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The state disclaims responsibility and the ascent to the Temple Mount could turn into a disaster Israel today

2022-07-22T06:11:33.370Z


The combination between a growing number of Jews who want to go up to the Temple Mount, and the chaos in the queues, could lead to a disaster • The evidence from Jerusalem Day ("Standing for two hours in the heat, crowded in line on top of each other, people passing leftover bottled water") shows the need for special preparation for T Bab • Except that the government ministries once again disclaim responsibility


In recent weeks, the media have been covering the tiresome queues in Israel. Vacations abroad are a sacred right, and when they are damaged - the knights of democracy are furious.

No one, however, is interested in another line, of those seeking to reach the heart of the capital.

When the right to ascend to the Temple Mount is violated, no one makes a sound.

On the last Jerusalem Day, about 4,000 people asked to go up to the Temple Mount, a record number of visitors in one day.

Old men, women and children stood for long hours in the scorching sun, without water and in severe overcrowding.

They were forced to squeeze through a narrow sleeve at the entrance to the security checkpoint and were crushed against the walls.

In two weeks, the people of Israel will observe the fast of Tisha B'Av, and thousands are again expected to go up to the Temple Mount.

Just before a Mount Miron-style overcrowding disaster happens again, God forbid, the "Bidino" organization issues a report that seeks to alert those responsible for the situation and demand that they prepare accordingly.

"Government ministries must take responsibility for the ascension of Jews to the Temple Mount, formulate solutions and carry out preliminary preparations for key Ascension days when thousands of Jews are expected to ascend the Mount," the recommendations state.

The report also recommends placing ushers on behalf of the Ministry of Religious Services to guide the aliyah, distribute water and take care of shady spots throughout the waiting area at the entrance.

According to the report, construction work is required to expand and regularize the entrance to the Temple Mount, and to build a new and safe bridge. Among other things, it is proposed to extend the visiting hours of the Jews on rush hour days and allow immigrants to enter the Temple Mount on a regular basis rather than in small and limited groups.

"Continuous neglect".

nissan,

"This is years of neglect, because no one cares," says Tom Nisani (33), chairman of "Bidino" and the author of the report, "at the time, when ten people went up to the Temple Mount a day or Yehuda Glick one day, it didn't bother No one. The point is that the state has not adapted itself, it does not understand that things have changed, that thousands come every religious or national day.

"What we saw on Jerusalem Day was a horror. Hundreds standing in the sun, without ushers, without anyone to supervise. It was terrible and could have ended in children suffocating in line, not on us, or adults collapsing from dehydration, God forbid. On Tisha B'av the danger is doubled because it is not only overcrowding but also Fear of drying out the fasts. We are trying with all our might to prevent a disaster."

"Collective punishment"

Nisani began to climb the Temple Mount seven years ago.

He was born in Tel Adashim, grew up in Afula, and currently lives with his wife and two children in Hai Zahav.

After ten years of service in the Intelligence Corps of the IDF, he became the field coordinator of "If You Want" and was active in the "Students for the Temple Mount" organization, which later became institutionalized and became an organized association under the name "Bidino".

"I did not grow up in a religious family, and even today in my sins I am not a religious person, but I am a person of faith," Nisani testifies about himself, "the uniqueness of 'Bidino' is that the activists of the association are young, secular and religious guys. The importance of the Temple Mount is not only Religious or spiritual, but also national. In the end, they put us in front of the wall below and told us that it was the most important. I don't recognize that, I'm not ready to accept that we have to be content with the Wall. It haunts us. Until we as a nation reconcile with the Temple Mount and go back up, It will continue to stab us."

On the day of Jerusalem itself, Nisani stood in line for the mountain, but like Moses, he was decreed "from the other side you will see the land and its name you will not pass over".

During the past seven years, he has been prevented from ascending the mountain for about two and a half years in total, thanks to administrative removal orders from the district commander, which are being used against him in a draconian manner.

"It's crazy. I've become a kind of red sheet because I encourage people to get their rights and oppose these strange bans on the mountain. A week ago I got a new removal order for four months. I know the High Court won't save me.

we tried".

In the meantime, until he can ascend himself, he works so that others can ascend safely.

"I am very afraid that this Tisha B'Av will not end well. We do not learn from the Miron disaster. We issued a written appeal to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Religion, the Minister of Internal Security, the various committees in the Knesset. Now we are signing members of the Knesset to hold an urgent discussion in the plenary. The Minister of Religion has not yet been able to Nothing, not even something as simple as putting up more sheds instead, or taking care of chairs and ushers. The Minister of Internal Security doesn't want to meet with us at all. I hope they do something and don't wake up until there are casualties, as is usually the case in this country."

Since Operation Guard of the Walls, there has been an increase in the number of Jewish immigrants to the mountain, and in the last year their number was about 40 thousand, even though Jews are only allowed to immigrate at specified times.

