5 days in bomb shelters, afraid to leave them to bring in food...and we think that Covid 19 is disruptive in our economic life...For Israel and Gaza, they now bear both Covid 19 and its offsprings  and War,

Update: 2;27pm; 5/16/2021:  The Israeli military said the civilian casualties were unintentional in that 42 Palestinians, 10 children were killed. It said its jets attacked a tunnel system used by militants, which collapsed, bringing the homes down. 10 Israelis were killed including 2 children.  You cannot compare deaths; like comparing apples and oranges-Israel protects its civilians while Gazans expose them or put them in line with danger.  All of Israel is frozen still, cannot function as it stays out of danger in bomb shelters and this is the 7th day. Total death of Gaza is 192 including 58 children.  That's on the Palestinian head.  Israel did not suddenly attack Gaza.   Gaza's terrorists, Hamas, were the aggressors.  

Update: 3:25pm 5/18/2021;  So far this morning 3,200 rockets fell into Israel with about 58 falling into Gaza itself, killing their own people.  Central Israel including Tel Aviv is being hit and southern Israel.  

Israel carried out hundreds of air and ground strikes in Gaza, as Palestinian militants fired more than a thousand rockets at central and southern Israel. 

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Palestinians living in Israel, which are 20% of the population, have all the amenities of all  citizens of Israel except one thing;  they are not required to serve in the IDF.  Is that so unusual?  There are a few who realize their history and history of the Middle East and are great citizens, but most are simply so brainwashed with hate by their parents and from their schools that what we see now is the result of such a build-up  every time Hamas has lobbed a rocket into Israel, Israel has retaliated by hitting the mechanism of it, and trying very careful not to kill any Palestinian citizens in Gaza.  When this has suddenly increased in size, Israel  has retaliated in kind.  This has turned into a war,  a real-life war, not a tennis match of lobbing back and forth.  With this surprise to Israel, or at least to me, Israel hit a large building but only after warning of their coming act, so as not to kill anyone.  Nothing up to now had been slowing down the shootings from Hamas.  Something had to be done.  Hamas has threatened Israel to turn it into hell as the bombing blitz killed 9 children.   

Here we have a difference in cultures.  No Jewish mother would be proud to sacrifice her children, but I've seen this happen from the Palestinian side.  This is what brainwashing has accomplished, both from the military venue and from religion.  I'm sure it has to harm a mother deep down somewhere in their psyche; it's just too hard to swallow, but it has been happening.   I believe the mother or mothers of those 9 children purposely stayed and did not leave the building after Israel's warning.  The rest of the Hamas military are all too happy about it, something they want to provoke.  It's something to pin on Israel, a negative act so they can tell their people and the world how bad Jews are.  What is "hell" is hearing such lies about a people who practice the opposite view of life.  It's what drives me to my computer to cry about such lies.  

 Israel's military said it carried out air strikes in retaliation for rocket attacks from the coastal strip, which came in the wake of clashes at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

As for that, At least 163 Palestinians and six Israeli police officers had been hurt in clashes in Jerusalem, Palestinian medics and Israeli police say.

Most were injured at the Al-Aqsa mosque, where Israeli police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades as Palestinians threw stones and bottles.

Tensions have been rising over the potential eviction of Palestinians from land claimed by Jewish settlers.  Potential eviction.  This was caused by gossip, one of the evils in Jewish belief that we are not to indulge in.  It's big-time use is among the Palestinians;  another difference in culture.  This is a law abiding country and there are laws in Israel.  

1967 's Six Day War caused a difference  in law of the last 20 years previously in that Israel gained land by winning the weirdest war ever that was so lop-sided against Israel in numbers.  All of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount where several mosques now sit, are part of Israel, but Israel has graciously allowed power to Jordan in dealing with the Mount.  My question is where  they  were when Jews were being attacked by Muslims?   Jews were not allowed to pray all these years from 67 to now on the Temple Mount where the Muslims had built their Mosque over the remains of our 2nd Temple !  Israel kept to that.  So did the rabbis, who discouraged Jews from being there as the Holy of Holies area of the Temple had already been desecrated.  

