A new Al-Aqsa provocation is rising outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visiting the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 21, 2023 [Temple Mount Administration/Handout via Reuters]

Not just Israel’s Ben-Gvir: A new Al-Aqsa provocation is rising

The Israeli minister’s visits have deep roots in religious Zionism. But his approach is now finding new takers too.

Eliyahu Freedman

Itamar Ben-Gvir’s second visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Israel’s national security minister on May 21 represents a dangerous mix of religion and politics.

Ben-Gvir was seen standing and reading off his phone, apparently in prayer. Such an act would be forbidden under the current “status quo” governing Al-Aqsa, referred to as the Temple Mount or Har Habayit by Jews, even though a small group of Orthodox Jews is increasingly finding ways to pray on the holy site.

Shortly after his morning visit, Ben-Gvir tweeted: “Hamas’ threats don’t intimidate us. I ascended to Har Habayit! Jerusalem is our soul, the Negev and Galil is our spirit and we have to act on behalf of [both]!”

Responding to Ben-Gvir’s visit, Hamas politician Basem Naim told Al Jazeera, “Israel and its government and people bear the full responsibility for the continued provocation to our people and desecration of [Al-Aqsa’s] holiness.” He said “preventing maniacs [from entering Al-Aqsa] even if they are ministers” was a part of Israel’s “responsibility”.

On the face of it, though Ben-Gvir’s visit was provocative, its timing could suggest a political compromise. He went to Al-Aqsa after the controversial “flag day” march that marks Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in 1967. On the day of the march itself, Ben-Gvir joined the parade in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, even though his wife Ayala Ben-Gvir and other members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government toured the Al-Aqsa grounds. Within the Al-Aqsa compound, several members of Netanyahu’s Likud party were recorded singing the Israeli national anthem Hatikva with the Dome of the Rock in the background.

Yet Ben-Gvir’s actions on May 21, which were condemned by Jordan, the US State Department and others, are only the latest attempt at pushing the envelope in a centuries-old conflict over what Orthodox Jews discuss as “ascending to the Temple Mount”. And there are early signs that such controversial visits to Al-Aqsa are beginning to resonate with some sections of the Israeli population that previously opposed them.

In the medieval period, there was consensus among Jewish, Christian and Islamic scholars about the ancient holiness of the Al-Aqsa site, including the presence of the Jewish temples. In Islam specifically, the special status of the city gave birth to an entire genre of writing known as Fada’il al-Quds or “literature in praise of Jerusalem”. According to Nimrod Luz, the author of the report, Al-Haram al-Sharif in the Arab-Palestinian Public Discourse in Israel, it was even a point of pride for early Muslims for Al-Aqsa to be associated with Israelite prophets and kings such as David, a revered figure in the Quran, and first conqueror of Jerusalem.

For Medieval Jews, who lived under Islamic rule, a debate arose regarding the religious permissibility of visiting the Al-Aqsa compound, given the special commandments in Judaism that safeguard the area’s unique holiness. Contemporary Temple Mount activists are proud to highlight a letter written by the great Egyptian-Jewish sage Maimonides, who describes in the 12th century visiting and praying on Al-Aqsa.

But these discussions were of a religious — not political — nature.

Rabbi Shlomo Goren gives a lecture to a class of Yeshiva students in this September 2, 1993 photo [Reuters]

In the modern period, Jewish nationalism “split Orthodox Jews into two main groups”, according to Motti Inbari, author of Jewish Fundamentalism and the Temple Mount and professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Pembroke.

The first group was led by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), considered the spiritual father of Religious Zionism. Kook saw the successes of the Zionist movement, such as the Balfour Declaration — under which Britain committed to the creation of a “national home” for Jews in Palestine — from a “messianic point of view”, said Inbari.

That view held that the journey of Jewish “redemption” would culminate with the “reconstruction of the Temple and the renewal of the Davidian Kingdom” per Inbari.

The second camp of Orthodox Jews, explains Inbari, referred to today as “Ultra-Orthodox”, opposed this vision of religious Zionism. They saw “no great [religious] value in the State of Israel” and no special theological meaning to the Zionist movement’s conquest of Palestine”.

Following the Israeli capture of Jerusalem in June 1967, in which an Israeli flag was temporarily flown above the Dome of the Rock, Shlomo Goren, chief rabbi of the conquering Israeli forces and a leading religious Zionist, spoke to the Jewish soldiers: “Today you have fulfilled the oath of generations: ‘if I forget thee, o Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning!’ Indeed, we did not forget thee, Jerusalem city of our sanctity and home of our glory.”