It is about the hours seven to 11 in the morning and between one thirty and two thirty in the afternoon.

On Jerusalem Day, 2,600 people went up, and the rest, about 1,400, were unable to go up.

"Policemen started pushing and it created more congestion. I gave the last sip of water I had to a small child. It's shameful that the police expect us to stand in the sun waiting to be checked, and then claim that it's for the security and safety of those who climb the mountain."

Nisni: "Instead of extending the times on special days, the police actually shortened them. The Mount was closed 20 minutes ahead of time. This was partly due to the conduct of the police who decided, after some Jews took out the Israeli flag on the Temple Mount, to give a collective punishment to the entire public. There are many ways to open The bottleneck of the aliyah, to open for more time, to allow entry from additional gates to the mountain."

Senior police officers who were in the field on Jerusalem Day claim that there was no abnormal crowding, and at no point was there any danger to the lives of those standing in line.

The police believe that the conditions should indeed be improved with the addition of shade and benches, but make it clear that it is neither their responsibility nor their authority.

The responsibility of the police, they explain there, amounts to keeping the peace of those who come to the mountain, and for this purpose the police are prepared in particularly large forces and the policemen protect the visitors with their own bodies from the riots of the Arabs.

On Jerusalem Day itself, a policeman was even injured, all in order to allow Jews to visit the Temple Mount.

"Excitement turned into stress"

However, in the "Bidino" report, they collected testimonies of a hundred people who testify to abnormal overcrowding and danger to life. Videos and photographs also testify to this. "What happened on Jerusalem Day was really very unusual.

It took me a few days to recover from the incident and realize that I had gone through a difficult experience," describes Judith Butzko (39), a mother of six from Jerusalem, a brunette and a researcher at the Hadassah Ein Kerem laboratory. "I go up several times a month.

Sometimes alone and sometimes with my children.

On Independence Day I arrived at the mountain together with the small children.

To enter the checkpoint you have to go through a very narrow corridor.

My kids just pressed themselves against the walls and started crying.

And I decided not to bring them with me on Jerusalem Day.

It was smart because on Jerusalem Day it was a real horror."

Judith arrived at the entrance to the mountain at eight in the morning but only climbed after two and a quarter hours.

"I accompanied a group of elderly people who came from all over the country and for most of them it was their first visit to the Temple Mount. Very quickly the excitement turned into stress. People stood for two hours in the heat and were already getting really red, crowded on each other. The water ran out very quickly and people started passing leftover bottles to each other.

"The children started crying."

The crowd at the entrance to the Temple Mount, photo: "Bidino"

"People started shouting. There were moments when I was really afraid that something bad might happen. Something needs to be done. There are solutions. There are ten gates to the Temple Mount. In the past there were three gates through which Jews could go up, until they were closed, and today they only allow people to go up through the Mughal Gate. If 250,000 Muslims can enter the mountain in Ramadan, so why is it so difficult to allow thousands of Jews to go up without risking their lives?"

After the exhausting standing in line, she passed the security check, and together with the group she climbed up the Mogharvim Bridge, a temporary wooden bridge built near the Western Wall.

"As soon as we entered the mountain, a line of policemen stood in front of us, blocking the road and pushing us toward the exit. After two minutes, they pushed us out. I had an incident with a policeman. I asked him to allow me another moment. I can't say that he did it on purpose, but he hard on my leg. I felt a sharp pain. Then for a month I couldn't wear shoes because the leg was bleeding blue.

"But more than the physical blow, I am very disturbed because there is an omission here that endangers human life. There is a constant upward trend in the number of immigrants, but the physical conditions remain the same. I will continue to immigrate in any case. Each ascent is a new exciting experience, and each time the intensity increases. This exciting experience is not comparable to anything else."

Provocations on the mountain

"I suffered a lot from the overcrowding. I stood in the heat without water for an hour and ten minutes," Avner Nichemkin (22), a computer science student at the Hebrew University, describes the experience of climbing his mountain, "Fortunately, I'm tall, so I felt the lack of air less."

But my girlfriend, who is shorter than me, and old people next to us, suffered a lot."

Nichemkin, who grew up in a secular Jerusalem home, began going up to the Temple Mount two and a half years ago.

"I met Tom at the university and that's where it started. I'm fundamentally secular. I became interested in the state of the Temple Mount because I realized that it was an issue that was politically related to my city."

Nisni: "The importance of the Temple Mount is not only religious or spiritual, but also national. I am not ready to accept that we have to be satisfied with the Wall. Until we, as a nation, reconcile with the Temple Mount and go back up - it will continue to stab us."

After the long wait, Avner's group went up the mountain, but then things started to go wrong.

"A Waqf man approached the police and started yelling at them. It turned violent. The police tried to calm him down, until finally they stopped him and took him away. As a result, the police decided that our group would not go along the long route, but straight towards the exit gate. Halfway to the exit, Arabs started yelling at us and then waved Israeli flags from our side. I counted five flags. We also started to sing the song of hope."