The Red Crescent had opened a field hospital to treat the wounded-near the Damascus Gate on the Temple Mount.  "It adds that its medics have treated 17 people wounded in clashes across Jerusalem tonight, six of whom were hospitalized for what it says were mostly wounds from rubber or sponge-tipped bullets."                                                

The Al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem's Old City is one of Islam's most revered locations, but its location is also the holiest site in Judaism, known as the Temple Mount-but a place where Jews cannot pray. Some had previously moved their lips in prayer and were arrested by the Mosque officials there.  As an aside, I wonder what it would have caused if the Muslims had been gracious and allowed all religions there to see it and pray?  Perhaps better relations?   Israel started with Mohammad dying in 632 CE .  Our 2nd Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, and then a Roman temple was built later on the site, and now the Mosque of Omar has stood over it since the Musllm period after 632.  

According to later narratives, after the Siege of Jerusalem in 637 by the Rashidun army under the command of Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, Patriarch Sophronius refused to surrender except to the Caliph Omar (579-644) himself. Omar travelled to Jerusalem and accepted the surrender. He then visited the Church of the Resurrection (today better known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) where Sophronius invited him to pray inside the church, but Omar declined so as not to set a precedent and thereby endanger the church's status as a Christian site. Instead he prayed outside, on the steps east of the church. The first Mosque of Omar was later built at that site, as evidenced by a stone plate with a Kufic inscription found in 1897 in the area of the eastern or outer atrium of the Constantinian (4th-century) Church of the Resurrection, defining this area as a mosque.

The site is a frequent flashpoint for violence, which unfolded again on Friday night after thousands had gathered there to observe the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Friday is holy to Muslims;  Saturday to Jews, and Sunday to Christians.  

"Israeli police said they had used force to "restore order" due to the "rioting of thousands of worshippers" after evening prayers."  Force to Israeli police differs from American police or the Bobbies of England.  So are the conditions.  Remember, this happened on Jerusalem Day, not only a holiday but a national holiday of intense meaning, still, far stronger than the 4th of July for Americans. 

                                                          

Police went into the Temple Mount to disperse rioters who were firing fireworks and stones at the security forces.  There is no way to tell in a mob's riot if what one hears are fireworks or guns.  All was chaos.  It is said  by Red Crescent, the Muslim ambulance service like the International Red Cross, that over 700 people were injured in the clashes.  

WELL!  At least in Portland, Oregon in the daily marches we've had for the past year,, the rioters were not throwing rocks to my knowledge; other things perhaps.  The difference between the Portland situation and this was that Portland's rioters' religion was not a driving force, nor another country or countries.  Americans must understand that there are pre-existing forces acting up in Israel's situation.  Portland 's mayor and government evidently had more than they knew how to handle, and this shows the extremity of acts in Israel.  

I say, it has been a planned operation of attack on Israel, with Turkey and Iran backing.  A climate of over 100 degrees F, with Ramadan ending and bellies hungry, plus JERUSALEM DAY coming from the Jews to celebrate their being there, and we have a CONVERGENCE of reasons why this has happened.  Hatred as been brewing for as long as Israel has been in existence this time around.  This is like a pimple that has ripened and is popping out, something growing, increasing and now, erupting.  Oh, I forgot, the Israeli government has also been in crisis with their election,  voting and changes.  Perhaps someone did not see this coming!  .

The IDF expects more rocket fire at Central Israel after 6 Hamas commanders have been killed.  

An Israeli IDF  killed by anti-tank missile has been identified as soldier Omer Tabib; 6 killed in Israel, 53 in Gaza;   After the riots, an 8 p.m. curfew was placed in Lod.