The Ultra-Orthodox Jewish response to June 1967 was also rapid and unequivocal, first delivered across Israeli radio waves merely hours after the Old City was captured: Jewish law strictly prohibits entry to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for all Jews owing to the sanctity of the site.

Over the years, this view has been repeated by leading Orthodox Jewish voices and has been the consistent view of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shake hands at the White House in 1993 upon the signing of the Oslo Accords [File: Reuters]

Still, against the majority of his rabbinic peers in 1967, Goren began developing a novel approach in Orthodox Jewish law to permit entering the Temple Mount.

“[Goren] came up with this argument saying that if we would map the Temple Mount, we could figure out where the Holy of Holies was, and then figure out the permitted locations [for Jews to enter] on the Temple Mount which are not out of bounds,” Inbari said. The “Holy of Holies” refers to the innermost sanctum of each of the Jewish temples, and is the key for drawing a map of where the ancient temples may have stood — many Jewish scholars identify the location of the Holy of Holies with the Sakhra stone in the Dome of the Rock.

Goren was never alone, but his view remained a minority position even within the Religious Zionist camp in the decades following 1967.

But the Oslo Accords of 1993 created a new panic within the Religious Zionist camp. Not only could land compromises lead to the loss of Jerusalem’s Old City from a future Jewish state, but Oslo could represent a theological step backwards in the plan to rebuild a Jewish temple.

“The Oslo Accords, kind of created … some kind of a feeling that [the messianic] end is not going to happen, or it’s not going to happen in the way they were open to,” Inbari said.

The result: an urgency among the Religious Zionists. In February 1996, the orthodox “Rabbinic Council of Yesha” (an acronym for Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip) called for each congregational rabbi to ascend the Temple Mount. The idea was to make it harder for an Israeli government to negotiate away land compromises.

00:29Israel’s Itamar Ben-Gvir calls police ‘landlords’ of Jerusalem

Moving forward

Today, even putting aside the politically explosive visits of Israeli politicians like Ben-Gvir, more and more Jews are ascending the Temple Mount. A recent 2023 report estimates a 16 percent increase from last year, “with an average 140 Jewish visitors ascending” daily.

And it is not just Religious Zionists, though they are the single largest group of Jews going to the Al-Aqsa compound, said Hayim Alba, a member of the non-governmental “Temple Mount Administration”, whose leader Rabbi Shimshon Elboim was photographed walking next to Ben-Gvir during his visit.

“[In] the last week, many buses of [Ultra-Orthodox Jews] entered for the first time. Every day there are some [Ultra-Orthodox] who are entering for the first time,” Alba said.

Yareah Tucker, an adviser to the United Torah Judaism (UTJ), the political party which represents the largest faction of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel and is led by a small number of Jewish religious scholars, insists that this is “not because of the rabbis, but because of extremists who are multiplying”. Tucker means that more Ultra-Orthodox Jews are disobeying the official instructions of the leading Rabbis of the Ultra-Orthodox community regarding entry to the Temple Mount, and are rather entering the Temple Mount in spite of their community’s view on Jewish religious law.

Tucker pointed out that Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, the current spiritual leader of the largest bloc of Ultra-Orthodox Jews, recently requested UTJ leader and cabinet minister Moshe Gafni to urge Netanyahu to enforce a prohibition of Jews visiting the Temple Mount in general, “specifically in the current sensitive climate”. In the end, Netanyahu strained relations with the right-wing flank of his coalition – including Ben-Gvir – by suspending Jewish access to Al-Aqsa for the last 10 days of Ramadan for the second consecutive year.

Alba agrees that it is not Ultra-Orthodox rabbis leading the way, but that a more grassroots movement within Ultra-Orthodox Jewry is under way. These members of the Ultra-Orthodox community enter mostly for spiritual reasons currently, though it is hard to predict how nationalist sentiments might develop in the future.

Tucker does not believe that there has been any fundamental shift within the Ultra-Orthodox community, but such processes take time. A leader of a Temple Movement who did not agree to be named told Al Jazeera: “The process is under way … the nucleus of 1,000 Ultra-Orthodox Jews exists.”

“In the end, Ultra-Orthodox Jews will be the most strict in this matter.”

Israel Pushed to War Outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

New Anti-Israel Axis Pushes Netanyahu to ‘Brink’ of War

719

Mel Frykberg

Sat, May 27, 2023 at 9:59 PM MDT·6 min read

Israel fears that a growing anti-Israel alliance in the Middle East is now strong enough to spark an outbreak of war in the region.