How do you put flags on the Temple Mount?

"I didn't do it, but I believe it is hidden under clothes or in pockets. I don't like to do too many provocations. Following the waving of the flags, confrontations began with the police who acted with reasonable force in order to forcibly remove our group. After about ten minutes, they managed to quickly push us away. We continued to dance on the way out of the mountain and the Arabs continued to shout at us. There was a commotion."

What do your parents think about your ascents to the Temple Mount?


"My mother is less politically active, but my father is a police officer both on the Temple Mount and in the Old City. He does not see my activities favorably. He claims that we create more work for the police. He says that I hang out with people who are provocateurs. I did not get to meet My father is a policeman on the Temple Mount itself, but yes in the Old City, especially during the attacks that I got to attend as a MDA volunteer.

"I understand that the activity of the police on the Temple Mount stems from instructions given from above. The policy does not start with the police. It comes from the Knesset. I believe that policy changes should be gradually brought about and allow Jews more freedom of worship and action on the Mount, until this is not considered a provocation. I agree with my father , that today raising the Israeli flag on the Temple Mount is a provocation. But this situation is not possible, that in the heart of the Jewish ethos, in the heart of our capital, it is impossible to raise the Israeli flag and sing the national anthem."

In the end they give up

Yehoshua Leibler, a graduate of the Hesder program at Yeshiva Kiryat Shmona and a teaching student, describes from his perspective the impossible lines to the mountain: "I stood at the 'Bidino' stand from eight in the morning. I happened to see very old people and very small children crushed in line in the heat and sun. We had two Sixes of water that we distribute to people who are interested in our activity. I distributed the water to the people who stood in line and at a quarter to ten all the bottles were gone. All morning I was worried that someone would pass out from the heat and crowding. There were some adults that I personally took care to advance in line as close as possible to the entrance gate. Shouting and fights also started. It was a mess A big one."

The videos and photographs also show that the entrance to the Wall was blocked due to the huge queue formed by those waiting to ascend the Temple Mount.

"At a certain point, security guards from the Western Wall arrived and began to place barriers in order to so-called order and open the entrance to the Western Wall. They began to push people. This created more chaos and crowding. I gave the last sip of water I had in a small bottle in my pocket to a small boy who was next to me with his father. He It was needed more than me. It is shameful that the Israel Police expect people to stand like dogs in the sun waiting for a check, and then claim that it is for the security and safety of those who ascend the mountain."

At a quarter to ten Leibler left the activity at the association's stand and entered the queue for inspection.

"At 10:40 the gate to the Temple Mount was closed, 20 minutes before the time, and did not open again until noon. There was a group that had already passed the security check and was on the Mughal Bridge. The police asked them to get off but they decided to stay there until half past one in the afternoon when the entrance gate for Jews We opened again. They stood there for hours without water. I gave up. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go up the mountain on Jerusalem Day."

What do you think should be done?


"First of all, stop with these limited hours. We need to realize that the Jews are not the ones causing the problems on the Temple Mount. Why did all these delays arise? Because there were riots by Arabs up on the Mount. The police act against them and eventually arrest them. But something in the thinking is very problematic. When I I go up to the mountain, I am treated as a provocateur. Why? Because I threaten the public order by causing someone else to violate the public order. This is crooked. This is not the way to conduct oneself."

The Ministry of Religion stated: "The entire complex is the responsibility of the Prime Minister's Office."

We were asked by the Prime Minister's Office to contact the Ministry of Internal Security, and there they replied that "the matter should be contacted by the police."

The police claim that they "work throughout the year to maintain security and public order in the holy places in Jerusalem in general and the Temple Mount in particular. Visits to the Temple Mount area are possible on days and hours in accordance with the visiting rules, in accordance with the decisions of the political echelon and existing practice. The police officers operating in the area protect the visitors and their right to ascend with their bodies and to visit the place safely, sometimes to the point of exasperation. Any attempt to harm the proper existence of the visits is handled with determination by the security forces, and this was also the case during Jerusalem Day.

"The Israel Police acted to allow the ascent to the Temple Mount, when several groups of visitors ascended at the same time, despite the sensitive security situation there at the time, the violent violations of order, and after the activity of the police forces against the risk factors. The visits take place in the Temple Mount area in accordance with the existing infrastructure there, with the leading consideration First and foremost is the safety of the visitors and their safety. Violating the visiting rules while creating an unnecessary and dangerous provocation will only harm the visiting public.

"Toward T. Bav, the police are preparing with large forces in the area, in order to maintain the peace and safety of the public and to enable the visits to the place to be held safely and in order. Along with this, it should be emphasized that the issue of the infrastructure in the place, distribution of water and food, shading, etc. - are not within the responsibility and care of the Israel Police ".

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Source: israelhayom

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