When Islamist terrorist Mu’taz Hijazi shot Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick four times at point-blank range he was aiming to kill. Only by a miracle did Glick survive, although he still has a long road to recovery ahead of him.
But Hijazi was not just trying to kill Glick. As Likud MK Tzipi Hotoveli pointed out during a visit to Judaism’s holiest site soon after the attack, by brazenly targeting one of the most visible figureheads in the campaign for Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount Hijazi also hoped to snuff out the movement he represents, which has been gaining considerable traction in recent years despite fierce Muslim opposition.
Subsequent death threats were sent to other high-profile activists, MKs and even government ministers, warning them that they would be next if they continued to call for equal prayer rights for Jews on Judaism’s holiest site.
But a recent poll has revealed that the assassination attempt may have boomeranged.
Conducted by Miskar – The Institute for Surveys in the National Religious Sector, the poll revealed that Jewish attitudes towards the Temple Mount have indeed been effected by the shooting – but not in the way Hijazi had intended.
Among other things, a group of 505 Israeli adults who identified with the religious-Zionist sector were asked how the shooting had effected their stance towards visiting the Temple Mount.
Just under 74% remained unchanged in their convictions. 33.9% of those polled answered: “Beforehand I wanted to go up (to the Temple Mount), and now I definitely will go up”; in contrast, 39.9% said they didn’t want to visit before and still didn’t want to.
Among the 15% whose views had changed as a result of the shooting, just 2.1% said that they had considered visiting beforehand, but had been put off following the attack.
However, a full 13% answered that whereas beforehand they hadn’t wanted to visit the Temple Mount, following the shooting they intended to do so.
The results reflect a tangible sense of defiance among many Israeli Jews to attempts to prevent them worshiping at or even visiting Judaism’s holiest site.
There is a debate among rabbinic scholars concerning whether anyone (Jew or non-Jew alike) should be permitted to ascend the Temple Mount, given its holy status and various questions concerning ritual purity. But even among those opposed, many resent the current situation whereby Jews who do wish to exercise their right to pray there are forbidden from doing so at the behest of Muslim authorities – and often prevented from even visiting due to Muslim violence.
On Sunday, high-profile religious-Zionist figure Rabbi Benny Lau announced that he had changed his stance regarding the Temple Mount, in response to recent events including the attempted assassination and accompanying Muslim riots and intimidation. Whereas before he had opposed visits, he said he was now very much in favor.
“Enough is enough,” he said in an interview with Galei Yisrael radio, going on to level criticism against those who brandish rabbinic opinions which prohibit ascent to the Mount to further their political agendas.
“It can’t be that you (Muslims) stand on the Mount, pray as you wish, administer it as you wish via the Waqf administration, and the Israeli people should be humiliated to the lowest depths. This is not possible,” he said.