Recent months have seen strengthening alliances and unprecedented coordination between Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Iran and Syria while Benjamin Netanyahu’s chaotic right-wing coalition struggles to maintain its authority in Israel.

The possibility of a localized war has been exacerbated by recent cross-border clashes between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian military groups in Gaza and in Lebanon as well as clashes with Hezbollah and Iranian proxies across multiple borders.

Assaf Orion, a Brigadier-General in the IDF reserves, told The Daily Beast that “Israel is on the brink and facing the abyss.”

The Israeli military believes that a surge in low-level attacks in response to Israel’s treatment of Muslims and their holy sites demonstrates increasing unity between a range of militant groups. Last month’s rocket attacks launched at Israel by Hamas from southern Lebanon reportedly took place while the commander of Iran’s Quds Force hosted senior officials from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah at Iran’s embassy in Beirut.

This axis of antagonists has rarely cooperated so directly in the past.

Orion, who is a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, said that Israel was now engulfed in an unprecedented and perilous situation and these confrontations could escalate into a conflict.

“As more and more proxies have larger arsenals and communicate and coordinate more closely the chances are growing,” he told The Daily Beast. “There is a growing assessment that the theater was on the verge of a large-scale conflagration, including the possibility of its spillover into Israeli territory.”

During the last few months Israel has been involved in several cross-border clashes with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Islamic Jihad in Gaza while also carrying out numerous strikes on Iranian militias in Syria.

This month, Islamic Jihad in Gaza shot hundreds of rockets into Israel following the death of Islamic Jihad hunger striker Khader Adnan who was protesting his administrative detention, or detention without trial, in an Israeli jail.

That followed the launches from Lebanon in April, which appeared to be carried out with the support of Iran-backed Hezbollah. Those rockets were fired in response to the brutal invasion of Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque by Israeli security forces, during which worshippers were clubbed and beaten up.

“It seems the appetite for low-level skirmishes and challenges is growing because in the last two months we also saw Hezbollah carry out an ED [explosive device] attack in Israel,” said Orion.

Orion told the Daily Beast that Iran was carrying out low-level attacks through its proxies, Hezbollah in the north, Iranian militias based in Syria and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the West Bank by supplying them with weapons and funds.

Another Brigadier-General in the IDF reserves, Udi Dekel, said last month that the recent escalation “demonstrated the convergence of the Palestinian resistance axis, which relies on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with the Iran-Hezbollah axis.”

Nasser Hadian, a professor of political science at Tehran University, told The Daily Beast that Tehran was building up its presence in Syria and Lebanon by beefing up links to these Palestinian groups overseas, in order to create an “effective deterrence belt” around Israel.

“Israel knows that when this belt is completed it will be extremely difficult to attack Iran,” Hadian told The Daily Beast. “The presence in Syria and Lebanon is to a large extent a defensive posture, deterring not only the Israelis but by extension the Americans from taking military action against Iran.”

Why Unite to Attack Israel Now?

The timing of the current wave of attacks is partly related to the current hardline Israeli government and its ability to unite Islamic groups across the region.

Israel’s extremist security minister, Itimar Ben-Gvir, who was convicted of incitement to racism in 2007, has encouraged Israel’s security forces to crack down brutally on Palestinians.

The rockets from Lebanon were fired in response to the attack on Palestinian worshippers in Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine. The sanctity of the mosque is a uniting force for all Muslims in the world and any breach of its sanctity is considered an act of extreme provocation.

“The Israelis should know if they are going to attack Palestinians and continue with the occupation there is going to be retaliation,” said Haidan.

The second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, followed a provocative tour of the same compound in 2000 by then-premier Ariel Sharon while violent invasions by Israeli security forces, including the storming of the mosque in 2021, sparked an 11-day military offensive with Gaza.

Ben-Gvir also exacerbated tensions recently when he joined a provocative march by far-right Israeli extremists through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s old city to mark Jerusalem Day when Israelis celebrate the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.

Palestinians hope to make Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem the capital of their future state and have accused Israel of Judaizing the city by encouraging illegal Jewish settlement in the city while simultaneously restricting Palestinians from building.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of Palestinian political party National Initiative, told The Daily Beast that they would always respond to Israel’s provocation. “There is only one way to stop the resistance and that’s to end the occupation and end Israel’s system of apartheid,” he said.

The timing of the united attacks on Israel is also a result of Israel’s internal strife which has been viewed as a weakness by the hostile neighbors surrounding the Jewish state.

