Boys praying for the safe return of three kidnapped teens before the discovery of their murders suffered anti-Semitism and abuse at the Temple Mount.
By Atara Beck
The Haliba movement for Jewish freedom on the Temple Mount, the holiest place to the Jewish people, took students from Mekor Chaim yeshiva high school – classmates of Naftali Frankel and Gilad Sha’ar – to the Mount last week, before the discovery of the dead bodies, to pray for them and for Eyal Yifrach.
The three boys were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and murdered on June 12.
“For 18 days and nights, Jews everywhere, especially in Israel, teetered between hope and foreboding,” praying for their safety, according to a press release from Haliba, which refrained from reporting the Mekor Chaim boys’ visit until after the funeral, “preferring to err on the side of caution” while there was still hope.
Most of their prayers, however, had to be offered outside the gates, as authorities upheld the socalled status quo, which precludes Jews from moving their lips or bowing down in prayer on the Mount. The site is under the administration of the Jordanian Waqf (Muslim Trust).
Haliba Director Yehuda Glick, who coordinated the visit, said that the boys, “deeply pained with worry for their classmates, underwent further grief at the Temple Mount,” as they were delayed for over an hour at the entrance and, once there, experienced extreme verbal harassment by Muslims.
Waiting to pass security, the boys held a sign: The Temple Mount is Haliba [the heart] of the People.”
These boys “made a clear statement by choosing, with the explicit approval of the head of their yeshiva, to offer their prayers for [their] classmates on the Temple Mount,” Haliba stated.
“Our hearts are broken, but our spirits are not,” the Haliba statement continued. “May we find comfort in your memories and in the building of Zion.”