Israel police on Wednesday morning the first day of chol hamoed Pesach 5773, prevented Likud MK Moshe Feiglin from visiting Har Habayis. Feiglin, who heads the Manhigut Yehudit faction of Likud and is a long-time Har Habayis activist, planned to visit the holy site on the morning of chol hamoed.
Police responded quickly after Islamics on the Temple Mount began to gather in the area. Police report that they had intelligence information that if Feiglin would have been permitted to visit it would have sparked Islamic violence and this is why the Member of Knesset was prohibited from doing do despite his parliamentary immunity.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Published on the first day chol hamoed in Eretz Yisrael)
One Response
you only did a half job!:
Deputy Speaker of Knesset MK Moshe Feiglin was denied the right to ascend the Temple Mount this morning.
From Moshe Feiglin’s Facebook page:
“As in the example of Israel’s apology for the Marmara (the Turkish Gaza flotilla boat incident), this morning once again it was decided to purchase Muslim quiet on the Temple Mount at the expense of the loss of Israeli sovereignty and our national dignity. This method always leads to much greater conflict in the long run.
In the light of the disturbances that broke out on the Temple Mount in the wake of my previous ascent, I had informed the Israel Police of my intention to ascend the Temple Mount today, in advance. Accordingly, a coordination meeting was held in advance at the office of the Minister of Police, Minister Aharonowitz. The Minister of Internal Security, as well as the commander of Jerusalem police and other officials were all in attendance. Thus, today’s aliya had been prearranged and all the details were agreed upon, and approval was obtained in advance. However, to my surprise, the Police commander for the Jerusalem district informed me this morning that despite the authorization I had received, I would not be allowed to ascend. The explanation I was given: the Moslem rabble was awaiting my arrival in order to start a disturbance. I asked the commander why he did not instruct his forces to distance the lawbreakers from the Mount, rather than punish those who follow the law. His answer: “This is the way it is.”
This matter is extremely serious, from two angles. From a general point of view, this action encourages violence, the exact type of violence erupted in the Muslim world when lawbreakers on the Mari Marmara received Israel’s apology. In other words, it is my very removal from the Temple Mount which will encourage violence. But there is an even more serious and significant issue: the fact that a member of Israel’s Knesset, a representative of Israel’s sovereignty, was prevented from ascending to the Temple Mount, while at the same time any casual tourist can ascend without hindrance. During my previous ascent, the officer who was present told me that the Temple Mount is an area under Muslim soverignty. If at that time, I could have still hoped that that statement was just a mindless slip of the tongue, well this time the Israel police have proven through their actions that that was no slip of the tongue, for all the Israeli governments since 1967 have allowed the collapse of Israeli sovereignty at the Mountain…leading to this very lowest point at which we have arrived today.
I will continue with this struggle, utilizing all the means at my disposal, both public and parliamentarian, in order to return Israeli sovereignty to the heart of our nation…the Temple Mount.”