The last thing Palestinians need is another crisis in their homeland. It’s not enough that Israel continues its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip with acute starvation, more daily restrictions on vital humanitarian aid, more Israeli massacres in Gaza, and increased settler pogroms in the West Bank where neither Palestinians nor their land are protected. A regional war in the Middle East still looms as a distinct possibility as long as Netanyahu thinks he can stay out of prison by continuing the violence and having it underwritten by the United States.
Beneath the radar is another overlooked threat to regional stability that could easily expand beyond the Middle East to Asia and Africa and pull the United States deeper into the fray. On April 9, 2024, a number of Palestinian Christian leaders issued a bulletin and petition drive warning the world of threats by Israeli religious extremists and Christian Zionists who are intent on implementing a bizarre but lethal plot to demolish the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque to make way for the Third Jewish Temple.
Al-Aqsa Mosque (also known as “Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa” or the Furthest Mosque) is the third holiest site in Islam and is referenced in Sura 17 of the Qur’an—-the Prophet Muhammad’s night journey. These holy sites mark the very place where tradition says the Prophet ascended to heaven. Al-Aqsa is also referred to as the Haram al-Sharif or “the Noble Sanctuary,” which reflects the same designation for the Mosque surrounding the Qa´aba in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam. Any infraction or attempt to damage Al-Aqsa or the shrine adjacent to it, known as the Dome of the Rock, could instigate a response from approximately 2 billion Muslims around the world.
Unnoticed in the mostly sanitized Western media coverage of the crisis in the Gaza Strip was the alarm sounded by Hamas spokesman Abu-Ubaida on the 100th day of Israel’s genocide (January 14, 2024). He sounded an alarm alerting the Islamic world and anyone listening that Israel recently brought a certain breed of cows to a settlement in the West Bank. What appeared to some as an irrelevant or bizarre comment was a serious warning to Muslim leaders that a sinister plot was afoot regarding the Haram al-Sharif.
Israel had recently bent its regulations banning livestock from entering the country and allowed five red heifers to be transferred from a Christian Zionist ranch in Texas to an illegal West Bank settlement. For the past three decades, various Christian Zionist ranchers in the U.S. have been trying to breed a 100% pure red heifer which according to an obscure ancient priestly cleansing process recorded from the book of Numbers (chapter 19) with commentary the Jewish sage Maimonides could commence various rituals leading to animal sacrifices in a rebuilt Third Temple. However, close to impossible was the necessity to find a pure red heifer before the necessary cleansing ritual could be performed in the revived Third Temple.
Several ultra-Orthodox Israeli Zionist organizations and Christian Zionist groups around the globe have been campaigning for the Third Temple and control of what they call the Temple Mount. The event that stimulated speculation on the Third Temple was Israel’s capture of Arab East Jerusalem in June 1967, which was quickly annexed by Israel. Both Christian and Jewish religious extremists interpreted Israel´s victory as the beginning of a new Messianic era and the countdown to the final days of history culminating in the Messiah´s first or second coming depending on your religious preference.