0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Controversial religious activist enters Israel's parliamentJERUSALEM – For years, Yehuda Glick has pushed for greater Jewish access to Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site — promoting an ideology that has unnerved Palestinians and made him the target of an assassination attempt. Now, as a new member of Israel's parliament, Glick is vowing to use his office to press his cause, bringing his explosive campaign to the nation's corridors of power.Glick, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, is the man most associated with Jewish activism at the hilltop compound revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount. While he portrays his call for expanded Jewish prayer as a matter of human rights, critics say his true aim is to usher in a messianic age that would see a Jewish shrine rebuilt where a mosque now stands."Twenty years ago, Temple Mount activists were considered totally delusional, extreme, marginal. Today, half of the Knesset's members agree with the basis of what I express," Glick, 51, told The Associated Press in an interview.Jews revere the Temple Mount as the site of the two biblical Temples. The Noble Sanctuary is the third-holiest site in Islam, housing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the golden-topped Dome of the Rock, from where Muslims believe the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven. Palestinians view the site as a potent national symbol.For decades, Israel has enforced a status quo at the site that allows non-Muslims to visit but not pray there. That directive has the support of most rabbis, who say the site is too holy for Jewish prayer, though a growing number of rabbis have relaxed such bans.While Jews pray for the Temple to be rebuilt, they worship at the adjacent Western Wall, a retaining wall of the ancient Temple complex.The site has long been a flashpoint for violence between Israelis and Palestinians... Read More At: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/06/08/controversial-religious-activist-enters-israel-parliament.html
