Exactly two months ago a man named Yehoshua Tor, who heads a body known as "The Movement for Restoration of the Temple", said the following: "There, at the top of Temple Mount, there is a foreskin which should be removed. The Temple will arise in place of that boil, full of pus". So he said, about the mosques which are holy to a billion Muslims all over the world. So he said, and nobody cried "Incitement". No minister demanded the outlawing of him and of his movement. Nobody even took care to implement a government decision from 2003, by which this man lives in an illegal settlement outpost (in the South Hebron Hills) which the government is obliged to remove.
A band of extremists with an implausible, mad, twisted dream? Unquestionably. But in the past forty two years, it happened more than once that this kind of crazy bands got the full support of the IDF, and the Israel Police, and all government ministries, in implementing their crazy dreams and crazy ideas right there on the ground. Not so far from the Temple Mount there is the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarah, where such a band of crazies came in the middle of the night and with the full support and protection of the police threw two (Palestinian) families out into the street and took over their homes. Even closer to Temple Mount is Silwan Village, the place which settlers call "City of David", where settlers are digging deep into the earth, and undermine the homes of their Palestinian neighbors, and nobody really knows where and how far they are digging.
In short: When Arabs and Muslims are worried about these extremist groups and their crazy plans, these fears are far from unreasoned or baseless. It is not just paranoia and certainly more than manipulation. But when somebody comes to cry out "Al Aqsa is in danger!" the Government of Israel immediately comprehends what it means, Hurrah, hurrah, we have found the inciter!
Israel fears violence following arrest of Islamic Movement head
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1119366.htm
Islamic leader tells Haaretz Temple Mount clashes won't end until occupation of Jerusalem does
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1119115.html
WATCH Organizer admits City of David endangers Arab homes
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1118883.html
Yehoshua Tor speaks frankly
http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/925/672.html
