Temple Denial: The Reality

Getting serious for a minute. The following has many links to more information. Please read and share these sources so that this whole Temple Denial thing can become less of a fuzzy/taboo topic that goes unmentioned but is important.

All of the media that has been coming out about Israel and the Temple Mount that supports the Temple Denial movement just hurts my heart. As a researcher and an archaeologist, I just can’t wrap my head around the idea that this “debate” is real and that the Temple Mount’s relationship to the people of the world is up for discussion.

The Temple Mount is a holy place to over half of the world’s population. It is a holy place to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and any attempt to deny the right of any one religion to feel a connection to a place as central to religious belief as the Temple Mount is wrong. Do Muslims have a right to pray on the Temple Mount? Yes. Do Jews and Christians have the right to have the Temples and the Temple Mount as a central piece of their religious beliefs? Yes.

Temple Denial takes away that right. Temple Denial says that those beliefs are worthless. There was never anything on the Temple Mount that relates to you. Even without any evidence from the past, this is a statement that is antithetical to the intellectuals crying out against propaganda and “fake news.” It is antithetical to those world leaders and UNESCO itself that signed the charter on Intangible Heritage, stating that those things we cannot prove or see are worth protecting. The rights of people to believe in a historical aspect of their religion is worth protecting.

Artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods

That being said, there IS evidence of the long history of the Temple Mount. After the UNESCO resolution that named holy places like the Temple Mount as wholly Muslim, and disregarded non-arabic names for those places, we posted an article about the archaeological evidence of the Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount. That resolution not only denied the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, but the Christian one as well.

A booklet published in 2014 and handed out to tourists on the Temple Mount

The Temple Denial Movement was begun in recent decades as Palestinian political and religious leaders began claiming that no Jewish Temple ever existed in Jerusalem. This claim, despite being counter to Islamic tradition, became canonized within Palestinian religious and political circles. Since the 2000 Camp David Summit, during which Yasir Arafat asserted that the Jewish Temple never existed in Jerusalem, “Temple Denial” has spread with increased virulence within the Middle East and the West, now also seemingly supported by the UN and UNESCO.

Arutz 2 interviewed our director, Zachi Dvira, to discuss this, and then followed up that interview with an amazing and viral segment (below) about the Temple Denial Movement and the Muslim claim to the site. As they said, “a narrative is a good thing, and it is possible to respect the values of each side. But there is also that small matter that is named: history, truth, and facts.”

It is unsettling, but many people are using the Palestinian narrative and that of the Temple Mount to promote anti-semitism and lies. As we saw in the Arutz 2 video (2:55) and the extended version in our video about the project (0:59), the regular person on the street in the Arab Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem wholeheartedly believes that there was nothing on the Temple Mount before the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock.

Gaby teaches UCLA students on the Temple Mount on Jan 1, 2017 (photo credit: Ilan Ben Zion/Times of Israel)

This is due to the systematic spread of false information. Dr. Barkay just this past week was brought before the Israeli police on the Temple Mount in an attempt to evict him from the place for simply using the term “Temple Mount” while teaching the history of the Mount to a student tour-group. This followed the physical abuse of our laboratory staff on the Temple Mount by Waqf guards just a few months earlier for discussing the archaeological history of the site. Our own Frankie Snyder has also had issues guiding groups on the Temple Mount for showing images of reconstructions of the First or Second Temple.

This isn’t funny and this isn’t going to go away. The only possible recourse we have is to energetically share the truth about the Temple Mount. We commit to doing so. In light of all the recent media attempts to discredit the real history of the Temple Mount, we are more dedicated than ever to publishing our research on the archaeological history of the Temple Mount and sharing those truths with the scientific community and the public. It pains me that this is necessary, but we will strive to do our part in discrediting the Temple Denial Movement.

Thank you to all of you who have supported us over the years and who have given to support our research in our crowdfunding campaign. The messages and emails that we get from you, like this one, help strengthen our resolve and let us know that we are doing the right thing:

“Your work becomes more important everyday! With the UN decision and the US abstaining, and Kerry’s speech, your work is vital to bringing the truth to light!!!! Please know that the government’s attitude and treatment of Israel does not represent all Americans!!! I love Israel! I volunteered at TMSP 6 years ago on tour with Gordon Franz. It is a life changing experience! Keep up the amazing work bringing the truth to light!!!” –Lindsay from the US

May 2017 bring the true history of the Temple Mount to light.