The Controversy of the Temple Mount
For those of you who have not been paying attention to this issue (which I assume is many since there are a lot of issues circulating the webs right now) the United Nations has moved forward with passing laws that would ban all non Muslims from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This same legislation also seeks to remove that name from said land and replace it with the Al Aqsa Mosque being the only identifier for this location.
This is a very low blow for the Jewish people. Yom Kippur had just ended and that meant countless Jews from around the world were at the Western Wall which is connected and an integral piece of not just the right next store Temple Mount, but also one of, if not the most integral piece of Judaism. Its no coincidence that every single High Holiday ends with a longing for Jerusalem outlined in the very prayers chanted in said services, with Passover being the most prominent.
It also is not a coincidence that when we pray, the Jewish people face towards Jerusalem and ultimately the Old City where the location that has caused such a controversy resides. It is a low blow that the UN can swoop in and change the rules of a sovereign nation without their consent. I can only imagine what would occur in the United States if legislation barred Christians from entering the Midwest because Native Americans pray there. Which by the way, is basically hat this legislation does, but ironically, the example I chose is a bit misleading. A better example would be if the Christians banned Native Americans from praying in the Midwest, as that land is far more sacred to those who were here before.
Now imagine if Muslims were barred from Mecca. Of course this would never happen (except when it did happen in the past and created a split in Islam, but that’s irrelevant now) because Mecca already bans every other group from visiting this holy site. Ironically, if Israel became the villain that everyone constantly accuses them of being, they would likely be in better shape. But as is the common standard for the Jewish people, our belief in the good of people gets the best of us at the worst moments.
Anyway, back on track, imagine the outrage if -insert religion here- was bared from their own holy sites. But wait, Judaism is not the only religion affected here. Christianity has just been spit in the face too. To delegitimize the Temple Mount for what it is, is to also deny the teaching of Jesus, which are obviously vital to Christianity.
And alongside that comes the greatest irony. In the act of protecting the extremists sects of Islam which are the greatest supporters of this action, they are spiting in the face of themselves. Islam values the teachings of Jesus as he is viewed as a prophetic figure in their faith as well. In addition, there are countless references in the Quran, referring to the fact that the Temple Mount is a holy site due to the Jewish people also caring about it much.
Picking and choosing has always been a hallmark of religious extremism, but this action by the United Nations takes it to new levels of stupidity. Even worse, speaking of United Nations Stupidity, lets look at the nations that voted for this resolution: Algeria, Brazil, Bangladesh, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Vietnam.
Roughly half of these countries have personal stakes, better known as personal bias in regards to this vote. What is this personal bias you ask? These countries do not even have diplomatic ties with Israel! According to United Nations Rules, these countries should have been prohibited from voting on this issue in the first place. Really, the United Nations fails to work because we live in a world where countries put their own interests before the world. And quite frankly, this is an unfortunate necessity in the real world.
But there is a second problem. One that I have a personal stake in. Whenever anything involving Israel is mentioned, two groups almost immediately jump into the fray. And both of them cause serious problems.
First, is the ultra left. Many of these individuals are Atheist, although minority groups such as Blacks and Hispanics are getting in on the fun as evident by Brazil Nicaragua and Mexico also being Anti Israel. The point is though that both these groups attack Israel for personal reasons that have all logic lost. Atheists see Israel as some kind of Theocracy country and in going after them, they ignore the actual Theocracy counties all around the rest of the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile some minority groups associate with the Palestinians in an incredibly twisted false equivalence. Many of them believe that the Palestinians are an oppressed group, usually with the “White Man” as the bogyman. There are of course a few problems with this. First, Jews are brown, not white, so that whole “White Power” idea is irrelevant. Also, while they are right that Palestinians do have something in common with other minority movements, it is the fact that their own leaders are screwing them over. Not some outside country.
Then on the other side of the debate, we have a group that I come in contact with with fists ready to go more than any other group in existence. The Far Religious Right. In opposition to the other group above, these guys take the most hard-line, pro Israel stance imaginable. Of course their stance involves religious scripture that they are more than happy to recite. Making claims such as G-d’s law is more powerful than any law of any country. Meanwhile, they ignore the fact that Biblical law said in no uncertain terms that one must follow the laws of the land they live in.
Worse yet, these same groups push the agenda that Israel is being accused of. Many of these people think that Islam is a religion of evil that mist be purged. These individuals are passively advocating for the complete and utter removal of Palestinians from Israel which of course not only causes crazy problems that Israel is not equipped to deal with, but serves as an enabler for groups such as BDS who now have something tangible to latch onto.
When you look at the other factions in the political world, most people are moderates. But because moderates do not actively change things most of the time, I will leave them out of this for the sake of simplicity. The remaining factions are the War Hawk Left which is pro Israel, and the Libertarian Right, which is anti Israel.
War Hawk Lefts want to bring liberalism to the world, but understand that there are very bad people in the world that need to be dealt with first. Despite being quiet for a while in politics they are highly visible again, and the war hawk right’s worst nightmare. But that is a topic for another discussion. Anyway, the Libertarian Right is isolationist and wants to deal with only internal affairs, leaving Israel in the dark. Many Libertarians are also anti religion meaning that the City of Jerusalem holds little significance to them.
Ironically, what may actually be best for Israel moving forward, would be for a massive shift in policy. We need a critical election, but the election involves Israel policy. What we need is for the Right to become Anti Israel, and the Left to become Pro. With this shift, the Far Religious Right jumps to the left, while the inverse also occurs. Meaning that politics is now libertarians and Social Justice Warriors on one side, with War Hawk Liberals and Far Right Religious groups on the other. In this way, Israel supporters are not all over the map,and are able to overcome their differences to solve problems.
But as the scenario above is wishful thinking at best, I fear for what the future holds. so long as Israel’s supporters are separated by ideology, our enemies will be unified as they were at the UN proceedings.
We also need to look at the bigger picture and figure out the more far reaching effects of our ideas and who they influence, for good or ill.
To end on a positive note, six countries saw this madness for what it was, and I want to give them credit where they are due: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, and the United States.