Months of protests, by Israelis condemning the new extremist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and proposed changes to the judiciary, have erupted all over the country with Israeli security forces accused of using excessive force in breaking them up.

Israeli military insiders said Hezbollah had decided it could expand its power over Israel by setting new rules of the game on the northern border, while remaining below the threshold of escalation to war, as long as it acted via Palestinian proxies.

Iran is also increasing support for pro-Palestinian proxies after several years of suffering regular Israeli military attacks on Iranian militias in Syria as well as assassinations which have targeted several high-profile Iranian military and nuclear experts.

Iran’s former ambassador to South Africa, Javid Ghorbanoghli, told The Daily Beast that these Israeli attacks were acts of aggression against an independent and sovereign country but he made it clear that Tehran still wanted to avoid a direct conflict with Israel.

“Iran has been patient so far and has not retaliated,” he said. “I think Iran does not want to fall into this trap.”

For now, the fight continues below the radar, but it may only be a matter of time before the low-level attacks spawn a more dangerous and deadly conflict.

Hamas strongly condemns storming outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Hamas strongly condemns storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist Israeli minister

The Israeli occupation’s minister of National Security’s breaking into the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards, accompanied by a group of extremist settlers, highlights the serious threat facing the holy site under the new fascist government.

Commenting on such aggression by far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas emphasizes that the Palestinian people are determined to defend the Muslims’ third holiest site.

Hamas holds the Israeli occupation’s government responsible for the repercussions of desecrating the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Mohammed Hamada

Israel destroyed Islamic Jihad rocket production sites outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

How Israel exposed and destroyed Islamic Jihad rocket production sites in Gaza

Every operation has many critical moments, and one of them is the stage for choosing targets to attack.

As soon as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fired rockets from Gaza about two and a half weeks ago towards Sderot, as a sign of solidarity with the death of security prisoner Khader Adnan, the IDF’s OC Southern Command Col. Liron Batito was asked to pull out the secret attack plan: “Black Cloak” – a booklet of dozens of pages that included quality targets for the attack including photos on PIJ senior officials and terrorist infrastructures.

“About a hundred rockets in the middle of the day in Sderot? The sheer scope surprised us,” said an IDF senior officer, adding that “with Hamas, we were quite upset with Islamic Jihad because they did not live up to their commitment. It was clear that Israel could not be complacent and that a different kind of response was required.”

The Military Intelligence Directorate stated that not only did Hamas have no part in the rocket barrages, but that the senior Hamas leaders in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, had no intention of taking part in the escalation if it erupted, and therefore the IDF had focused only on Islamic Jihad commanders.

Operation Shield and Arrow: The critical moments

Every operation has many critical moments, and one of them is the stage for choosing targets to attack. Around each of the goals, there is an in-depth discussion about what the consequences are and what the achievements are, especially when they do not want to drag Hamas into a direct confrontation with Israel.

After recommendations were drawn up at the Southern Command, they were examined by senior Shin Bet Intelligence Division officials.

Unlike Operation Breaking Dawn, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi decided to open with Israel severely damaging Islamic Jihad’s weapons development, production and storage infrastructure to create a huge shock effect on an organization that receives full funding from Iran.

After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval of the operation plan was received, a different kind of challenge presented itself, which was thwarting three different PIJ senior officials at a convenient time for a simultaneous attack. 

Problems in launching a counter-attack

The high bar set by the Chief of Staff created delays in the launch of such an operation whose name was changed from “Black Cloak” to Operation Shield and Arrow, because every time, there used to be a different kind of problem: inconvenient timing for an attack due to weather conditions, or being surrounded by civilians not involved in terrorism that would prevent such an attack from happening.

“The time that has passed has allowed us to organize a set of critical infrastructure targets for an attack, with which we critically optimized our defense through our attack efforts,” said an Israeli Air Force senior officer. “We have damaged their launching capabilities, which without question, would have included launches on Gush Dan.

“This is as a result of deep intelligence work, planning together with the Shin Bet’s operational unit, which was a key factor in this operation,” he continued.

The intelligence achievement was done thanks to one official who was responsible for cracking the most secret activities of Islamic Jihad and Hamas, as well as the source of their power – which in addition to weapons storage facilities, also included the smuggling routes to the Gaza Strip of weapons, production machines and materials from which explosive charges, rockets, mortar bombs and launchers are mainly produced from.