Israel says many  dead terrorists were hit in Gaza; 

Three high building had been hit by Israel in Gaza in retaliation of hits in Israel.  According to Gaza news outlets, the al-Shourouk tower in Gaza City has been hit by a number of so-called “knock on the roof” attacks, in which non-explosive missiles are dropped on a building to warn those inside to exit before larger bombs destroy the building.  

                                                             

Israel's Iron Dome was overworked as dozens or more rockets flew in at one time in clusters.  

Resource:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ievb0yMYzZQ-  121 Holy Hot Spot

ABC news, 5/12/2021 on TV

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57034237  

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-may-12-2021/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/red-crescent-sets-up-field-hospital-to-treat-wounded-in-damascus-gate-clashes/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque_of_Omar_(Jerusalem)

https://jstreet.org/press-releases/j-street-calls-for-immediate-strong-american-engagement-in-response-to-escalation-in-jerusalem-and-beyond/#.YJy58qhKiUk  (attitude of J Street, quite different from mine) 

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/can-j-street-stoop-any-lower-in-backing-anti-israel-views-opinion-666073 ( my attitude exactly about J Street)

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-bombs-hamas-gaza-chiefs-home-fighting-enters-seventh-day-2021-05-15/

Additional Information:

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17364/iran-proxy-war-israel

I just watched The Naked Archaeologisst with Simcha Jacobovici explaining about the Temple Mount and its history on Youtube.  Excellent.  I wish the whole country would and could watch this.  Thank you, jacobovici!  

The Naked Archaeologist was a television show produced for VisionTV in Canada and History International in the US, that was hosted and prepared by the Emmy Award–winning journalist Simcha Jacobovici together with Avri Gilad. The show ultimately reviews Biblical stories, then tries to find proof for them by exploring the Holy Land looking for archaeological evidence, personal inferences, deductions, and interviews with scholars and experts.

Turkey's Plan to Liberate al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, A Revival of Ottoman Empire's Power

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                       

President Recep Tayyip Erdogen of Turkey is at it again. He's a power-hungry man, trying to revive the rights of the Ottoman Empire, no doubt, who held Palestine and collected tax money from it for 400 years. it was such easy money for very little imput.  The tax collectors lived there and that was about it from the Ottoman Empire.  The Ottoman Empire took over Palestine, Egypt Yemen, Iraq, etc in 1517.  He's now serving as Turkey's 12th President but was Prime Minister before from 2003 to 2014, and before that was the Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He's been changing, not amiable like so many of his constituents that I've talked to on facebook.  

They erred when they remained on the German side during WWI and lost the battle to the West, and by doing so lost Palestine in the deal.  Now they want to take over Israel's hold on the Temple Mount, site of our Solomon's 2nd Temple where it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.  This part of Jerusalem's Old City also holds mosques as well, for their pattern has been to build their religious sites over or near the Jewish and Christian sites, showing their power over them.  It's like our native American's pattern of taking coup (coo) in battle.  
                                                          

It was after 70 CE when the Romans, who had been occupying Jerusalem for about 150 years up to then, built over the Temple site, a Roman Temple.  Since the Moslem Period, a mosque has stood there which is the Mosque of Omar, also called THE DOME OF THE ROCK.  It's built right in the center of the Temple area in Jerusalem and was built by Caliph Abd al-Malik in about 738 to replace the temporary structure set up by Caliph Omar a century earlier.  It is situated on the traditional site of Mt. Moriah. 
                                                      

Notice Bukhara, Ubekistan is on the green map on right at top

The latest move of Erdogen is that he wants to revive Islam in places that they lost the battle to the Christians so are planning to revive their religion, Islam, from Bykhara/Bukhoro, Ubekistan to Andulusia, Spain.  They introduced Islam by the sword in the first place, so how they will do it again may also be by force.  The force they use may be like all the insults they have been throwing at Israel.
                                                                                                                 

