The clearly targeted murder attempt last night (attempt only because Yehuda’s iron will and Israeli medicine are keeping him alive) of civil- rights-for-Jews-on-the-Temple-Mount Rabbi Yehuda Glick was a catastrophe waiting to happen. And now we have arrived at one of those defining moments.
I accuse. First and foremost Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu: You have one of the hardest jobs in the world and are currently navigating undeniably stormy international waters. But the safety and basic civil rights of ALL Jews are ultimately your responsibility. Moreover: you have direct responsibility for the Temple Mount. Yet you have chosen the path of appeasement of Fatah, Hamas, ISIL, and Waqf bullies on the Temple Mount. You enable police to take the path of least resistance when Muslims riot on the Mount to lock Jews- whose “crime” is wanting to pray at our holiest place- off the Mount: every time Muslims resort to violence; every time there is a Muslim holiday; every time there is a Jewish or Israeli holiday; every Friday and Saturday. Appeasement has led to the target on the forehead of Rabbi Yehuda Glick, and on all the people of Israel. For abdicating your responsibility for the safety and civil rights of the Israeli people who elected you on our holiest site. For preferring the appeasement of those who would see us all dead. Shame.
I accuse. Members of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) Ministers and Members alike. You were sent to the Knesset to ensure the continuity of the State of Israel and the Zionist vision. For hiding behind the canard of the status quo as an excuse not to take a stand. For abdicating your responsibility to your oath of office. For preferring to keep your job over doing your job. For sitting on the fence even when that means going against what you believe ( and you know who you are!). Shame.
I accuse. Those Rabbis who exhort against Jews ascending the Temple Mount. Yesterday was the anniversary of Maimonides’ ascent to the Temple Mount almost a thousand years ago. That is what the conference, after which Rabbi Yehuda Glick was shot, was commemorating. By your injunctions, which are clearly debatable as many respected Rabbis argue in favor of ascent to the Mount, you are causing irreparable damage to the Jewish people and the legitimacy of the State of Israel. For if you, of all leaders, claim that we have no right to go up to the Temple Mount, by extension you are playing into the hands of those who would deny our claim to the land of Israel itself. Shame.
I accuse. The Israeli Police. Your job is to protect citizens. Sometimes you must do that by keeping innocents away from danger. However, it has become your modus operandi. Your automatic reaction is to lock Jews and other non- Muslims off the Temple Mount every time Muslims riot, rewarding the rioters, punishing the blameless. You allow Muslims to regularly fly ISIL flags, Hamas flags, PA flags, all with equanimity. Yet anyone found with an Israeli flag- the flag of the country sovereign on the Temple Mount- is detained and thrown off the Mount. For enabling and actually inviting more violence by abdicating your responsibility to protect. For targeting Rabbi Yehuda Glick time and time again for the crime of wanting to pray at the holiest place for Jews since Abraham, and King David. For dragging him to court on false, trumped up charges in order to appease Muslim thugs whose goal is the extermination of Israel. For ignoring Citizen Yehuda Glick’s complaints regarding threats to his safety and person. For protecting your hindquarters rather than doing your jobs of protecting law abiding people and their civil rights. Shame.
I accuse. Jews. In Israel. In the Diaspora. For your cowardice regarding the Temple Mount: secular Jews for staying away- even though you pay no heed to any Rabbi, (moreover you may even disdain the very idea of institutionalized Judaism), all of a sudden you quote Rabbis as the reason to abstain from the Temple Mount. For those who understand the indelible connection of the Jewish people to the Temple Mount yet do not demand to go up. For those who are prepared to make do with an outer Western Wall rather than the Temple Mount ,the holiest place to the Jewish people. For those who directly encourage our implacable enemies by refraining from the Temple Mount, abetting the view that if we do not care about our holiest place, we will eventually, sooner or later, make do with none of the land of Israel,. The Temple Mount belongs to those that show up. The Muslims are showing up- paid or otherwise. For those who tremble when they hear the words “Har Habayit B’yadenu (The Temple Mount is in our hands) from the moment Israel liberated the Temple Mount in the Six Day War 1967, and do not show up. Shame.
We pray for the full healing of Rabbi Yehuda Yehoshua Glick son of Rivka Ita Brainer.
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