Palestinians warn of a Jewish and Christian Zionist plot to threaten Al-Aqsa Mosque, starting with a red heifer from Texas – Mondoweiss

The last thing Palestinians need is another crisis in their homeland. It is not enough that Israel continues its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip with acute famine, more daily restrictions on essential humanitarian aid, more Israeli massacres in Gaza and increasing settler pogroms in the West Bank, where neither the Palestinians nor their land are protected. A regional war in the Middle East still looms as a distinct possibility as long as Netanyahu thinks he can stay out of jail by continuing the violence and getting it endorsed by the United States.

Under the radar is another overlooked threat to regional stability that could easily expand beyond the Middle East into Asia and Africa and draw the United States deeper into the fray. On April 9, 2024, a number of Palestinian Christian leaders released a bulletin and petition warning the world of the threats posed by Israeli religious extremists and Christian Zionists who plan to implement a bizarre but deadly plot to demolish the Dome of the Rock. The Aqsa Mosque must make way for the Third Jewish Temple.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque (also known as “Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa” or the Farthest Mosque) is the third holiest site in Islam and is referred to in Sura 17 of the Quran – the Night Journey of the Prophet Muhammad . These holy places mark the very place where, according to tradition, the Prophet ascended to heaven. Al-Aqsa is also called the Haram al-Sharif or ‘the Noble Shrine’, which reflects the same name for the mosque surrounding the Qa’aba in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam. Any transgression or attempt to damage Al-Aqsa or the adjacent shrine known as the Dome of the Rock could provoke a response from some 2 billion Muslims around the world.

Unnoticed in the largely sanitized Western media reporting on the crisis in the Gaza Strip, the alarm was raised by Hamas spokesman Abu-Ubaida on the 100th day of Israel’s genocide (January 14, 2024). He sounded the alarm to warn the Islamic world and anyone listening that Israel recently brought a certain breed of cow to a settlement in the West Bank. What seemed to some an irrelevant or bizarre comment was a serious warning to Muslim leaders that a sinister plot was afoot involving the Haram al-Sharif.

Israel had recently relaxed its regulations banning livestock from entering the country and allowed five red heifers to be transferred from a Christian Zionist farm in Texas to an illegal settlement in the West Bank. For the past thirty years, several Christian Zionist farmers in the US have attempted to breed a 100% pure red heifer that, according to an obscure ancient priestly cleansing process recorded from the Book of Numbers (chapter 19), could begin various rituals with commentary by the Jewish sage Maimonides leading to animal sacrifices in a rebuilt Third Temple. However, it was virtually impossible to find a pure red heifer before the necessary cleansing ritual could be performed in the revived Third Temple.

Several ultra-Orthodox Israeli Zionist organizations and Christian Zionist groups around the world have campaigned for the Third Temple and control of what they call the Temple Mount. The event that stimulated speculation about the Third Temple was Israel’s conquest of Arab East Jerusalem in June 1967, which was quickly annexed by Israel. Both Christian and Jewish religious extremists interpreted Israel’s victory as the beginning of a new Messianic era and the countdown to the last days of history culminating in the first or second coming of the Messiah, depending on your religious preference.

Both ultra-Orthodox Jews and fundamentalist Christians agreed that the construction of the Third Jewish Temple was a key stage in the Messianic era. There were only two obstacles in their path. The first was to locate a red heifer that was completely pure and had never been yoked, as prescribed in Numbers 19:1-3. With the advent of modern science and genetic engineering, several Christian Zionist farmers in the United States began the task of producing a pure red heifer. Over the years there have been several near successes, but in every case a white or black hair disqualified the almost sacred bovine.

The second major obstacle, however, remains somewhat daunting. It is none other than the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Since the late 1960s, there have been a series of violent attempts by both Jewish and Christian extremists to blow up the Muslim sites. One memorable attempt occurred on March 10, 1982, when 45 ultra-Orthodox religious extremists known as the Lifta group climbed the wall to the Haram al-Sharif armed with explosives. A Muslim guard alerted the police, who quickly arrived and arrested the perpetrators. At the time, the Israeli government was committed to upholding the sanctity of Islamic sites and honored what was known as the religious status quo in Jerusalem.