One minute after the three targeted attacks on Islamic Jihad officials, the IAF launched broad attacks in the entire Gaza Strip, bombing 12 PIJ targets that included a tunnel that contained the largest workshop for the production of rockets, laboratories for the production of explosives, launch pits and weapons depots. 

By the end of the operation, the IDF had attacked 32 infrastructure targets. “From these sites, rockets would have been fired at Israeli citizens and the Iron Dome will have to deal with them in the best-case scenario,” explained a senior IDF officer.

The targets that were attacked

One of the high-quality reinforcement targets attacked during Operation Shield and Arrow includes a chemical material storage site that was very difficult to smuggle into the Gaza Strip and was built in a civilian environment.

“This is a target that we attacked in Operation Breaking Dawn. They restored the site and we located it again and attacked it. These precise actions create a sense of hostility in Islamic Jihad; they moved the site to another location,” an IDF official told Walla.

Another location that was targeted was a tunnel where a factory for the production of rockets was built. Islamic Jihad reportedly built the site deep in the ground because it wanted to upgrade its level of survivability against attacks by the IAF. An IDF lieutenant who specializes in visual intelligence revealed that they used AI to locate production workshops and that “we have very skilled researchers with accumulated knowledge who know how to identify signs to locate production workshops.”

A preliminary assessment by the IDF’s research division, Islamic Jihad’s ammunition sites were “completely wiped out” including the main rocket production areas. When asked about the possibility of Islamic Jihad possibly borrowing rockets from Hamas, an IDF official said that “they don’t usually do that.”

That official, who will finish his position in a few months and conclude his tenure, said that “we’ve struck at the heart at the sources of power for Islamic Jihad and Hamas all the time, even on a routine basis. We are also making things difficult for Hamas. There is no entrance from the sea. We also have 90% in the tunnels. My doubt is only in the crossings, specifically the Rafah Border Crossing which may be an entry point for things, it is important to understand that we are hitting the heart of Hamas’ production all the time.”

Israelis Taunt From Outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Israeli crowds chant racist slogans, taunt Palestinians during Jerusalem Day march

World May 18, 2023 5:46 PM EDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Jewish nationalists, some of them chanting “Death to Arabs” and other racist slogans, paraded on Thursday through the main Palestinian thoroughfare of Jerusalem’s Old City, in an annual display that caused new friction between Jews and Palestinians in the tense city.

The marchers, who were overwhelmingly male Orthodox teens and young men, were celebrating “Jerusalem Day,” which marks Israel’s capture of the Old City 56 years ago. The Palestinians see the event as a provocation. Two years ago, the parade helped fuel an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Throughout the afternoon, dozens of groups hoisting blue and white Israeli flags streamed through Damascus Gate – the entry to the area’s Muslim Quarter – as they made their way across the Old City to the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray. The area is normally bustling on Thursday afternoons with Palestinians doing their errands ahead of the weekend.

The boisterous crowds danced and chanted Jewish religious songs outside Damascus Gate as scores of Israeli police stood guard. In several cases, groups chanted slogans such as “Death to Arabs,” “Mohammed is Dead” and “May Your Village Burn” as they stared at Palestinian onlookers. Some of the youths wore clothing identifying themselves as members of Lehava – a far-right Jewish supremacist group that opposes assimilation or romantic relationships between Jews and Palestinians.

Israeli police, who had said that violence and incitement would not be tolerated, kept the sides apart but did little to stop the chants. Palestinian businesses were either shuttered or empty, and marchers occasionally threw water bottles at nearby journalists, eliciting cheers from the crowd. Police said two people were arrested for throwing objects.

Several lawmakers in Israel’s new far-right governing coalition, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined the procession. Under heavy police guard, Ben-Gvir waved to the crowd as he made his way into Damascus Gate and then high-fived security forces inside. Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force, is a former far-right activist and hard-line West Bank settler who has been convicted of incitement and support for a Jewish terror group.

While there were repeated scuffles and confrontations between Jews and Palestinians, the parade appeared to pass without serious violence. By nightfall, the massive crowd had converged in the plaza in front of the Western Wall.

Jerusalem Day is meant to celebrate Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites, in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its capital, but its annexation of east Jerusalem is not internationally recognized. The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

The event has been a source of friction over the years, and over 2,500 police were deployed for this year’s parade, with hundreds more stationed around the city.

Israel decided to allow the marchers to take the traditional route through Damascus Gate, instead of an alternate path circumventing the Muslim Quarter, despite an uptick in Israeli-Palestinian violence over the past year and heavy fighting last week between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Ahead of the march, Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group called on Palestinians to oppose the event.

