(For those interested, I’ll be speaking at the prophecy conference hosted by Calvary Chapel of Appleton, Wisconsin, next weekend April 29-May 1.)

 Brazen Demands on Temple Mount

As usual, Arab sensibilities are the priority of Western diplomats.

A report in the Jerusalem Post highlights a problem that we deal with because of Western weakness. We are still required to give the Arabs everything they want on the Temple Mount, but Jews and Christians are still not permitted to pray there.

“The Arab League called on Israel on Thursday to end Jewish prayers inside the compound of Islam’s third holiest shrine in east Jerusalem, warning it was a flagrant affront to Muslim feelings that could trigger a wider conflict.

“’Our demands are clear that Al-Aqsa and Haram al-Sharif in all its area is a sole place of worship for Muslims,’ Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al Safadi told reporters alongside the Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit after an emergency meeting in Amman on the matter.”

Now notice this gem:

“Safadi, who spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week, met senior US State Department officials touring the region on Wednesday to discuss reducing tensions.

“Safadi said he received assurances Israel would halt Jewish worshippers’ entry to Al-Aqsa in the last 10 days of Ramadan that starts on Friday, a move widely expected to help defuse tensions.”

Right on cue, Blinken—part of the Biden regime—puts the screws to Israel and gushes over the Jordanians. Blinken, himself Jewish (his stepfather was a Holocaust survivor), seems not to think it important to preserve Jewish heritage on the holiest site to Judaism.

As I’ve written recently, the disgusting site of Hamas flying its flag over the Al-Aksa Mosque conjures up images pre-Six Day War, when Jordan allowed Jewish synagogues to be destroyed while Jewish and Christian visits were restricted at the holy sites.

I’ve been on the Temple Mount several times. Just the other day I was looking at photographs from a 2012 visit, in which I saw tons of Temple-era stones, columns and other artifacts literally dumped so that room could be made underneath the Temple Mount for two(!) mosques.

Like other non-Muslims, I was not permitted to pray there (there are creative ways around that), and when I got too close to the inside of the famed Golden Gate on the east side, I was chased away by pistol-packing Palestinian guard who shouted and waved his arms. Honestly, I’m almost surprised that we are allowed on the Temple Mount at all.

The closest I’ve gotten to seeing the inside of the Al-Aksa was peering from the entrance. The building is often used as a place for terrorists and their imams to incite violence against Jews and Christians.

In 2001, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, accompanied by 1,000 armed guards. This was outrageous to the Arabs.

What’s outrageous is that he had to have armed guards.

Most of you are familiar with the story, but when Israel captured the Temple Mount in the Six Day War (thanks to Motta Gur’s 66^th Paratroop Brigade), the very next day Moshe Dayan handed the keys back to the Arabs and allowed them to set the rules, in conjunction with the Jordanians and the Turks.

All these years later, we are still dealing with Arab intransigence regarding who can visit and when they do, what they can and cannot do.

I didn’t expect Israel’s new government to change the status quo (even Bibi Netanyahu didn’t), but it’s still concerning that sites holy to Christians and Jews are monitored by people that hate us. And this in the very ancient city now under Israel’s control!

I pray we are close to the day when the Lord returns and ushers in peace and justice in this holy place.

Maranatha!

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

When Will the Provocation End?

A disgusting picture was published in the Jerusalem Post this week, showing Hamas terrorists standing atop a building near the Al-Aksa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

They are asserting once again that they are the “defenders of Al-Aksa,” an absurd declaration in which they try to convince the people that the Jews are going to do something sinister and huge on the Temple Mount, like begin animal sacrifices. Anyone with a brain stem knows that isn’t going to happen, at least not until huge prophetic things begin to unfold.

All this comes on the heels of the murder of more Jews by Palestinian terrorists in a wave of terror that’s hit the last month, encouraged of course by all Palestinian leadership. The sick wheel of terror continues to roll round and round, as it has for decades.

As always, I blame Western diplomats and various heads of state as much as I do the Palestinian goons. In Israel today, accommodations need to be made continually, so that Palestinians can observe the pagan Ramadan. Israelis take great pains not to offend Palestinian sensibilities. Having been on the Temple Mount several times, I can tell you the same respect isn’t given to non-Muslims.

That’s one reason seeing the Hamas flag fly over Al-Aksa is particularly revolting.

As was reported in the Post:

“Hamas has once again emerged as a major player in events taking place in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

“Since last year’s war with Israel, Hamas has sought to portray itself as the sole “defender of Jerusalem and the Islamic holy sites.”

“It has also been working hard to prove that the recent wave of terror attacks in Israel and in Jerusalem and the West Bank are the direct result of Hamas’s daily calls for stepping up the ‘resistance’ against Israel.

“On Thursday night, senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri claimed that Israel had assured his group that it would not allow Jews to conduct the ‘animal sacrifice’ in the courtyards of the mosque.

“Arouri said, however, that despite the alleged undertaking, which was reportedly relayed through Egypt, Qatar and other parties, Hamas does not trust Israel. He called on the Palestinians to remain in a state of high alert ‘to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.’

“Hours after Arouri’s statements, Hamas supporters gathered at the site and began preparations for thwarting purported attempts by Jews to ‘storm into al-Aqsa Mosque.’

“As part of the preparations, Hamas supporters brought stones, iron bars and fireworks into the mosque. They were joined by dozens of men who are not necessarily affiliated with Hamas.

After the clashes began, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is based in Qatar, found himself at the center of a flurry of diplomatic activity to avert another war with Israel.”

A violent revolt started by the Palestinians this week resulted in the arrests of hundreds of the thugs.

Now however, Defense Minister Benny Gantz has lifted the closure of the “West Bank” and allowed Palestinians to travel again freely.

Also, Ra’am MK Mansour Abbas—the one Naftali Bennett made his deal with so that he could form a government—made the usual political statements this week, trying to “smooth things over”:

“Abbas has been working with Arab and Jewish leaders in an attempt to calm tensions at the Temple Mount after violent clashes broke out on Friday, he said in an interview with N12 on Saturday evening.

“The release of several detainees late Friday and the reopening of the al-Jalama checkpoint to Israeli Arabs wishing to enter Jenin on Saturday sparked rumors that Israel and Hamas have reached a new truce agreement.

“’The obstacles of the occupation won’t deter us from defending Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque against its ongoing terrorism and the extremist settlers,’ Jabareen said in a statement. ‘Our people and their resistance will always remain ready to defend Jerusalem and the mosque.’

“Another senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Risheq, said in separate remarks that his group’s message to all the mediators was clear, namely that ‘Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque are a red line.’”

All this garbage—the Jews are storming Al-Aksa; we need to secure weapons to defend ourselves, etc.—is proof positive that manmade political solutions are woefully inadequate, at best.

Until there is the political will to oppose evil and adopt a zero-tolerance policy for terrorism, this will continue to happen.

Hamas deserves zero accommodation. The terror structure should be dismantled completely. Sadly, I’m not sure there was the political will for this when Trump was in office. It surely isn’t with the Biden regime.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com