Page 50 - Satan in the Sanctuary

52 Satan in the Sanctuary

It is likely that the Arabs' rioting represents a Muslim
point of view that the Jews are seriously trying to take over
the site and rebuild the Temple of God. They recognize that
prayer on the mount is a first step toward rebuilding, and
they are determined to dig in at this point and stop the prog-
ress. They may feel that the movement toward Jewish con-
trol of the mount will be irreversible if worshipers are per-
mitted there, and they may well be right.
To be sure, the Jews have not approached the mount in
great numbers, but they have been represented by influential
citizens. The Jerusalem city councilmen probably give the
Muslims more pause than the rabbis and their followers, but
any Jews on the mount worry them.
On Sunday, March 21, 1976, the Israeli Supreme Court
felt obliged to reassert its original position on Jewish prayer
on the mount. It reaffirmed that, while Jews have a right to
pray on the mount, the Israeli police may forbid such prayer
in order to maintain the peace. The court was both sympa-
thetic to the aspirations of the devout worshipers, and real-
istic about the social and political implications in the situ-
ation.
The Jerusalem Bureau of the Associated Press circulated
internationally this newest development, and people every-
where read, "The Israeli Supreme Court Sunday supported
a government ban on Jewish prayers on the Temple Mount,
the disputed Jerusalem holy site that has touched off the
worst wave of anti-Israeli rioting in occupied Jordan in nine
8
years." The article also reported on the activities of fire-
brand Rabbi Moshe Levinger, leader of fourteen hundred
Jews living near Hebron, the site of major riots. Rabbi
Levinger and his followers were furious with the Arab dem-
onstrators and thought that the Israeli army, called in to
quiet the rioting, had dealt too leniently with the foe. The