Desecration Uncovered in Muslim Excavation of Temple Mount

July 11, 2001

CBN.com -

Israeli scholars are warning of a travesty at the holiest site in Judaism. They say Palestinian Muslims are bulldozing tons of stone containing priceless historical treasures at the famed Temple Mount, and the government of Israel has done nothing to stop it.

In a CBN News exclusive, last week in Jerusalem Pat Robertson talked with Dr. Eilat Mazer, an archaeologist at Hebrew University, who provided photographic evidence of the destruction.


Pat Robertson: I'm showing pictures here that show stones from the Temple from ancient days, then I see a stone cutter and little clean blocks where these ancient stones from the Temple Mount have been cut up by Palestinians. Dr. Mazer, would you tell us about it?

Dr. Mazer: Well, it's quite a long time that the Islamic authorities are destroying the ancient antiquities of the Temple Mount. And we are speaking about the area which contains the remains since the first Temple period, the Biblical period, and then the New Testament period at the second Temple period, the time of Jesus at the Temple Mount, and then later periods, Byzantine period, the Crusades period. And they destroy it all. They have one goal, which is very certain and we have very solid evidence about it: to build the whole area as a mosque and they couldn't care less what they do.

Robertson: I'm looking at a picture here that shows — I don't know if we can get a close-up of this — but this picture shows the ruins. It shows an arch in here. It shows the antiquity and it shows the entrance to a mosque. And then later [a follow-up picture shows] all this has been bulldozed away and just the arch [from the mosque] is left. There were several Roman columns I understand.

Mazer: This is a stone from the Herodian period, and you can see this is characteristic of the Herodian period, the second Temple period, and you can see the layers by layers that should have been studied carefully and taken carefully —

Robertson: And they just bulldozed it away?

Mazer: Bulldozed it away. You can see the tractors working [in this picture]. Then furthermore, they have this stone cutter, which is on the Temple Mount. The ancient stones are there. We have one of the pictures showing how they have the ancient stones piled up near the stone cutter and then they cut it into new paving stones and new building stones and we can see afterwards how they built with them. This is [during] a time — here you can see this — this is a time when it's like [they were] saying nothing happens on the Temple Mount by the government, by the police, nothing happened. But we can see [it did].

Robertson: Why isn't the government of Israel — I talked to Mayor Olmert and he said he's now learned about it and he's stopped it. Is that not the case?

Mazer: He said they stop it, but nothing has stopped as you see. We have aerial photographs taken as we can see the development, 16,000 meters square are already paved and constructed and we're speaking just about a progress that is getting worse and worse.

Robertson: Why hasn't someone stopped this?

Mazer: Look, we are very large group of citizens from Israel, from all parties, places, name it, but we don't have the force to influence the government which has such really hard problems nowadays and it's very hard to be very determined about what's going on in the Temple Mount. So that's what happened.

Robertson: These pictures, I'm told if someone knew that these pictures had been taken, the chances of their being killed is very real. Is that correct?

Mazer: That's why we've been very careful and really, you are the first to see —

Robertson: What is this? [pointing to an artifact on the table]

Mazer: This is on the Temple Mount. You can see it's clearly seen. You see this piece of stone, very beautifully decorated. This is just one that has been taken out, very riskily out of the Temple Mount. But we know that lots and lots of material, complete pottery vessels, architectural elements, we expect to be there lots of inscriptions also relating to these ancient and most important structures that are laid there, destroyed, but still so important.

Robertson: For example, what would be done with this? They're going to bulldoze it and make it scrap?

Mazer: Surely. First if you realize — I don't know whenever, that it has been there after it is cut into new material construction, you never know.

Robertson: What is the date of this piece?

Mazer: This is a late Byzantine architectural element. I also have with me an ancient lamp. This is dated to the late First Century AD really less than 100 years after Jesus. And it's complete. It has been taken out, very riskily. You can see how beautiful it is.

Robertson: This is lovely, it’s completely intact. It has no damage right now.

Mazer: What we have here, a handle of a cooking pot. This is dated to the time of Jesus, really. This is First Century —

Robertson: Are you telling me that these artifacts would be bulldozed and just crushed?