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey was first a church.  Erdogen wants it to be taken over and returned to Islam from their Ottoman Empire days.  It is a historic place of worship in Istanbul that has served as a Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, briefly a Roman Catholic cathedral, later an Ottoman mosque, and now a museum.  Built in CE 537, during the reign of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperor Justinian I, (my favorite Roman Emperor) , it was then the world's largest interior space and the first to employ a fully pendentive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture"  The complex remained a mosque until 1931, when it was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum by the secular Republic of Turkey.  Hagia Sophia was, as of 2014, the second-most visited museum in Turkey, attracting almost 3.3 million visitors annually. According to data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Hagia Sophia was Turkey's most visited tourist attraction in 2015 and 2019.
                                                                       

al-Aqsa Mosque in Old Jerusalem's Temple Mount

In Arabic the speech says that turning Hagia Sophia into a mosque is part of the “return of freedom to al-Aqsa,” essentially meaning Israel should be ejected from controlling Jerusalem’s Old City where al-Aqsa is located.  This is another mosque built in the Temple area of Jerusalem and was built by the Caliph Abd el-Malik in the 8th century to make the site of the legendary flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Jerusalem on his flying horse.  
                                                         

Moshe Dayan at the end of the 1967 war gave Jordan control over the Temple Mount, so I think Israel has seen to it that the place has been liberated enough; so much in fact that Jews cannot even be near it and say a prayer, or the religious Muslim police is on them.  In other languages, Erdogen is not as candid.  He is presenting himself as the bigshot, trying to impress Qatar and Libya.  This leader of Turkey wants to take over the position of the Islamic authority which Saudi Arabia has been holding.  Turkey invaded part of eastern Syria in October 2019 after depopulating the Kurdish region of Afrin in Syria in January 2018. They might tangle with the Russians or the Iranians who have also been in Syria.  
                                                       

Ten years ago , Israeli forces stormed the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish-owned vessel that was part of a flotilla seeking to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza by delivering
possibly weapons or ammunition to them.  

This president has been growing more religious as he can become and a harsh critic against Israel.  It was Turkey whose ship, the Mavi Marmara tried to break Israel's blockade with a flotilla of ships, causing some deaths of their own people. 
                                                       

I argue with the maker of the map in that
Jewish towns (not calling them settlements) are not illegal under
international law.  The Oslo accord created this patchwork
quilt of land, and so did the people who built there, according to the
geography of the land, areas A,B,C, etc.  

In recent years Turkey’s religious and political authorities have been making increasingly adversarial statements about Israel, now vowing to mobilize the “Islamic ummah” in June against Israel’s annexation plans.
The Turkish AK Party is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, something outlawed in Egypt.  They are allies of Hamas terrorists of Gaza, as well.  
                                                     

Tan areas are A and B controlled by PA (Palestinian Authority)
Blue is area C; controlled by Israel;
Blue striped is proposed annexation 
Black is no man's land.  

 Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from Shaʻb which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history.  In other words, he's trying to get all 48 Islamic majority states to be against Israel if Netanyahu goes ahead with it.  Jordan has already raised their voice without Erdogan's prodding.  So is the EU, for that matter, and these places are simply stating their view negatively like they always do toward Israel.  

Resource:https://www.maccabeetaskforce.org/education/videos/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6ar4BRDnARIsAITGzlDoxHe8e58BHrGqV7s6DHAB5JUxpXH9GJmZFwooKSakmLdf62Kbq20aAu-8EALw_wcB
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/turkey-vows-to-liberate-al-aqsa-after-turning-hagia-sophia-to-mosque-634700?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Turkey+vows+to++liberate+Al-Aqsa++after+turning+Hagia+Sophia+to+mosque&utm_campaign=July+12+day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia
https://www.maccabeetaskforce.org/education/videos/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6ar4BRDnARIsAITGzlDoxHe8e58BHrGqV7s6DHAB5JUxpXH9GJmZFwooKSakmLdf62Kbq20aAu-8EALw_wcB