nun bet

In a recent post, Treppenwitz discussed how he can’t “get used to hearing secular Israelis complain loudly and unabashedly about ‘those religious people.’” I agree with him and I don’t think that we should ever tune out broad generalizations about any group. A little more compassion and understanding is a good thing all around.

Trepp goes on to say, “The best litmus test of what is, and isn’t, PC can be found in the statements that are entered into the public record by our politicians.” He gives a great example of a nutty idea put forward by Knesset member Chaim Oron that said:

“Any person who attempts to influence a minor, to become more religiously observant of Judaism,(להחזיר בתשובה) will be subject to arrest and imprisonment for 6 months.”

This kind grandstanding is just ridiculous. It doesn’t help all. It’s bad, bad, bad all around.

However, I read today about a move by Knesset member Uri Ariel (NRP-NU). He recently announced plans that he was having plans drawn up to construct a synagogue on the Temple Mount. The dangers of such a proposal are clear when one looks at the events of September 2000 and the years of intifada that followed after Ariel Sharon’s single visit to the Temple Mount/Al-Haram al-Sharif. Ariel’s position seems to be an example of the types of actions that support some secular Israelis’ views about “those [religious] people”. I have a feeling that most secular Israelis don’t support a change in the status quo regarding the Temple Mount because they don’t want to have to deal with the potentially violent reaction ensured by such a change - or even plans of change.

On the flip, flip side, our Muslim neighbors themselves are making unilateral changes to the Temple Mount. In 2005 the word Allah was found carved into the carved into the eastern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. At the time, Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Committee for the Prevention of the Destruction of Antiquities said, “Graffiti on an archaeological site! Can you imagine what a political storm would have resulted if graffiti with a Jewish theme had been carved into such a site?” He’s right - and a proposed synagogue there is big trouble.

Of course, my whole post here is underscored by the fact that that Uri Ariel’s wish to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount is part of an article describing Jordanian King Abdullah II’s plan to build a fifth minaret at Al-Aksa.

Plans to change to the status quo at this sensitive site undermine faith in other agreements and contribute to the atmosphere of distrust. The status quo is a good thing until (if ever) our diplomatic relations are strong enough to engange in a multi-lateral conversation about these holy sites. As far as Israel goes, secular Israelis do not want to be drawn into the next uprising because of a few pie in the sky plans of some nutty MK with a religious agenda or King Abdullah’s fifth minaret.