Mazer: This is the less important elements that could have been taken — but the complete vessels, the inscriptions, the architectural elements — we don't see them even. They are taken out and we hear that the antiquities market is full of them, the most important and interesting pottery vessels and remains and finds. This is something which we cannot control. As tractors are bulldozing out, it's like almost 20,000 tons, and we know it by counting trucks that are going in and out, have been taken out of the Temple Mount. 12,000 have been dumped into the garbage area, and then they received some improvement, like the antiquities authority is going to watch it. But you cannot watch tons and tons of dumps.

Robertson: It’s appalling to me. I know this is a difficult situation, that Israel controls the Temple Mount, or does it control the Temple Mount? Who controls it now?

Mazer: Well, this is a hard question. I can speak just about the evidence and the evidence is such a brutalic destruction that couldn't be [tolerated] anywhere else in the world. But altogether, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which is so important to so many millions in the world, it's not just for Jews or just for Israel. This is a common cultural, most important site.

Robertson: Have you taken these photographs to the authorities? Have you taken them to the prime minister's office or to the mayor or somebody?

Mazer: Yes, we did. We showed it to so many people, including the prime minister, including [Security Minister] Uzzi Landau, including [Jerusalem Mayor] Ehud Olmert, everybody.

Robertson: What do they say?

Mazer: That they will see to it that they will try to control it, that they will do their best, but at the same time, they hear from local authorities like the police that not so much is going on, because the police is the only figure that can go up. They don't allow anybody except the Muslims to go up. So we cannot bring the media into the Temple Mount to show the media by themselves, they don't need us to see the destruction. But nobody can get in.

Robertson: So what you're saying is as we speak at this moment, this destruction is still going on?

Mazer: More than you think because now we know that hundreds of people are working in construction on the Temple Mount. We have very solid evidence about hundreds of volunteers — it's a volunteer work — are working and they’re brought by buses and they make the work and nobody, it's very hurting, nobody is stopping them.

Robertson: Thank you for sharing this. We'll get this out to see what happens next. Thank you so much.

Mazer: You are most welcome.

Robertson: God bless you.

Lee Webb: Since this interview was recorded, Dr. Mazer has informed CBN that Palestinians are bringing large amounts of construction materials into the Temple Mount area. Observers watched workers haul in 20 wagonloads of cement, sand and stone chips on Monday. The Israeli government denies that, but tomorrow ten parties in the Knesset are expected to call for a discussion and investigation of the Temple Mount activities.

Pat Robertson: Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Temple of Solomon, this is the Temple of Herod. This is the place where Jesus walked. It is the most holy place of Judaism and the most holy place of Christianity. The Muslims only have a secondary claim to it because that Dome of the Rock mosque was built about the 7^th or 8^th Century after they tore down that Orthodox church. So they're latecomers. But this is the place of Mount Moriah where Abraham was taking his son Isaac for sacrifice. It is the place where Solomon built the Temple. It is an incredibly important place. And the antiquities, we showed you one pile of marble columns that were recovered intact in the Temple from the Roman period and the Palestinians took them outside and broke them and threw them out in a big pile. You saw the pile of marble columns. This is a desecration that should send the entire world into orbit. You heard the outcry about what the Taliban is doing to some statues of Buddha in Afghanistan. Well, this is every bit as bad and yet, the fact that the Israelis themselves control this thing and yet they don't dare go in there and stop it.

Gordon Robertson: I remember when Netanyahu was prime minister. They opened up some tunnels underneath the Temple Mount and the outcry internationally, not just from the Islamic community, but internationally, forced that to stop and here we have wholesale destruction of archaeological material that's just being trucked out of the Temple Mount and there doesn't seem to be any report, any outcry, anything at all.

Pat Robertson: This is the first time these pictures have been shown to a television audience in America. The lady who you saw, Dr. Mazer is a distinguished archaeologist from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She's not some newcomer to the scene. She's so passionate about this particular matter. And I'm just fortunate I recorded that interview just before I left Jerusalem. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the kind of thing that's happening. We're being snowed under with an avalanche of propaganda coming out of the PLO and I'm telling you, it's time that the Christians of America and those of goodwill around the world call for a halt to this thing. This is a terrible desecration.

The Israeli media company Media Line contributed to this report.