Jewish Nationalist Endorses PA Mufti’s Religious Ruling

Baruch Marzel (Image credit: Wikipedia Public Domain)

In response to Palestinian Authority (PA) Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Muhammad Hussein’s call on Muslims to boycott the metal detectors placed at the entrances to the Temple Mount this week, nationalist activist Baruch Marzel of the Otzma Yehudit party has sent him a letter. Spoiler alert: it’s hilarious.

First, a little context – the detectors were placed this week after three Israeli Arab terrorists from Umm Al-Fahm murdered two Israeli Druze border police officers on the Temple Mount last Friday. In response to the obvious security measure – which ironically is in place at the Kaaba in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, as well as at other high-profile Muslim sites – Arabs have been rioting while Hussein’s PA whips up the frenzy and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is apparently considering folding under the pressure.

Hussein reportedly said that the prayer offered by Muslims at the Temple Mount after they agree to pass through the metal detectors is invalid, and while he apparently has denied having said this, his call to refuse to pass through the metal detectors and not enter the Temple Mount until Israel is pressured to remove them still stands.

It is into this state of affairs and in response to the reported ruling that Marzel unleashed his letter, which was published on his Facebook page Wednesday. The following is a translation of it:

“A letter to the Mufti of Jerusalem

BS”D

2,439 years since the destruction of the First Temple

1,949 years since the destruction of the Second Temple

To the Mufti of Jerusalem,

I wish to express to you my great enthusiasm over your stance on the principles of your religion, and how you are not subservient to the authorities in standing guard over Islam. The ruling that you issued about the prayer of a Muslim who passes through the metal detectors at the Temple Mount not being accepted is a brave ruling in light of the attempts of various bodies to bend your faith.

For us in Judaism there is a concept that is called: ‘Only hurry the hurried,’ and the intent is that one can expect that someone who is already doing something good will continue with another good act. Therefore, I call on you to expand your ruling so that it applies not only to the Temple Mount, but also to the Cave of the Patriarchs, which just last week UNESCO innovated that it is a Muslim site. There, as is known, metal detectors are placed at the entrance to the compound. Your silence at the Cave of the Patriarchs shows that in the end, the government of Israel will succeed at the Temple Mount too.

It cannot be that Muslims will be humiliated in such a way and will have to pass a check by the Zionist occupation government.

After finishing taking care of the holy sites, you should consider expanding the ruling about these metal detectors that symbolize the occupation. As is known to all, these devices are placed at all the government offices, the postal authority, the National Insurance Institute, the hospitals, and many other public institutions that are visited by members of the Muslim public.

How good it is that there are religious leaders like you, who through their brave rulings make it possible to advance with them towards the long-awaited peace and quiet (like there is now at the Temple Mount).

If you do not expand your ruling to the Cave of the Patriarchs, it will become clear that your entire decision has no religious significance, and you have turned into nothing more than another politician and a small terrorist.

In anticipation of the building of the Holy Temple this very year, and with hopes that you will soon merit to see the face of our righteous Messiah,

Baruch Marzel

Otzma Yehudit

Hevron"