In the video: Minister of Defense Yoav Galant welcomes the month of Ramadan / Elad Malka, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense
For Muslims around the world, the month of Ramadan is a month that symbolizes values of tolerance, helping the weak, and coming together.
In its nights, the month is characterized by leaving the houses, mass gatherings, large family feasts, crowded and festive markets.
Hence, this month is also accompanied by a significant awakening of the economy and the local economy.
One must wonder why Ramadan, a month of tolerance, peace and prosperity, has become a month in which the Jewish-Arab tension rises and skyrockets.
Over the years, and especially in recent years, Ramadan, and especially the Fridays when mass prayers of Muslims take place on the Temple Mount, has become a distinct expression of the Israeli-Palestinian tension.
This is what happened in 2015 following the outbreak of the Intifada of the Individuals, this is what happened in 2021 following riots between Arabs and Jews, as a result of which the Israel Police placed barriers in the area of the entrance to the Nablus gate, which they had to remove following even more serious riots that took place there.
It was these events that led a short time later to the wall guard operation.
In addition, as part of the ongoing struggle between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on the question of the representation of the Palestinian people, Hamas declared itself to be the protector of Al-Aqsa Mosque, thus raising the potential for explosives around Ramadan and the Temple Mount.
Therefore, in Ramadan 2022, during the period in which I served as Minister of Internal Security, it was clear to me that I must treat this period and Hamas' attempts to set fire to the area as a ticking bomb that must be dismantled before it explodes.
And just like the thunderous discharge of a bomb, this is an action that must be performed wisely, carefully and with maximum sensitivity, that's how I treated it.
The steps to be taken: from replacing the carpets in the mosque to opening the soccer fields
The first target
for the release of tension was the Waqf, which by virtue of the peace agreement with Jordan is responsible on behalf of the Hashemite Kingdom for maintaining the freedom of worship at the holy places for Muslims on the Temple Mount.
To that end, I consolidated the demands on this matter that King Abdullah of Jordan had submitted a short time before to President Yitzhak Herzog and flew to Jordan for a secret meeting with the Jordanian Foreign Minister.
The most dramatic demand, if you can call it that, was to accept King Abdullah's gift and replace the old carpets in Al Aqsa Mosque with new ones.
A demand that was answered in the negative for some reason until that meeting by the antiquities division that was in charge of it.
In doing so, we received the cooperation of the Kingdom of Jordan and the directive that the Kingdom gave to the heads of the Waqf on the Temple Mount to cooperate with us.
We met the task successfully.
Not because we did magic - but a real desire to prevent violence.
Former minister Amr Bar Lev/photo processing, spokeswoman for the Minister of Defense
In complete contrast to these actions, the current minister did and is doing everything to increase the tension and cause the gunpowder barrel to explode.
He not only violates the freedom of worship that is engraved on the flag of all Israeli governments, he plays into the hands of Hamas and responds to its calls, thereby strengthening his image as the sole defender of Al-Aqsa Mosque
The second goal
of fruitful cooperation was with the Jerusalem Municipality.
Under the leadership of Moshe Leon, the mayor, we worked to open entertainment places for young people in the east of the city and to encourage activities and family events, which would be a destination for celebration and recreation in the evenings of Ramadan.
From turning on lighting throughout the night in football fields in order to attract the young people, to street performances in various places in the city.
The peak of the effort was around the Nablus gate - the entrance gate to the Muslim quarter of the old city.
Over the years, the Nablus Gate has become a central gathering point for the Arab residents of East Jerusalem, at the end of the fast and the end of the prayer.
This is an event that has become part of the customs of the month, and in the same breath, a place where severe riots occurred the previous year and in the years preceding it.
The goal was to flood Shear Shechem Square with merchants' stalls and allow the residents to observe what they consider to be the mitzvot of the holiday - gathering, recreation and shopping.
In this way, we were able to harness the merchants of the eastern part of the city to the common goal and transform Shaar Nablus Square from a center of violence into a center of joy and celebration.
The third target
was the Israel Police.
The policy I established was to concentrate a significant police force in several areas in what I called, again in military terms, "dead space".