On Thursday, dozens of Palestinian protesters gathered along the perimeter fence separating Gaza and Israel, raising Palestinian flags, burning tires and Israeli flags, and throwing stones toward the heavily guarded frontier.

Israeli troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets toward protesters, hurting three people, according to local media reports. There was no immediate comment from Gaza’s health authorities.

The protest ended without further violence that could have threatened a flare-up. It comes days after an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire ended five days of fighting between Israel and the smaller, more radical Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian president in the occupied West Bank, said allowing the march to snake through Palestinian areas of the Old City “will only lead to a rise in tension and could lead to an explosion.”

In a test ahead of the parade, nearly 1,300 Jews visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site earlier Thursday, about half the number of last year, according to Beyadenu, an activist group that promotes Jewish visits to the site. Police were seen escorting groups of Jewish visitors walking through the compound and five members of the far-right coalition government also arrived at the site, the group said.

Jordan, Israel’s neighbor which acts as a custodian of the Jerusalem shrine, condemned the Jewish visits there and the trajectory of the march. Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, which established ties with Israel as part of the 2020 Abraham Accords, also condemned the visits to the site.

The hilltop compound is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, home to the ancient Jewish Temples, and is the holiest site in Judaism. Palestinians revere it as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Under longstanding agreements, Jews are permitted to visit the site but not pray there. But an increase in such visits, along with scenes of some Jews quietly praying, has raised concerns among Palestinians that Israel is trying to alter the status quo — a charge Israel denies.

The competing claims to the site lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and often spill over into violence, including a 2021 war between Israel and Hamas.

AP correspondents Fares Akram in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, and Jack Jeffery in Cairo contributed to this report.

Hamas calls on Palestinians to confront Israel outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

FILE – Israelis wave national flags in front of Damascus Gate outside Jerusalem’s Old City to mark Jerusalem Day, an Israeli holiday celebrating the capture of the Old City during the 1967 Mideast war, Sunday, May 29, 2022. The ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, called on Palestinians to confront a flag-waving parade planned by Jewish nationalists through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City.(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Hamas calls on Palestinians to confront Israeli victory parade in Jerusalem

Wed, May 17, 2023, 8:33 AM MDT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday called on Palestinians to confront a flag-waving parade planned by Jewish nationalists through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The comments by Hamas added to the already heightened tensions ahead of Thursday’s march and threatened to reignite fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, just days after a cease-fire took hold. Two years ago, an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas erupted during the annual march.

While Hamas stayed out of the latest round of fighting, officials with the ruling Islamic militant group urged Palestinians to oppose Thursday’s parade.

“We ask the people of Jerusalem to mobilize the masses to confront the march of the flags in Jerusalem tomorrow,” said Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official in Gaza.

Hamas also urged Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and inside Israel to “clash with the occupation” and said it would hold a demonstration with Palestinian flags along Gaza’s heavily fortified frontier with Israel.

The parade is meant to mark “Jerusalem Day,” Israel’s annual celebration of its capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites, in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel considers the entire city to be its eternal capital. But the international community does not recognize Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem, and the Palestinians claim the area as the capital of a future state.

In a speech marking Jerusalem Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has broken “new horizons” since capturing east Jerusalem.

“We are committed to safeguarding the security of Jerusalem, to ensuring its prosperity and to continuing its momentum,” he said. “We are also doing this against all of the threats around us.”

Each year, thousands of Israeli nationalists participate in the march, waving blue and white Israeli flags and singing songs as they walk through the Muslim Quarter and toward the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray.

Israelis describe the parade as a festive event. But in past years, it has been marred by anti-Arab racist chants and violence toward local Palestinians by some of the marchers.

Adding to the combustible atmosphere, large numbers of Jews are expected to visit Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site early Thursday before the parade.

The hilltop compound is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, home to the biblical Jewish Temples, and is the holiest site in Judaism. Palestinians call it the Noble Sanctuary, and today it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Under longstanding agreements, Jews are permitted to visit the compound but not pray there. But an increase in such visits in recent years, along with scenes of some Jews quietly praying, have raised concerns among Palestinians that Israel is trying to alter the status quo — a charge Israel denies.

The competing claims to the site lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and often spill over into violence.

Chief Supt Yoram Segal, a senior police official in Jerusalem, said police would deploy some 2,500 officers on Thursday to ensure the day passes without violence.

“We are going to deal harshly with anyone who tries to disturb the peace,” he told reporters.

The march comes less than a week after Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza reached a cease-fire that ended five days of heavy fighting.

