Mentioning the "Temples" on the Temple Mount Could Get You Arrested?

by Shaina Be Hirsch

I am extremely frustrated. Today I was detained, held in custody, they tried to take my phone, and threatened me with arrest.

I am not talking about protests that are happening across America. I was walking in Jerusalem through my favorite historical site — the Temple Mount — with an old friend. I started to recount the history of the many temples that have stood there on Facebook LIVE, when I was informed (still on camera) that it is illegal to say that a temple stood on the Temple Mount.

Let that sink in for a moment.

I was told by the Waqf security forces that it is illegal to say a temple stood on The Temple Mount. Any temple, that is. There was nothing there before there was a mosque. From the time of Adam, there has only been a mosque there and it is disrespectful, Zionist lies that there ever was anything else. I urge you to watch the Facebook LIVE video below

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I love Second Temple Commonwealth Era history — you know, from the period of the Second T_______ (that word that is apparently illegal to say on the Temple Mount).

How can we talk about a shared future with partners who can’t acknowledge we have a history? And these revisions to history are being accepted more and more. In October 2016, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan put forth a UN resolution that condemned Israel for not protecting Islam’s sole exclusive right to The Temple Mount. No Jewish Temple, no basilica where Jesus fought with corrupt moneylenders. Islam has a sole exclusive right to Judaism’s holiest site. The place where Jews all over the world pray toward — even if it is illegal for Jews to pray up there.

That’s right. For those who don’t know, Jews and only Jews can be arrested for praying on our holiest site. Current coronavirus precautions of mask-wearing meant that my lips were not watched for movement to arrest me if I was accused of praying up there. Once, I was removed from The Temple Mount for moving my lips in a way that might have been praying.

Today, I was separated from my friend and taken by the Waqf security to be questioned.

They told me they would release me when I would stop telling lies. But I wasn’t telling lies.

They told me they would release me if I myself could prove that there was anything up there from before a mosque. I told them I just needed to take out the carbon-dating kit I always keep in my backpack and I could prove that in a jiffy. That seemed to confuse them.

But what really threw them for a loop was that I kept insisting that there were multiple temples there. At the very least four or maybe three and a half. The first Temple (Beit Hamikdash HaRishon), the Hasmonean Temple (perhaps this is the half because it was built out of existing parts), Herod’s Temple (The second Beit Hamikdash) and a temple to Jupiter. Now Herod’s Temple was clearly its own Temple, as he removed every single stone of the Hasmoneans before building his own.

As I kept repeating facts about the Second Temple Era, I held my phone tightly as they tried to grab it away. They didn’t seem to understand how LIVE video works, how well-locked an iPhone is, or that by erasing the history of the two other religions that their faith is based on, they weaken their own claim to this land.

After some questioning, I was handed off to the Israeli police, who tried to keep a straight face as they told me I did nothing illegal, but that I had to respect the site and I couldn’t say that there had been a Beit Hamikdash there. I wish they would have respected the integrity of the site. They also were very surprised to learn there had been more than two temples there. And even more surprised to learn that there had once been a church there. Does no one know history anymore?

Also, boring people with history makes them release you from police custody pretty fast.

I thought about all the tourists who have come to see my Jewish history, their own Christian history, and about all the visitors who will come, hopefully, when travel can happen again. How is anyone to understand why this land is holy to THREE religions if they are not allowed to be told about it? In 1996, when the UN helped deny my history, Ban Ki-Moon condemned the resolution. Then director-general of UNESCO Irina Bokova said that “to deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian, or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site. Al-Aqsa Mosque is also Temple Mount, whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism.” And so, I am frustrated by how repeating archaeologically proven history can become politically charged — and how easy it is to rewrite. So: learn the history, have the facts, know the truth.

PS: I apologize for any mistakes in the video — I still need to learn more about anything post-Second Temple Era, but I will.

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