That is, in an area that is not noticeable to the partygoers - far enough to reduce the possibility of provocations by young people towards the police, and on the other hand, close enough to respond quickly when necessary.
The policy was to ignore and contain derogatory chants of various kinds, and only in the case of escalation to violence to respond strongly, quickly, decisively and then to fold back again "into dead territory".
Prevent provocations in front of police officers, react decisively in the face of violence.
A police officer in the Old City/Israel Police spokeswoman
The horror scenario is that on one of the Fridays at the end of the Muslim noon prayer, the PLO or Hamas flag will be raised by a group of young people and the pyroman orders to go up the mountain with a hundred or two hundred policemen in an attempt to catch those young people.
I doubt they will succeed.
It is absolutely clear that the blood of many will be spilled on the mountain
The result of all these actions was a relatively quiet month of Ramadan, with positive cooperation with the Jordanian Waqf and the merchants of the eastern part of the city.
The culmination of the cooperation was the night of Al-Qadr, the holiest night in the month of Ramadan in which the prayer is the greatest.
That night, the merchants of the city placed a line of elderly Palestinian men as a buffer between the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the area from which stones can be thrown at the Jewish worshipers on the Western Wall plaza, in order to prevent young Arabs from approaching the area.
At the same time, the Jordanian Waqf sat dozens of Palestinian women around the police point on the Temple Mount (which was not manned) in order to prevent young people from approaching it and trying to set it on fire.
I also appreciate today, that we successfully met the task.
Not because we did magic, but because we chose the right means, after an informed thinking, and most importantly - out of a genuine desire to prevent violence, reduce tensions, and maintain public order as required of me as Minister of Internal Security and as required of the Israel Police.
From the understanding of the responsibility for the national security of the citizens and residents of the State of Israel.
In complete contrast to these actions, the current minister did and is doing everything to increase the tension and cause the gunpowder barrel to explode.
In doing so, he not only violates the freedom of worship engraved on the flag of all Israeli governments, he plays into the hands of Hamas and responds to its calls, thereby strengthening his image as the sole defender of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It is important to understand that every tactical event on the Temple Mount during Ramadan becomes in no time an event of strategic significance.
Even the most limited, which in another place and time would have required a physical response from the Israel Police officers, in Ramadan requires a different response from the Israel Police.
The eyes of billions of Muslims all over the world are focused on those prayers on the Temple Mount, photos and videos are being circulated all the time and any slight physical contact between a police officer and a Muslim worshiper in the age of fake news will be disseminated as Israel's violation of the freedom of Muslim worship in the third most important place for Muslims.
Therefore, the judgment of when to break into the mountain and even more so when to avoid it must be accepted at the highest level of the police, that is, by none other than the Commissioner himself as I determined during my time.
The fear that the Firoman minister will set fire to the Temple Mount and the entire Muslim world reached the Prime Minister's desk In an unusual move, the Prime Minister announced that the authority to authorize Israel Police officers to break into the Temple Mount in case of need is given only to him. In doing so, the Prime Minister expropriated this authority from the Commissioner and made himself Chief Commissioner. The Temple Mount and maybe even into Al-Aqsa Mosque.
A directive that the commissioner will force or submit to carry out.
Replacing old carpets resulted in cooperation with the Kingdom of Jordan and the Waqf.
Al Aqsa Mosque/Reuters
And the fear is real.
The horror scenario is that on one of the Fridays at the end of the Muslim noon prayer, while a hundred thousand Palestinians are crowding the Temple Mount square, a PLO or Hamas flag will be raised by a group of young people (an event that unfortunately happens every year and to this day the Israeli police have learned not to be dragged into it) and the fireman will fire at the commander of the Jerusalem district to go up the mountain with a hundred or two hundred policemen trying to make their way through the crowd to catch those young people. It is very doubtful if the policemen will succeed in catching the young people. On the other hand, it is absolutely clear that chaos will ensue on the mountain between policemen determined to carry out their mission and tens of thousands of worshipers, some frightened and some eager , the blood of many will be spilled on the mountain.
The writer is the former Minister of Internal Security on behalf of the Labor Party
More on the same topic:
Amr Bar-Lev
Itamar Ben Gabir
Ramadan
The Temple Mount