"Har HaBayit B'Yadeinu" is incitement

In response to reports that the Waqf has been conducting unauthorized work on the Dome of the Rock while causing damage to the Rock (the even haShitya) below a group of teens from Bnei Akiva decided to hold a march as a form of protest. They applied for a permit to march from Binyanei HaUma to the area outside of Har HaBayit, and the permit was granted by the police. (according to the news, the permit for the parade was changed to a stationary protest by the boardwalk of Armon HaNetziv)

The police however wanted to see the signs and placards they would be bearing, and then disqualified, as incitement, the text "Har Habayit b'Yadeinu" - Har Habayit is in our hands, the famous words of Motta Gur said upon the taking of Har HaBayit in the Six Day War.
(sources: Ynet and Srugim)

It practically goes without saying that it is a shonda the way the police relate to Jews and Har HaBayit, whether you consider it from a Jewish perspective or from a democratic and human rights perspective. This isn't even on Har HaBayit though. This is far away from har HaBayit, at Armon HaNetziv. In Armon HaNetziv it is now being consider incendiary to say the famous words "Har HaBayit B'Yadeinu".

Will Motta Gur's book now be banned for incitement? Will all Israeli history books be banned as incitement, or maybe they will just rip out the page in which Motta Gur is being quoted? How can such an historic statement, made by such an historic figure, be considered incitement? Will other phrases calling for our return to Jerusalem and the Temple also soon be banned as incitement - such as portions of our siddurim? How can the police be allowed to continue to find every way possible to suppress Jewish rights and identity surrounding Har HaBayit?

Proposal: Jews, Muslims to Split Temple Mount Prayer

MK Aryeh Eldad (Ichud Leumi) believes he has found a way for Israel to give Jews the freedom to pray at their holiest site, while avoiding Muslim violence. Jews should be granted certain times to ascend to the Temple Mount and pray, he said.

Eldad has submitted a bill that would set aside separate prayer hours for Jews and Muslims. His proposal coincided with a U.S. report criticizing Israel for failing to grant Jews freedom of worship on the Mount.

“The Temple Mount is the holiest place to the people of Israel, the place where the First and Second Temples stood,” Eldad said. “The Temple Mount is also a holy place to Muslims, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque stands, and the Temple Mount is special to Christianity as well.”

“In order to allow freedom of worship and the right to visit the Mount, special visiting days should be established for Jews and Muslims, and hours during which the Mount will be open only to Jews or only to Muslims,” he continued.

Eldad proposed a daily division that would allow each religious group to access the Temple Mount during its usual daily prayer times. Jews have three set prayer times on weekdays, while Muslims have five.

In addition, he proposed giving each group access on its holidays. Jews would have full access on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the first and last days of Sukkot and Passover, Shavuot, and Tisha B’Av. He listed several Muslim holidays on which Muslims would have full access, among them Id al-Fitr, Id al-Adha, and Ashura.

When holidays overlap, he said, the day would be split between the two faiths.

Eldad’s proposal is reminiscent of the arrangement in the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Maarat Hamachpelah) in Hevron. There, the sacred hall over the burial place of the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs is split between Jews and Muslims during the year, with members of each faith having access to half of the tombs. On select Jewish holidays, Jews have full access to the building while Muslim worshipers are barred, and on Muslim holidays, the opposite.

Muslim leaders are highly unlikely to support the initiative. The Temple Mount is currently under the control of the Muslim Waqf, and Jewish prayer is forbidden at the site year-round. Muslim leaders have often accused Israel of plotting against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Arab League recently warned that any perceived threat to the mosque could destabilize the entire region.

Al-Aqsa Sheikh: Jerusalem will be Muslim Forever

Sheikh Yusuf Salameh, a preacher at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, denounced on Thursday a statement by Israel's Attorney General that Israeli law must be applied to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem.

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has said that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is part of Israeli territory so Israeli law applies there, including antiquities laws and laws regarding building and planning.

At the same time, he said, the law had to be applied with extra sensitivity and pragmatism, due to its unique nature.

In response, Sheikh Salemeh said that “Al-Quds” (the Arabic name for Jerusalem) is an Islamic city, as determined by the creator of the world and as indicated in the Koran.

He said that no decision by one person or another will be able to change this reality, stressing that “Al-Quds” will remain Islamic until the end of time. “Al-Quds threw up its occupiers in the past and it will throw up this occupier, too,” he said.

Sheikh Salameh added that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is spread over 144 dunams of land and includes the entire area within the walls, buildings, roads, terraces, and domes of the mosque. He said the mosque is land belonging to the Waqf both above the ground and below it. Salameh called on UNESCO to bear the responsibility and preserve the historic Islamic sites in the holy city.

This week, Abdul Rahman Abbad, the head of the Muslims’ scholars council in Jerusalem, said that “Muslims are the only ones who own this mosque.”

He insisted that religious authorities are not bound by Israeli decisions, and warned of Israel's intentions in issuing such a statement ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims flock to the compound.

The Temple Mount was left in the hands of the Waqf following Jerusalem’s reunification in 1967, a decision of then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. The Waqf has taken advantage of this and removed every sign of ancient Jewish presence at the Jewish holy site. At the entrance, a Waqf sign says, “The Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard and everything in it is Islamic property.”

Police, in an attempt to appease the Waqf, discriminate against Jews. They limit the number of Jewish worshippers allowed on the Temple Mount at one time in order to prevent conflict with Muslim worshippers. They often close the Mount to Jews in response to Muslim riots – despite evidence that Muslim riots have been planned in advance for the specific purpose of forcing Jews out.

Waqf officials recently told a young Jewish man to remove his kippah on the Temple Mount. The young man was visiting the Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, as part of a tour group from Europe. When Waqf officials saw his kippah, they ordered him to remove it, saying, “This is a holy place.”

Rabbi Moshe David Tendler Ascends Temple Mount - Har HaBayit