The Har HaBeit (Temple Mount) Quiz: Part 2

UPDATES 

9:00 am Israel time, Monday, September 28 2015

**The daily Palestinian terror report from yesterday . . .

There were numerous “rock” and Molotov firebomb attacks on Israelis yesterday, none more egregious than the one on the Temple Mount where dozens of masked terrorists holed up inside the Al-Aksa Mosque attacked Israeli security forces.

As noted in the Breaking News above, IDF forces fired on Palestinian terrorists yesterday who were attempting to plant explosives along the Gaza border fence to blow up Israeli soldiers.

In another Gaza-related development, Palestinian tunnelers let it be known yesterday that the seawater moat/fish farms that the Egyptians are establishing along the Gaza-Egyptian border are severely crippling their ability to smuggle terrorists and weapons in and out of the Palestinian state.

Specifically, Hamas tunnelers are trying to stop the collapse of tunnels by strengthening their cement walls (cement provided by Israel) with thick iron plates welded together to make a metallic pipe within the cement tunnel.

And now they are crying that they can’t accomplish this because Israel is not permitting sufficient amounts of iron pipes into Gaza from which the plates can be made.

But wait . . . your humble servant is sure that now that COGAT has heard about this Palestinian “need”, the iron will be flowing in short order through the Kerem Shalom crossing. 

**Palestinian terrorism is of course not only directed at Jews . . .

 . . . but also at Christians. On Saturday, the Church of St. Charbel in Bethlehem, an Area A city under complete Palestinian control, was struck by Palestinian arsonists. The fire burned a room on the second floor of the church which is immediately above the front door. The PLO immediately tried to blame the fire on a “short circuit.”

Christian authorities issued this statement: “This is another incident of harm to Christians in Bethlehem. The Palestinian Authority is trying to sweep the phenomenon under the rug, and did not denounce these arson cases that harm the freedom of religion.”

Father Gabriel Naddaf, a leader of the Greek Orthodox Christian community in Israel, added:  “The Christian community in Bethlehem has witnessed countless attacks because they are a minority. The Palestinian Authority that is responsible for maintaining the holy places in Bethlehem does not do its duty. Mahmoud Abbas needs to do something about severe events like this before he preaches morality to Israel.”

**Speaking of Mahmoud Abbas . . .

The United Nations General Assembly opens today, and Abbas is scheduled to speak on Wednesday. For weeks now, Abbas has been promising a “major surprise”–something that will deflect international attention away from the European refugee crisis, the war in Syria, and the overall situation regarding Islamic State/DAAS.

As we all know, there is no more disgusting, anti-Israel organization in the world than the United Nations whose members attack us at every opportunity. It is a place that stands reality on its head as its self-consumed members embrace the utterly fraudulent Palestinian narrative.

It is a place where Mahmoud Abbas always feels right at home.

 **Speaking of motley organizations sweeping reality under the rug . . .

The Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, said yesterday that there is no need for the IAEA to revisit the Iranian Parchin site again to collect “samples”. Parchin, you will remember, is where the Iranian military has been working on nuclear weapons for at least a decade.

Why is it unnecessary? Because last week, the Iranians gave the IAEA samples that it collected at Parchin. The samples were collected without any international observers or inspectors being present.

And so it will now go. The IAEA has jumped whole cloth into bed with the Iranians complete with its own secret agreement that is an annex to the Democratic Iranian Nuclear Appeasement Agreement.

TODAY’S BLOG:

As regular readers of israelstreet know, your humble servant regularly writes about what is happening on what we Israelis call the Har HaBeit (the Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.

For the next few days, we are testing our knowledge about the holiest place in Judaism–first about the history of the site, and then about the current state of affairs.

Yesterday, we stopped with the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple in 70 CE. With that destruction, 957 years of a Jewish Temple on the Mount came to an end; however, for roughly the next two thousand years, the Temple Mount continued to be the center of Jewish spiritual existence. Jews who remained in Israel continued to go to the Mount when possible, Jews outside of Israel made continuous pilgrimages to the Mount, and Jews who could not make pilgrimages kept Jerusalem and the Mount alive in their hearts and minds in prayers and seders.

As for the Mount itself, there are fascinating pieces of history such as the attempt by the Roman Emperor Julian to allow Jews to build a Third Jewish Temple on the Mount in 361 CE, and the extremely interesting stories about Jewish prayer in the Kipat HaSela (Dome of the Rock) in the century following its construction in 691 CE (click here for a fascinating israelstreet blog on the subject). But in general, the history of the Mount for the last two millenia has been the history of whichever group happened to be in physical control of the Mount–a procession of Romans, Arabs, Christians (Crusaders), more Arabs, Ottomans, and British.

All of which brings us to today’s Har Habeit Quiz: Part 2 which picks up the story during the six-day war in 1967.

Let’s see how you do today:

1. On what day during the 1967 War, did Israeli soldiers liberate the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount?