Hamas, the de facto government in Gaza responsible for the plight of the territory’s 2.3 million people, stayed out of the fighting, while Israel avoided attacking the militant group.

Reham Owda, an independent Gaza-based analyst, said that neither side appears interested in resuming cross-border violence.

“No one is interested in fierce escalation,” she said, but she said the parade could trigger “limited, symbolic” firing of rockets that could in turn spark Israeli airstrikes in retaliation.

If violence erupts in Jerusalem, Hamas could jump into the fray, as it did two years ago.

“The resistance is ready to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevent the Judaization of Jerusalem,” al-Masri said.

___

Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Hamas calls on Palestinians to confront Israelis outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Hamas calls on Palestinians to confront Israel victory parade in Jerusalem

Israelis wave national flags in front of Damascus Gate outside Jerusalem’s Old City to mark Jerusalem Day, an Israeli holiday celebrating the capture of the Old City during the 1967 Mideast war, Sunday, May 29, 2022

RESISTANCE fighters from Hamas today called on Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip to confront a flag-waving parade planned by Jewish nationalists through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The comments by Hamas added to the already heightened tensions ahead of Thursday’s march and threatened to reignite fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, just days after a ceasefire took hold.

Two years ago, an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas erupted during the annual march.

While Hamas stayed out of the latest round of fighting, officials with the group urged Palestinians to oppose Thursday’s parade.

“We ask the people of Jerusalem to mobilise the masses to confront the march of the flags in Jerusalem tomorrow,” said Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official in Gaza.

Hamas also urged Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and inside Israel to “clash with the occupation” and said it would hold a demonstration with Palestinian flags along Gaza’s heavily fortified frontier with Israel.

The parade is meant to mark so-called Jerusalem Day, Israel’s annual celebration of its capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 six-day war.

Each year, thousands of Israeli nationalists participate in the march through the Muslim Quarter and towards the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray.

Iran Tramples Outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Iran is stepping up pressure on its proxies to join forces against Israel

Tehran’s push to establish a “joint operational mechanism” in Lebanon for Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad is causing friction within the terror groups, especially Hamas.

By Baruch Yadid

(May 16, 2023 / JNS)

The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar hosts a meeting with members of Palestinian factions in Gaza City, on April 13, 2022. Photo by Attia Muhammed/Flash90.

Heavy Iranian pressure on Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to establish a “joint operational mechanism” to coordinate activities against Israel is reportedly causing internal divisions among the Iranian proxies.

The alliance of Iranian-backed terror groups known as the “Jerusalem Axis” is Iran’s counterweight to the Abraham Accords, and finds support in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Arab and Lebanese sources indicate that Iran has been actively working towards establishing a shared operational headquarters for Hezbollah, Hamas and PIJ in southern Lebanon. There are indications of plans to create a joint center to coordinate rocket attacks on Israel.

While the move seeks to strengthen the Jerusalem Axis’s military capabilities, the terror groups themselves are reportedly less than enthusiastic about the plan.

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, has expressed opposition to the initiative, preferring to maintain a more neutral stance. However, Saleh al-Arouri, an influential Hamas figure reportedly based in Turkey, supports closer ties with Iran and is leading the push for an “Iranian option.”

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, too, prefers to maintain his status as an independent proxy rather than fully aligning with Hamas.

As for PIJ, it is directly funded by Iran to the tune of some $100 million annually. Tehran gave PIJ permission to pursue the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire which ended a five-day conflict with Israel.

The heightened coordination between Iran and its proxies was evidenced by a series of meetings involving high-ranking officials earlier this year.

In one meeting of note, Esmail Ghaani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, held discussions with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas deputy Arouri and senior officials from PIJ and Hezbollah at the Iranian embassy in Lebanon. On April 6, shortly after Ghaani’s visit, a barrage of rockets was fired at Israel from Lebanon, strongly suggesting a coordinated effort.

Israel responded to the rockets by targeting Hamas-affiliated sites in southern Lebanon. The following day, Hassan Nasrallah held a meeting with Haniyeh, further indicating Hezbollah’s involvement and approval of the rocket fire.

These events underscore the close coordination that already exists between Iran and its proxies, which Tehran is now seeking to extend to the operational sphere.

The establishment of an operational mechanism in southern Lebanon aligns with Iran’s broader objective with regard to Israel. It also potentially aligns with the goals of Hezbollah, as by activating Hamas from Lebanese soil, the Lebanese terror group can shield both its own assets and those of Iran from Israeli retaliation.

