Har Habayis Restrictions Shock Former Canadian Minister On Harper Trip

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har-habayis-yerushalayimFormer Canadian minister Stockwell Day, who visited the Har Habayis in Yerushalayim on Sunday, said he was shocked to learn that Israeli police forces prevent Jews from visiting the holy site.

Since Israel captured eastern Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, the Israeli government policy on the Temple Mount has been to cede religious control of the site to the Muslim Waqf, and Israeli police restrict Jewish access there. While that Israeli government policy stems from security concerns, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate also opposes Jewish visitation to the Temple Mount, for halachic reasons.

Harper “really understands the importance and moral justification for a Jewish state, he gets it,” Rabbi Philip Scheim of Toronto’s Beth David Synagogue, who traveled to Israel as part of Harper’s delegation, told JNS.org.Day, who served as Canada’s Minister of Public Safety between 2006 and 2008 and is currently in Israel as part of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s delegation to the country, “was shocked over how Jewish police can do these things to Jews” and “did not understand how one can talk about the reunification of Jerusalem while at the same time Jews are not allowed to open their mouths on the Temple Mount,” Jerusalem resident Josef Rabin, who accompanied Day on his visit to the Temple Mount, told Israel National News.

Rabin and Day also noticed that the Israeli police is now forbidding Israelis to speak with tourists about the compound out of fear of angering the Muslim Waqf.

Day is expected to raise the Temple Mount issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an upcoming meeting.

In another development on Harper’s visit to Israel, Harper and Netanyahu on Tuesday signed an expanded Israel-Canada free trade pact.

“An expanded and modernized trade agreement with Israel will generate more jobs and economic growth at home and in Israel, while strengthening the close friendship that both countries enjoy,” Harper said in a statement.

JNS.ORG

{Matzav.com Israel}


2 COMMENTS

  1. With so many frum people traveling with our PM. It would be nice if we could get a quote from one of them, and not from a conservative “rabbi”.

  2. I recently returned from Israel, and had a tour of Har Ha Bayit with a Rov who is very knowledgeable in the Halachos of where and where not to go. I did tevilah and wore non leather shoes prior to going up. It was very clear that at no time did we even come close to where the Holy of Holies is or the Mizbeach area, but we could clearly see it. It was a thrilling tour. We were harassed the whole time by the Israeli police, but they did it in a fairly respectful way I would say. The WAKF people followed us every step of the way but were respectful as well and did not say anything. But, we were never left alone like the hundreds of tourists at the same site. We were constantly hurried along and encouraged to finish our tour quicker then we intended. BTW, the Muslims have made a complete desecration of the Har ha Bayis area, filling it with garbage and illegal construction. It was beyond desecration. Overall, though, I would STRONGLY recommend that anyone take the tour with a knowledgeable Rov. It is obvious that there are many areas that are assur for a Jew to walk. By the way, the Kotel is obviously not the closest portion to the Holy of Holies. I would suggest a 45 degree angle to the left as you stand the Kotel to actually face the Holy of Holies. What was really clear is what a tiny and seemingly irrelevant portion the Kotel really is when you see what is actually on the Har and part and parcel of the actual wall of Bayit Sheni. Truly thrilling.

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