Three weeks after the Lifta operation, a quarter-page advertisement appeared in the Jerusalem Post demanding the release of the 45 extremists, calling them “serious, faithful sons of Israel.” The ad was placed by the US-based Committee of Concerned Evangelicals for Freedom of Worship on the Temple Mount. The committee’s three co-chairs were wealthy oil magnate Terry Risenhoover of Oklahoma, California businessman Doug Krieger and the Rev. Ken Loach of Houston. What the three had in common was the extreme Christian Zionist belief that the Third Temple had to be built to hasten the Battle of Armageddon, the Rapture and the return of Jesus. They increased the legal costs and within a year the militant attackers were released from prison with minimal sentences. The expensive legal fees and other expenses were borne by evangelicals who received a tax write-off because the fund received a 501(c)3 tax exemption. (see Donald Wagner and Hassan Haddad, All in the name of the Bible, Brattleboro, Vermont: Amana Books, 1986, pages 25-26).

Most of the militant Jews in the Lifta operation were disciples of Rabbi Meir Kahane Kach (“Thus”) Movement, was declared a terrorist organization in the United States and later in Israel. Before Israel banned the Kach organization, Kahane had a small but powerful following in several militant settlements such as Kiryat Arba, bordering Hebron. Israeli journalist Gershom Gorenberg described the situation Kach party platform that includes “making sexual relations between a Jew and an Arab (Palestinian) a capital crime; the party’s ultimate goal was the expulsion of all Arabs (Palestinians) from Israel and the occupied territory.” Kahane’s small group of aggressive followers peppered Jerusalem with posters demanding that Israel “erase the mosques from the Temple Mount.” Today, both Jewish and Christian Zionist websites offer posters of the Haram al-Sharif or Temple Mount with the Third Temple inserted in the place of Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. (Gershom Gorenberg, The end of days: Fundamentalism and the Battle for the Temple Mount (Oxford University Press, 2000); page 128).

Kahane may be gone, but there is a resurgence of his racist views not only in Kiryat Arba, but also in the settlements in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Israel, including several members of Netayahu’s cabinet. They include Finance Minister Bezalel Smoltrich, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, National Knesset Security Chairman Zikva Fogel, Minister of the Status of Women Mai Golan, and Zvi Sukkot, Chairman of Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power Party , to name just a few. . All are outspoken disciples of Kahane Zionism and support the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and the destruction of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is no wonder that militant Jewish extremists have been given more privileges to “pray” or disrupt Islamic prayers near Al-Aqsa and sometimes gain access to the mosque. Netanyahu’s rule has popularized racist Kahane views more than at any time in recent history, raising the possibility of Israeli political support and weaponizing an attack on Islamic holy sites. The arrival of the prized red heifer could be the first step toward that frightening reality.

There is also concern that these views will influence a larger portion of Israelis, including secular Jews. According to a Ha’aretz In a poll taken a decade ago, 43% of religious Jews and a surprising 31% of secular Israelis supported removing the Islamic shrines. Today, estimates suggest more than 70% of religious Jews support a temple to replace Islamic sites, while 40-50% of secular Israelis support the project.

Take Beth Kronfield, a secular American Jew who made aliyah and founded the organization “High on Har” which provides tours of the Haram al-Sharif to promote the construction of the Third Temple. Kromfield recently told CBS-TV: “It is so important for the Jews to return and rebuild the temple. It is not about taking anything from our Muslim brothers and sisters… It is about preserving this place and being the guardians of the house of God for all people.” Apparently Beth is either ignorant or simply does not care about the violent and sacrilegious impact such an act will have on all Palestinians and the Muslim world.

Sabeel’s petition is an urgent appeal to people of all religious beliefs and of no specific faith to oppose this dangerous plot that weaponizes false religious beliefs and turns them into a political nightmare.

Of great importance is the growing political support for these views, not only among the Netanyahu government, but also among Republican members of the US Congress. Recently, a leader of the Third Temple Movement, Yishak Mamo of Uvne Jerusalem, addressed the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance convened by U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. CBS-TV described the gathering as a “who’s who” among fundamentalist Christian Zionists, including Republican members of Congress. Mamo explained the practical results of the project and introduced Byron Stinson, the Texas rancher who helped raise the red heifers. Stinson told the audience that the construction of the Third Temple would herald the Battle of Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus.

If there is any hope after Israel’s attempt to utterly erase Palestinian lives, history and presence in the Gaza Strip, it is how the ugly dark side of Zionism that rules Israel today has been exposed as a fascist, ultra-nationalist regime that is committing nothing less than an outright genocide of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. The long-term solution and perhaps the only hope for security for Palestinians and Israelis is the decolonization of Palestine and the demonization of Israel. It’s a tall order, but the process is already underway.

But all hopes will be dashed if the Netanyahu government or even a post-Netanyahu group of fanatical Christian and Jewish Zionists try to destroy the Harm-al Sharif. The removal of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque to pave the way for a Third Jewish Temple will unleash unimaginable cycles of violence and repression and must be avoided at all costs.