The Kotel Law Trap - Beyadenu – Returning to the Temple Mount

-The "Kotel Law" Trap-

The proposed amendment to the “Protection of Holy Places Law” pretends to protect the sanctity of Israel’s holy sites from the Supreme Court, while actually granting unlimited power to the Chief Rabbinate and the Supreme Court to determine what is considered “desecration of a holy site.”

In Israel’s legal reality, such a law will be weaponized by people trying to stop Jewish ascent to the Temple Mount and limit Jewish presence at our holiest site — under the absurd pretense of “protecting its sanctity.”

The Temple Mount isn’t on the list of official Jewish holy sites. Why would the law apply there?

The Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that the list isn’t closed one, and the Temple Mount is considered a holy site.

Isn't the amendment is only trying to protect the Kotel?

“The Kotel” already includes all adjacent gates and passageways, including the entrance to the Temple Mount. Even if the new law only applies to the Kotel- they can still close the Gate.

We are only empowering the Chief Rabbinate.

The Rabbinate forbids ascending the Temple Mount, so this law gives two bodies that oppose Jewish ascent to the Temple Mount (the Rabbinate and the Supreme Court) a “blank check” to declare any ascent a desecration — and declare it illegal.

Worse – If the law passes as it is now, leftist organizations and Muslim groups will petition the Supreme Court demanding equal standing for the Islamic Waqf on the Temple Mount to define what constitutes “desecration.”

This is a technical law, with a narrow interpretation.

In the Israeli legal system there is no such thing as “narrow interpretation.” What looks like a minor amendment today will become the basis for a sweeping ban on Jews at the Temple Mount tomorrow.

The Temple Mount doesn’t need an explicit exemption

If the Temple Mount is not officially and clearly exempted from the law, it will leave the fate of anyone ascending the Temple Mount in the hands of hostile legal interpretation.

The law will finally put a stop to football games, and will remove the Arab schools from the Temple Mount.

Let’s not be naive. The first group to be labeled as “desecrators” will be the Jewish ascenders. The Supreme Court won’t enforce the law against the Muslim community — just as it has avoided ruling against them until today, and will continue citing national security concerns. All while happily using its new power to restrict Jewish prayer and ascent, the same way it has until now (by rubber-stamping every new police restriction against Jewish ascenders), with the convenient excuse of “protecting the sanctity of the site” and “preventing war in the Middle East.”

If the law remains as is, those who ascend the Temple Mount will risk five years imprisonment.

MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism), Chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee