Al-Aqsa is a misdirect

The war Israel has been fighting for its existence since Oct. 7 is in response to an unprovoked attack initiated and supported by Iran and Qatar. Despite this, a troubling narrative has emerged from various quarters, including the Biden administration, which overlooks the core issue of aggression against Israel.

Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir recently went up to the Temple Mount with thousands of other Jews, some of who prayed publicly on a site built for worship by the Jewish people thousands of years ago. The Temple Mount is a site of profound religious significance to Jews but also the current site of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Critics have decried Ben-Gvir’s visit as a provocative act capable of igniting World War III. This clearly negates the true causes of this war, the threats Israel faces and just who is provoking whom.

This obsession with Jews visiting or praying on our holiest site rather than focusing on the actual source of violence against us from our Shi’ite and Sunni enemies reveals a dangerous misdirection.

Beginning on Oct. 7, the world witnessed an unprecedented and brutal assault on Israel by Iranian- and Qatari-supported terror proxies throughout the Middle East. This attack was a direct act of aggression with no preceding Israeli provocation. In addition to the attacks from Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran directly attacked Israel with hundreds of missiles and drones that Israel and its allies miraculously stopped.

Any world power seriously focused on ending conflict and violence in the Middle East must focus on stopping these violent acts and the Islamic ideological parties driving them, not on symbolic gestures that are inconsequential in the broader context of ongoing conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently criticized Ben-Gvir’s visit, saying it “demonstrated blatant disregard for the historic status quo” of Jerusalem’s holy sites. Echoing sentiments from various Arab nations, Blinken added: “These provocative actions only exacerbate tensions at a pivotal moment when all focus should be on the ongoing diplomatic efforts.” He urged that the Israeli government prevent similar incidents in the future to maintain stability and peace.

This is a classic example of the current U.S. administration’s ongoing effort to create a moral equivalence fallacy for the West’s convenience. The misdirect is the insidious suggestion that an expectation of free religious worship for Jews anywhere in Jerusalem, in the only Jewish country, is somehow a “provocation” akin to the burning and beheading of babies, burning Jews alive and raping of young men, women and the elderly by Hamas (and other “civilians”) on Oct. 7.

The criticism of Jews ascending the Temple Mount overlooks a crucial fact: The aggression Israel faces is not about the Temple Mount but about the very existence of Jews in their ancestral homeland. On Tisha B’Av, Jews globally mourned the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem—a date deeply ingrained in Jewish history and collective memory. The connection between the Jewish people, Jerusalem and the Temple is irrefutable and pre-dates the rise of Islam and the Arab presence in the region. This historical context is embodied in monuments like the Arch of Titus in Rome, which commemorates the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans.

The conflict Israel faces is fundamentally about the refusal of Shi’ite and Sunni Muslim countries in the Middle East to accept the Jewish state, irrespective of whether Jews are religious or secular, living in cities near the Gaza border or in the heartland of Judea and Samaria.

The purpose of this misdirection is to perpetuate a policy of appeasement that fails to confront the intolerance and violence inherent in some parts of the Arab world. This appeasement by the Western world, with U.S. foreign policy at the helm, has been a direct contributor to the ongoing conflict and emboldens those who seek to undermine Israel’s right to exist.

Blinken and others advocating for Jews to stop visiting or praying on our holiest site need to reassess their approach. By prioritizing Jews visiting their holiest site over substantive threats and ongoing violence from Iran and Qatar and their terror organizations, the Biden administration endangers not only Israel but also global security and stability.

The genocidal aggression against Israel in the Muslim world under the guise of a cause called “Palestine” will not be resolved by placating the Muslim aggressors or by pushing a U.S. foreign policy agenda that disregards the realities on the ground.

Instead, we require a firm stance against the perpetrators: Iran and Qatar, as well as Egypt for allowing the smuggling of weapons to Hamas. There must also be recognition of the historical and current realities faced by Israel.

Israel remains steadfast in its commitment to its security and sovereignty. Despite the pressures and misguided policies from allies, including those in the Biden White House, Israel will continue to defend itself against any threat. The only way to effectively combat aggression against Israel is by confronting it head-on, not by succumbing to diplomatic pressures that ignore the root causes of the conflict.

The world must wake up to the reality of the situation and cease its counterproductive policies. Only through a clear-eyed understanding of the conflict’s true nature can genuine progress towards peace and stability be achieved.