On Sunday, Israel’s Jerusalem Day celebrations were marked with historic highs as well as dark points of Palestinian violence.
According to police reports, a total of 2,600 Jews ascended the Temple Mount, an astounding number especially considering the Palestinian opposition. The hours allotted for Jews to visit the site were cut short at 10:40 AM, 20 minutes ahead of schedule. An estimated 500 Jews were left waiting, barred from entering the site. The gates reopened to Jews from 1:30-2:45 but Jews were hurried through, permitted five minutes inside the compound.
The Jews that were allowed to go up sang Hallel out loud, singing ‘Shema,’ prostrating themselves on the stones, and even waving Israeli flags, all acts which are prohibited by police though protected by Israeli law.
The Palestinians responded with shouts of “Allahu Akhbar” (Allah is greater). A group of Arabs also paraded Palestinian Authority flags on the Temple Mount.
A senior Islamic Jihad official issued a statement: “Follow the events in Jerusalem – surprises are expected in the coming hours.”
“The situation on the ground in the coming hours” would determine the Gaza faction’s reaction, the source indicated.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett responded, saying that the parade would go ahead as planned.
“Waving the Israeli flag in the capital of Israel is perfectly acceptable,” he said. “I ask the participants to celebrate in a responsible and dignified manner.”
With Jews banned from the Temple Mount, the celebrations moved to other sections of the city. , Jews moved their celebrations to other parts of the city. Palestinians and Jewish Israelis clashed in Jerusalem’s Old City near Damascus Gate.
— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) May 29, 2022
Many media mistakenly identify the day as “Flag Day,” and the festivities as a nationalistic event carried out by a fringe political element; this is Jerusalem Day, an Israeli national holiday commemorating the 55th reunion of the Jewish people with their holiest site, the Temple Mount. The IDF conquered the Temple Mount in the 1967 Six-Day War. It is celebrated annually on 28 Iyar on the Hebrew calendar and is marked officially throughout Israel with state ceremonies and memorial services.
The historical backdrop for the holiday began with the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan, which established Jerusalem as an international city. In the ensuing War of Independence, where the newly established Israel was attacked on all fronts by seven Arab nations, Jordan illegally occupied the eastern section of the city, including the Temple Mount. Jews were evicted from the city and prohibited from visiting their holy sites. Under Jordanian rule, half of the Old City’s 58 synagogues were demolished, and the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives was plundered for its tombstones, which were used as paving stones and building materials.
In 1967, as the Arab nations, led by Egypt, began preparing to wage another all-fronts attempt to annihilate the Jewish state, Israel sent a message to King Hussein of Jordan, saying that Israel would not attack Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria as long as the Jordanian front remained quiet. Urged by Egyptian pressure and based on misleading intelligence reports, Jordan began shelling civilian locations in Israel, to which Israel responded on 6 June by opening the eastern front. The following day, 7 June 1967 (28 Iyar 5727), Israel captured the entirety of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount.
It should be noted that the Temple Mount is described in the Bible as being the site of both Jewish Temples and is universally acknowledged by Jews as their holiest site. The Palestinians have perpetuated a known historical fallacy, identifying Mohammad’s “miraculous night journey” described in the Koran, claiming that the “Aqsa Mosque” (furthest mosque) described in the journey is located in Jerusalem. Most Islamic scholars refute this, identifying the Aqsa Mosque as located in Al-Ju’ranah in Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Province. Referring to Al Aqsa as being located in Jerusalem is, in fact, deeply insulting to all Sunni.
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