However, Hezbollah faces internal political pressure in Lebanon, including from its own Shi’ite community, discouraging any action that could potentially cause a destructive conflict akin to the 2006 war. Hezbollah’s delicate position in Lebanon may lead the terror group to seek an alternative solution.

For Hamas, however, the situation is far more complex; Tehran’s proposed coordination mechanism would potentially turn Hamas into a de facto proxy of Hezbollah.

Senior Hamas leaders, including Sinwar, who maintains close ties with Egypt, and Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader associated with Qatar, find such an arrangement to be unacceptable.

This is reportedly causing tension with the pro-Iran group in Hamas led by al-Arouri.

Which camp ultimately gets the upper hand remains to be seen.

Russian Horn Creating Unstoppable Submarine Nuclear Missiles: Daniel 7

Sailors of the Russian Navy stand on the nuclear-powered submarine Knyaz Vladimirt in 2021. Russia’s Defense Ministry said work is underway to develop a new submarine-launched ICBM.ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/SPUTNIK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Russia Creating Unstoppable Submarine Nuclear Missiles —Report

BY ISABEL VAN BRUGEN ON 5/15/23 AT 9:08 AM ED

Russia is working on a new underwater intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that will eventually replace the Bulava, according to a media report.

Daily Russian newspaper Izvestia cited unnamed Defense Ministry sources as saying work is underway to begin the development of an intercontinental-range, submarine-launched ballistic missile.

The Russian Navy commands one of the most diverse submarine fleets in the world. Some are capable of carrying ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, which Moscow considers key to its strategic deterrent. The nation has been working to improve its submarine fleet since the Kursk sank in 2000.

In July 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new policy on naval operations until 2030, which highlights the Russian Navy’s improved capabilities and its evolving strategic and operational role.

The policy notes that Russia’s navy has “a high level of readiness for actions, including strikes on critically important enemy targets.”

“With the development of high-precision weapons, the navy faces a qualitatively new objective: destruction of enemy’s military and economic potential by striking its vital facilities from the sea.”

The new underwater ICBM, which is reportedly in extremely early stages of development, will eventually replace the RSM-56 Bulava, according to Izvestia.

It cited Russia’s Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, as saying previously that new missiles would have to be capable of overcoming all advanced missile defense systems “of any enemy,” while providing high accuracy and an increased flight range from remote areas.

When completed, it should become the main armament of the future generation of strategic submarines, Russian Defense Ministry sources told the news outlet.

Sources told Izvestia that developers will begin working on the appearance and design of the new missile after documents are approved and coordinated with customers and contractors.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, the submarine-launched Bulava, which is designed to carry a nuclear warhead, is currently a core component of Russia’s future strategic nuclear force.

The Bulava was designed to be deployed on Russia’s nuclear-powered Borey-class submarines, which can hold between 12 and 16 missiles.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in November 2022 that it fired a Bulava in the northern White Sea with a dummy payload as part of a test of a Borey-class submarine.

By 2030, the country “must possess powerful balanced fleets in all strategic areas,” including ships intended to carry out missions in near and far sea zones and ocean areas, as well as naval aviation and coastal forces equipped with effective high-precision strike weapons, and advanced basing and supply systems, the 2017 policy states.

Israeli tanks shell Hamas posts outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Credit: © Reuters.

Israeli tanks shell Hamas posts in Gaza in response to rocket launch

• IANS
• World News
• 2023-05-14 22:46

Jerusalem, May 15 (IANS) Israeli tanks fired shells into two Hamas posts in the Gaza Strip in response to a rocket fired at Israel amid a fragile truce after days of deadly fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group.

Israeli tanks “struck two military posts belonging to the Hamas organisation in the northern Gaza Strip,” an Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the fire was “a response” to a rocket launched earlier on Sunday evening from the Gaza Strip.

The rocket exploded in an open field in southern Israel, triggering sirens in communities in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip. No injuries or damage have been reported, Xinhua news agency reported.

No group claimed responsibility for the rocket but a source in the Joint Operations Room of the armed Palestinian factions in Gaza told Xinhua the rocket was fired due to a “technical error” and confirmed their commitment to the cease-fire.

The five-day confrontation started after an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday killed three senior PIJ leaders in the Gaza Strip.

During the fighting, Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes, killing at least 33 Palestinians and injuring more than 150 others, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said that 1,469 rockets were launched toward Israel from Gaza, among which 1,139 hit Israeli territory.

According to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service, two people were killed in Israel during the five-day conflict.