A. June 5

B. June 6

C. June 7

2. Who was the commander of the IDF paratroopers that took the Mount?

A. Yitzhak Rabin

B. Moshe Dayan

C. Motta Gur

3. What was the commander’s famous exclamation upon taking the Temple Mount?

A. The Temple Mount is in our hands! The Temple Mount is in our hands!

B. After 2000 years, the Jewish people have returned to the Mount!

C. Never again! Never again will Jews be kept from Temple Mount!

4. Who was the Chief Rabbi of the IDF who urged the taking of the Temple Mount, accompanied the paratroopers as they took the Mount, supervised the placing of the Israeli flag above the Kipat HaSela (Dome of the Rock), and blew the shofar?

A. Rabbi David Lau

B. Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook

C. Rabbi Shlomo Goren

5. On June 17, 1967, just after the return of the Temple Mount to Israel for the first time in 1897 years, Moshe Dayan met with Muslim religious authorities and reformulated the status quo. Which of the following came out of that reformulation?

A. Religious sovereignty “was given” to the Muslims while “overall sovereignty ” was given to Israel.

B.  Jews “were given” the right to visit the Mount but not to pray.

C.  Jews and Muslims formed a joint committee to handle future problems on the Mount.

6. In 1976, the President of the Israel Supreme Court, Aharon Barak made an important ruling about the Temple Mount vis a vis the Israeli law guaranteeing religious freedom. What was his decision?

A. “The basic principle is that every Jew has a right to enter the Temple Mount. This is part of the religious freedom of worship; it is part of the freedom of expression. This freedom to worship at one’s holy places is enshrined in the laws of Israel and may not be abrogated. It is a universal human right.”

B. “The basic principle is that every Jew has the right to enter the Temple Mount, to pray there, and to have communion with his maker. This is part of the religious freedom of worship, it is part of the freedom of expression. However, as with every human right, it is not absolute, but a relative right.”

C. “The basic principles are that public order on the Temple Mount must be observed and the status quo must be maintained. All other freedoms such as freedom of religion and freedom of expression are of secondary importance. These principles are especially important in the conduct of government policy in Israel.”

7. In 1986, the Jewish Temple Mount Faithful group made an agreement with the police and the Islamic Wakf. How did this Agreement change the status quo?

A. Jews were permitted to pray on the Temple Mount.

B. Jews were given the right to build a small synagogue on the Temple Mount.

C. Religious Jews were allowed to visit the Mount in “small organized groups.”

8. According to the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, what is the “status quo” on the Temple Mount?

A. The Temple Mount is under Jordanian custodianship; however, Jews may enter the Mount but may not pray or conduct religious activities there.

B. The Temple Mount is entirely under the administrative supervision of the Jordanian Islamic Wakf which completely controls all visits of non-Muslims to the Mount.

C. Administrative control of the Temple Mount is under control of Jordan and the PLO (aka Palestinian Authority).

9. In 2000, the status quo again changed as the PLO and other Palestinian terrorists began the second intifada. What rights were taken away from non-Muslims–especially Jews?

A. Non-Muslims could no longer enter the Dome of the Rock.

B. Non-Muslims could no longer enter the Al-Aksa Mosque.

C. Non-Muslims could no longer visit the Islamic Museum on the Temple Mount.

10. By 2014, the status quo on the Mount once again changed, once again to the detriment of Jews. What changed?

A. The Jerusalem Police increasingly began to forbid Jews from visiting the Mount on Muslim holidays and on days of Muslim terror on the Mount.

B. Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims could only go the Temple Mount from Sunday -Thursday, for four hours each day.

C. Visits of Jewish groups to the Mount were required to be accompanied by Islamic Wakf guards and policemen.

11. When was the first time that Israeli police entered the Al-Aksa Mosque?

A. June 2, 2002, following a Palestinian “suicide/murder” attack in Jerusalem.

B. September 28, 2009, following an inflammatory Mahmoud Abbas speech at the United Nations.

C. November 5, 2014, following “rock” and Molotov firebomb attacks coming from the Mosque.

12. In 2014 and 2015, the status quo further changed with the establishment of the Murabitan (screaming Israeli-Arab men who are paid to assault Jews on the Mount) and the Marabitat (screaming Israeli-Arab women who do the same thing)? Who established these groups?

A. King Abdullah of Jordan

B. Mahmoud Abbas of the PLO

C. Raed Salah of the Islamic Movement

13. Despite the supposed status quo on the Mount, the Islamic Wakf has gained the right to employ 164 “security guards.” According to a recent announcement, that number will soon be increased to more than 200. Who pays the salaries of these so-called “security guards”?

A. The PLO

B. Jordan

C. A combination of the PLO, Jordan, and Qatar

14. Despite the supposed status quo on the Mount, which of the following are now prohibited by the Jerusalem Police/Islamic Wakf from being on the Temple Mount?

A. a kipa (yarmulke) worn on the head by Jewish men

B. Christian Bibles and Jewish Torahs

C. Israeli flags

15. Which of the following actions are now forbidden to Jews by the Jerusalem Police/Islamic Wakf from taking place on the Temple Mount?

A. singing and dancing

B. praying

C. bringing bottles of water

One of the points of this quiz today is to see how the status quo has radically changed since 1967–and always to the detriment of non-Muslims–especially Jews.

Tune in tomorrow and see how you did on this quiz!