The Temple Mount is in our hands?

Tensions at the Temple Mount dominate coverage of the Hebrew print media on Friday, as thousands of police officers were deployed around Jerusalem’s Old City in anticipation of violent riots by Muslim worshippers over the increased security measures imposed at the holy site in response to the deadly terror attack there last Friday.

“The Temple Mount: The Moment of Truth” leads Yedioth Ahronoth’s coverage of the ongoing high-stakes standoff between Israeli security forces and Muslim worshipers protesting the installing of metal detectors at the entrances to the sensitive holy site.

Columnist Alex Fishman argues that Israel is undercutting its own authority over Jerusalem while handing the Palestinians a strategic victory.

“The murderers from Umm al-Fahm carried out a strategic attack in an effort to ignite the violent conflict once again,” he says. “And Israel fell into the trap.”

Fishman writes that instead of tackling the extremist, marginal elements within the Arab Israeli community, Israel instead decided to go head to head with the Waqf and the Palestinian Authority by erecting the metal detectors.

“This was a political decision that completely missed the point,” he says.

He goes on to note that last week’s security sweeps at the Temple Mount after the attack, in which three Arab Israelis from Umm al-Fahm shot dead two police officers, only uncovered a dozen or so knives, chains, toy guns and other makeshift weapons. More automatic weapons like those used to gun down the police officers were not found during the sweeps last Friday and Saturday.

“The question is,” Fishman asks, “is there a person among us who will have the courage to make the right decision and climb down from the tree?”

The three Arab-Israeli gunmen used guns that had been smuggled earlier into Al-Aqsa mosque, a police video released on Thursday showed, prompting Israel to instal security cameras and metal detectors at the entrances to the compound, in turn drawing widespread condemnation from the Muslim world.

Some Muslim authorities called on worshipers to boycott the Temple Mount in protest of the new security arrangements, and for the last week, some have instead been holding prayers outside the Lions Gate entrance to the site.

Meanwhile, in a markedly more dramatic tone, the free Israel Hayom daily cautions that the deadlock between Israeli security forces and Muslim worshipers could ratchet up tensions at the Temple Mount to an all-time high.

Yet its columnist Yaron Bloom argues the upgraded security will not have the desired effect. “On a tactical level, the measures are necessary, but in light of the sensitivity of the area, are these measures the right decision?” he writes.

Bloom argues that the new arrangements have been exploited by various Palestinian factions to push a political agenda. The PA’s Fatah party, Hamas, the Northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel and the Jordanian government have all castigated Israel, and thus been perceived in the Muslim world as defending their faith against ostensible Israeli aggression.

“In light of this, and despite the efficiency of Israel’s security measures, it’s impossible to continue conducting ourselves as if we are in a vacuum,” he writes. “Agreements should be reached with parties who have critical ties to the state, while reducing the security risks at such an explosive site like the Temple Mount as much as possible.”

In contrast to Yedioth and Israel Hayom, the Haaretz daily’s coverage of the ongoing tensions at the Temple Mount on Friday is considerably less sensational.

While the unrest in the capital does earn a spot above the fold, the left-leaning paper dedicates nearly half of its front page to the various unfolding scandals surrounding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Referencing the now-famous message from IDF commander Motta Gur, on capturing the holy site in 1967, that “the Temple Mount is in our hands,” Haaretz columnist Israel Harel says the week of tensions in the capital reveals who really controls the Temple Mount, and it’s not Israel.