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Israel: Non-Muslims Will Not Be Banned from Temple Mount
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avi Dichter said Monday, "The idea that what was done in Saudi Arabia - where two cities holy to Islam, Mecca and Medina, are sites where only Muslims have the right to enter - will be done on the Temple Mount is a distorted idea that we will not let happen. We will respect the sanctity of al-Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem, and will stand up for our rights on the Temple Mount." Non-Muslims are not allowed into al-Aksa's prayer hall, while they are permitted on the Temple Mount. Dichter was responding to comments made by Jordan's Minister of Wakf and Islamic Affairs Wael Arabiyat denouncing a visit by a group of Jews to the Temple Mount on Tisha B'Av, a fast day that commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples located at the site. Arabiyat had accused Jews of "breaking into al-Aksa mosque," "storming" the shrine, and performing "Talmudic rituals" in the mosque. Dichter noted that there is an attempt underway to conflate the Aksa Mosque with the entire Temple Mount compound. "Recently there has been a growing tendency calling for the 'defense' of al-Aksa. This defense has grown a great deal, and from the mosque on the southern part of the Temple Mount they are now talking about the whole area of the Temple Mount. Israel will not let this happen."