It’s a simple news update, but it speaks volumes on how the world views the Jewish connection to the holiest site in the oldest monotheistic religion. Reuter’s made the Temple Mount an afterthought for Jews, and their standard is spread across the media landscape.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, a religious Jewish high ranking member of the government that controls the Temple Mount, decided to go up there. This, of course, set off a series of cascading events in which the foreign intelligentsia melted down. The media smeared all Palestinians as terrorists who can’t handle when people they don’t like walk somewhere, which is the highest form of the bigotry of low expectations. The United Arab Emirate and China asked the U.N. Security Council to meet about this subject, which will likely lead to a vote against Israel that Bibi can add to the scrapbook.
A small sentence contained in a small article gave away the whole game. “Israel’s new far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir briefly visited Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Tuesday, a site also revered by Jews, angering the Palestinians and drawing a slew of condemnations.” The Temple Mount, according to Reuters, is a Palestinian and Muslim site that Jews also have a claim in, not the other way around.
One does not need to be a student of history or a theological scholar to draw the connection between Jews and the Temple Mount. A simple Google Search yielded the following from My Jewish Leaning. “The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as Har Habayit, is traditionally said to be the site where Abraham demonstrated his devotion to God by taking his son Isaac to be sacrificed. The mount is also the site of both ancient Jewish temples. The first, built by King Solomon, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The second was built in the sixth century BCE and stood for nearly 600 years before it was destroyed and the Jewish people exiled in 70 CE by the Roman Empire. Jews continue to mourn the destruction on the fast day of Tisha B’Av. According to Jewish tradition, a third temple will be built on the site during the messianic age.” Articulate and succinct. One could write a doctoral thesis on the subject, but that will be sufficient for the moment.
Yet this lack of understanding has farther reaching implications. Reuters is the standard bearer for many news outlets on matters of simple reporting. Many sites that can’t do the legwork at breaking news themselves just report Reuters and give them the credit. So this article appears in US News, MSN, Newsmax, and even the Jerusalem Post. Dozens more international sites simply posted this as if it were true.
It’s a small point, but an important one. The United Nations has worked hard to diminish and decrease the religious and historical connection between the Jewish people and the State of Israel in an attempt to grant more legitimacy to the Palestinian cause. The front lines of this battle are everywhere, even in a 2 paragraph article.
Moshe Hill is a political analyst and Editor-In-Chief of A Hill with a View. He has a weekly column in the Queens Jewish Link, and has been published in Newsweek, the Daily Wire, CNS News, the Washington Examiner, and many other outlets. He can be found on his YouTube Channel, Facebook, and Twitter.
